Alexandra Niaka: Chimæra

“Chimæra” is an immersive interactive experience. Viewers navigate through and interact with an environment derived from spatial recordings of Athens’ buried rivers. As the landscape is gradually submerged in water, it transforms into spaces of the postflood area of Thessaly, where memories of places lost to water are narrated through digital performance.

The project is driven by a desire to explore the hidden realities of Athens, particularly its buried rivers and the submerged aspects of its urban landscape that work as symbols of lost folklore and cultural assimilation. The research aims to highlight how water serves as a vessel of cultural memory, embodying the ebb and flow of human civilization. This concept is mirrored in the hidden stories of Athens’ residents, many of whom have concealed their rural pasts and traditions in the face of urbanization. By underscoring the importance of water as a carrier of collective consciousness, transporting the myths, legends, and stories of generations, “Chimæra” seeks to reveal the hidden cultural and historical landscapes of Athens and Thessaly, drawing parallels between the concealed rivers and the buried memories of their inhabitants.

At the heart of “Chimæra” is the recreation of a landscape that evolves in response to both environmental history and viewer interaction. The project references catastrophic floods, particularly those in Thessaly that devastated settlements, to create a landscape that gradually becomes submerged in water. This transformation mirrors the mythological Thessalian plain, where once a year, the dead emerge around areas of water to share stories from the past, present, and future.

In this underwater landscape, digital avatars of performers appear to guide viewers through a spatial blend of Thessalian scenery. This includes the villages, fields, traditional textiles, costumes, and local architecture. These avatars, resembling historical local figures, emerge through the water, narrating stories connected to the past and customs of the region. The avatars are brought to life through a combination of scanned costumes, motion and volumetric capture, thus creating a kinesthetic imprint that echoes the myth’s deceased narrators.

The technical backbone of “Chimæra” leverages advanced digital techniques to create an interactive and responsive experience. The environment is a composite of 3D scans and AI-generated models, providing a rich, textured landscape that evolves in real time. Sensors and depth tracking devices monitor viewers’ movements and reactions, adjusting the digital environment dynamically. Cameras capture detailed responses, ensuring the experience is deeply personal and unique for each participant.

Ultimately, “Chimæra” is an exploration of the relationship between hidden culture and landscape, both shaped by human agency. It invites viewers to reflect on the cyclical nature of existence and the constant interplay between past and present, urban and rural, visible and hidden. Through this immersive experience, “Chimæra” aims to weave a tapestry of human experience, enriched by the flow of memory and the stories carried by the waters of time.