Superlumen and Onírica Mecánica propose a dizzying journey through skyscraper cities and through the poetic worlds hidden in our memory
There are experiences that are moving, capable of causing a tear in seconds or making you laugh out loud, but how much makes your heart beat faster? Superlumen did it on Rendibú with one of its most incredible virtual reality experiences. introduce. They put on him some curious virtual reality glasses that still remind us of a futuristic world. A controller in hand and the adventure begins. Suddenly you are in a big city. There is an elevator. He uploads it. It opens. Now he is standing on top of a skyscraper and in front of his feet is only a very narrow plank of wood. Almost floating in the void. They invite you to cross it.
At that moment, part of the brain tells him that everything he sees is unreal. That his feet are actually in the annex of the Víctor Villegas Auditorium. But another part, which does not question the magic and vibrates with the circus, wants to believe. And he feels the dizziness, the heartbeat speeds up, he decides to pass and even jump. Or don’t pass. Take the elevator or take off your glasses and step out of that parallel world in one fell swoop. But by then, he’s already felt a tingle equivalent to being at the top of the roller coaster without getting off the Rendibou. Astonishing.
For those who didn’t want to risk tachycardia, Superlumen also prepared a much quieter game. A proposal in which virtual reality moved the participant to an alley. There appeared the rapper Snoop Dogg, who presented a challenge: painting the iconic bear Rendibou on the wall with a spray can. Here, those who had the most fun were those outside of this virtual reality, observing the results on a screen. Most of the artwork at the height of Ecce Homo. It is clear that the world of graffiti and muralism is not for everyone. That Yes, between laughter and vertigo, the Murcian company, founded by Chema Coca, Carlos Lax and Juan Cassinello, demonstrated the quality of its elaborate experiences that achieve that immersion in other worlds. A work in virtual reality and video games that has been awarded with prizes such as the prize for the most innovative game from Playstation Games in 2018 and the prize in the same category awarded by RTVE in 2021.
When Superlumen moved attendees to a city of skyscrapers, Jesús Nieto was not short on the journey he proposed. Yes indeed. Without leaving the here and now. In a “small committee” and installed in one of the booths of the space, the soul of Onírica Mecánica, accompanied by Pedro Guirao, presented a fragment of “The rumor of noise”, a proposal created in 2016 by the company from Cartagena. In ‘The Rumor of Noise’ sound stimuli play the leading role. However, the audience was left ojiplático, dumbfounded, without blinking.
The creator defines the show as “a sound mapping through the noise of our lives”. Live, Jesús Nieto worked with a table and small sound boxes that turned on their own. Playing with microphones that amplify microsounds, he started building soundscapes. He did the same with the mechanisms that hung on the wall, framed in several boxes, lit with warm white lights. Simple objects that shape an investigation that invites us to walk through our memories, to rescue memories associated with those sounds that we hardly pay attention to.
A show to reflect on how objects no longer have so much weight and memories have changed. Because what caused an old letter from an old love to be found in the clutter years ago may be a feeling very similar to listening, out of context, to the signature WhatsApp notification sound from your ex’s cellphone.
The crunch of snow when you step on it or the hum of the fridge at sunrise are some of the stimuli of this sound creation that won the Drac d’or prize for autonomy at the Lérida Puppet Fair in 2016. A show that Jesús Nieto and Pedro Guirao saved after several years without representing it for this Rendibú that made us forget March 2020 and its consequences.
A shared and at the same time unique experience for every spectator. Only they will know what went through their minds with every move, where they traveled to with that rumor that caused concern and amazement. It’s also intriguing for that sequence of sounds with a diffuse direction.
‘The rumor of noise’ has no conclusions, it has sensations. And for this reason, it was another piece that fitted perfectly into this artistic puzzle that represents each edition of the Rendibú. Virtual reality and the poetry of forgotten sounds. Two proposals that offered contrast, an invitation to be taken to other worlds, that of memories or that of jumping into the void without a parachute.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
