DREAM-E-SCAPE - Flutter Experience Los Angeles - Hong Kong - Riyadh
An Immersive Interactive Cinematic Art Installation by Laia Cabrera and Isabelle Duverger
Conceived and Directed by Laia Cabrera & Isabelle Duverger
Interactive Design by Aniol Saurina Masó and Jianhao Ma
Original music composition by Nana Simopoulos
Cinematography and Editing by Laia Cabrera & Isabelle Duverger
"Dream-e-scape" is an interactive projection art installation about lucid dreams, created by filmmaker Laia Cabrera and multimedia artist Isabelle Duverger, in collaboration with interactive designer Aniol Saurina Masó and Jianhao Ma, and composer and instrumentalist Nana Simopoulos.
The piece is an immersive and interactive 360º installation about the mind and the search for awareness in which the public experiences a sensory voyage that captures the surreal nature of dreams, where the line is blurred between the physical and the digital world, between the real and the imaginary.
“Dream-e-scape” is based on the state of sleep, an imaginary journey one can experience with the eyes wide open. The piece explores the concept of lucid dreaming, the sleep state in which we become aware we are dreaming and have the ability to control the dream and gain agency over our thoughts and desires. We are testing reality: Are we awake?
We wanted to play with the surreal nature of dreams and explore concepts and ideas related to our notion of a digital self in a collective environment. Being awake, conscious… agency. The installation uses the language of escape rooms to explore the dreamworld, opening doors to mirrored landscapes, waterfalls, a Daliesque world or hidden pathways, creating connection between allegories of tales, micro and macro, nature, body, mind and universe, all connected by chance and sometimes astonishing clarity. Dreams are the starting point of the imagination. The original score takes you to interactive soundscapes created specifically for the piece.
Using cutting-edge multimedia technology to produce creative environments, through mapping, infinite space, augmented reality, interactivity, video art, music and animation, the audience is invited to actively participate as actors and not just as mere spectators. The video installation art becomes a theatrical stage where things appear, move across, and then disappear, where awareness becomes attention and action, and your brain fantasizes your conscious reality. Original music uses textures, pads, pulses and drum rhythms to move the audience through the space and at times influence the music by their physical movement.
Conceived as a seamless projection mapping design with full gesture responsive interactivity, “Dream-e-escape” invites the audience to actively enter the heart of the piece creating and choosing dreamlands that unfold across a series of immersive interactive scenarios, capturing the surreal nature of dreams and giving the audience agency. Dream-e-scape plays as a fictional dimension, whose terrain of forests, cities, galaxies, mountains, and an underworld can be visited only through a process of thinking creatively, Lucid dreaming.
VENUES
Flutter Art Gallery - 2022-2023 - Los Angeles
Microwave Media Arts Festival - Oct 28, 2022 - Nov 6, 2022 - Hong Kong City Hall
Film Criticism Conference - "Beyond the Frame" - Nov 8-15, 2023 - The Cultural Palace, DQ, Riyadh, KSA
Artist Talk: From Moving Images to Immersive Cinema - November 10 - 7:30pm - The Cultural Palace, DQ, Riyadh, KSA > Watch here
AWARDS: #Hybrid Vision - Panasonic Digital Art Competition 2022 - Interactive Digital Art Nominee
Picture Gallery from the Film Criticism Conference, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
"'Our life is half natural, half technology, half good, you can't deny that high technology is an advancement, we need it to create jobs, however if you only make high technology, you will create war, so we A strong human connection must be preserved to maintain a humble and natural life.'
The father of video art Nam June Paik believes that in the face of technology, we must retain a strong human connection to maintain a humble and natural life, otherwise the rapid progress of technology will only bring about war. This year's Microwave International Media Arts Festival is titled "Half-Half", which explores the relationship and struggle between technology and nature: "Half-Half" can be half and half, or it can be an unknown balance. In the process of balancing the point, how is the mutualistic symbiosis between man and machine established? This year’s art festival hopes to “create dreams” with the audience through exhibits and programs, absorb, think and deduce, learn about future life in the “dream”, try to walk between reality and reality, and then see the possibilities of the near future.
The festival's themed exhibition includes works from multinational artists: Laia Cabrera & Isabelle Duverger used the escape room in "Dream-e-scape" Language to explore reality. [...]
Perhaps the question should be: What are the limitations and dynamics of nature captured by technology? How does the architecture of electronic software mediate our experience of technology and nature? Through media art, we are able to witness the moment when people interact with software, and take care of the awareness and willingness to coexist. Should human beings be afraid of artificial intelligence, or accept it with peace of mind? Maybe it's time to peek into the future from the code."
— SAMPLE 樣本, Hong Kong Arts and Literary Criticism Magazine
"Here, “half-and-half” may refer to equal halves of a larger entity or an unknown equilibrium. If we calibrate the relationship between humans and machines on a scale of zero to one hundred, every single point at which we may achieve equilibrium is a variation. How do we build a balance that is symbiotic? With a main exhibition and a curated series of programs, this year’s festival leads visitors to “dream,” a dream in which we assimilate, think, rehearse, and learn about future life. We see our imminent possibilities when navigating between reality and imagination. [...]
Using the language of escape rooms, artist duo Laia Cabrera and Isabelle Duverger explore reality and fantasy in Dream-e-scape, bringing visitors into an immersive lucid dream. Contrary to the idea that dreams are just dreams, the line between the real world and the imaginary world is often blurry."
— Microwave Media Arts Festival curatorial statement by Joel Kwong
"Blend make-believe with reality in “Dream-e-scape,” by Laia Cabrera & Isabelle Duverger.
A room that manages to feel intimate and limitless at the same time. As the walls shift into countless scenes ranging from the familiar (a tranquil coral reef) to the fantastical (a vortex of swirling cosmos), you’ll feel like you’ve tumbled down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. Your every movement and action in Dream-e-scape will unlock different scenarios and dreams. Keep your eyes wide open as you make the art come alive!"
— Secret Los Angeles
Picture Gallery from Flutter Experience Art Gallery in Los Angeles
Flutter Experience Art Gallery Los Angeles, CA
Flutter Experience Art Gallery Los Angeles, CA
Flutter Experience Art Gallery Los Angeles, CA
Flutter Experience Art Gallery Los Angeles, CA
THE VENUES
FLUTTER EXPERIENCE ART GALLERY - LOS ANGELES
FLUTTER is a ticketed exhibition suitable for visitors of all ages, FLUTTER’s mission is to bring contemporary fine art into everyday life in a way that is interactive, encouraging community and creativity. The inaugural installation includes artists: digital media duo Laia Cabrera and Isabelle Duverger (in collaboration with Aniol Saurina Masó and Nana Simopoulos), Katie Stout, Jacolby Satterwhite, Jillian Mayer, Saya Woolfalk, Leah Guadagnoli, Cyril Lancelin of Town & Concrete, Liz Collins, Elise Peterson, Candy Chang, Guillermo Santoma as well as Job Piston in collaboration with the award-winning architecture studio, Charlap Hyman and Herrero along with NAR.
Billed as a “sensory journey” open to visitors of all ages, the inaugural edition is themed “the play-date.” Karen Robinovitz, the chief curator of “Flutter,” who’s a board member of the Bronx Museum of the Arts and the Brooklyn Museum in New York, said in a statement, “Everything in the world can be so heavy and serious that our focus was reprieve, fun, and playfulness.” Chris Dowson, the founder of the exhibition, added, “Flutter’s purpose is to bring fine art to everyone. We invite you to participate, experience, interact, and share, in a fun, welcoming environment. We want to promote and encourage enjoyment and connection to others through community and will be announcing several education programs throughout the year.”
MICROWAVE MEDIA ARTS FESTIVAL - HONG KONG
Microwave International New Media Arts Festival began in 1996 as an annual video art festival of the local video art institution Videotage. As technology progressed and became more accessible, video art slowly evolved to involve other media; thus Microwave began to embrace the wider range of new media art. As the first and only art festival in Hong Kong dedicated to new media art, Microwave has steadily grown into a well-established festival that brings cutting-edge works to provoke thought in the technological hub every year.
Using the language of escape rooms, artist duo Laia Cabrera and Isabelle Duverger explore reality and fantasy in Dream-e-scape, bringing visitors into an immersive lucid dream. Contrary to the idea that dreams are just dreams, the line between the real world and the imaginary world is often blurry.
FILM CRITICISM CONFERENCE - BEYOND THE FRAME - RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA
In 2018, Saudi Arabia reintroduced public movie theatres, markedly changing the experience of viewing moving image in the Kingdom. Meanwhile, moving images displayed in other forms and manners are still calling for our attention: billboards, pop-up windows, smart phone screens, VR headsets. Whether on the big screen or a tiny one, a single screen or multiple ones, moving images can surprise us with what we have never imagined before. They can mediate our experience of the world, frame our perceptions of reality, and point to horizons of endless possibilities and unrequited aspirations.
One approach is to turn our attention away from the images themselves and look, instead, askance at these virtual and material windows and the frames around them. A frame shapes, constrains, and defines what we see and how we see it. Filmmakers choose their frames deliberately, to shape viewers’ experience and orient their attention. The frame can create visual balance and convey meaning: Do we see an open space—and feel expansive as a result? Or does the frame limit and confine us? The frame is not just a physical border, however, but also a conceptual construct that invites interpretation and encourages us to consider what lies beyond its edges. What are we not meant to see, and why? If we look past the frame, does it bring us closer to the “actual,” or drive it farther away? Does the horizon of endless possibilities lie within the frame, or beyond it?
Beyond the Frame is the first edition of the Riyadh international Film Criticism Conference, in which we focus on the vital role that film criticism plays in the ever increasingly complex media ecosystem. Criticism itself is a kind of frame that highlights critical engagement with understanding and acknowledgement of the shifting role and structures of cinema in a changing world.
Picture Gallery from Microwave Media Arts Festival in Hong Kong
Microwave Festival 2022 Hong Kong City Hall
Microwave Festival 2022 Hong Kong City Hall
Microwave Festival 2022 Hong Kong City Hall
Microwave Festival 2022 Hong Kong City Hall
PRESS
