Yolanda Markopoulou: White Dwarf

Creator's note

“White Dwarf” is an interactive VR performance. The core of the work is the homonymous 360 stereoscopic virtual reality film, which also stands as a standalone piece. Framing the film within an interactive environment composes it differently, providing the viewers with a holistic experience.

The research for making the work was extensive and went through many stages. Italo Calvino’s “Cosmicomics” put us in a fantastic cosmic world, while keeping us on earth at times. One of his short stories led us to the history of the first atomic bomb and, by conducting further research, we discovered many different aspects of the events that eventually became the ingredients for the performance’s script. We kept some elements purely actual, such as the very voice of Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb. Excerpts from his various speeches act as a voiceover and confront us with important questions about science and politics.

I knew from the beginning that I wanted the film to be presented in a special and not predictable way: to keep some performative parts of the work alive so that they would converse with VR –a new medium that is not very familiar to a wide audience. As an Onassis AiR Fellow I explored this possibility and, on the occasion of the work’s premiere at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, I managed to create a first presentation of the VR installation/performance as I had imagined it. Premiering the work at Thessaloniki was a unique opportunity, as it inaugurated the Festival’s newly established Immersive- All Around Cinema section.

VR is another option to tell a story. I always start with what I want to say about a topic that I care deeply about. In this case, the viewer steps into the shoes of a character within the work’s environment, becoming engaged with the story and living the experience by being part of it.

The experience

As soon as the door opens and the audience enters a specially designed space, we want them to be immediately immersed in the universe of the work before they even put on their VR glasses. We give them a specific role that they are asked to fulfill as they explore the space over the course of the performance. Viewers ultimately have an experience that blurs the boundaries between virtual and physical reality, and become participants in “a science experiment.” They are invited to take a stand on the burning issues of nuclear energy use.

At the same time, by establishing that they enter the installation in groups of 6 or more, there are moments where the viewers relate to each other. They witness the story together, each in their own way, and are alone only when it is time for VR viewing. Automatically, this coexistence in the space imbues it with a collective quality. I am interested in creating the conditions so that each group of viewers, whether they know each other beforehand or not, share something unique, for as long as it lasts. The overall experience is characterized by a sense of ephemeral participation or that of the creation of an ephemeral collectivity