Traversing the Mist
CHOU Tung-Yen/ Very Theatre Company
A free-roaming XR experience inside a sensual dreamscape, somewhere between love & loneliness.
Inside a surreal gay sauna you find yourself embodied in the body of a young Taiwanese man. You venture into this dreamscape, woven by desires, excitements and fears, crossing eyes with the other sauna-goers who all have the same faces. As you walk along every floor, corridor and room, each layer of the maze irreversibly unravels behind your back. Eventually everything disappears. With Traversing the Mist, CHOU Tung-Yen pushes the boundaries of real-time XR technology and narrative, and expands the VR360 film In the Mist into a 6DoF multi-user experience. It won the NewImages Festival Grand Prize and was nominated at the Cannes Film Festival.
Venue
- Art Center NEW
- Shin-takashima Station B1F, 5-1 Minatomirai, Nishi-ku, Yokohama 220-0012
Date and Time
12.9 Tue 17:00
12.9 Tue 18:00
12.9 Tue 19:00
12.9 Tue 20:00
12.10 Wed 13:00
12.10 Wed 14:00
12.10 Wed 15:00
12.10 Wed 16:00
12.10 Wed 18:00
12.10 Wed 19:00
12.10 Wed 20:00
12.11 Thu 13:00
12.11 Thu 14:00
12.11 Thu 15:00
12.11 Thu 16:00
12.11 Thu 18:00
12.11 Thu 19:00
Running Time
40min
*Including VR setup; the actual experience lasts about 25 minutes
Language
English
Translation/Subtitles
VR instructional section includes English and Japanese surtitles. An English and Japanese script available for the performance.
Tickets
YPAM Registrant Adv & Door ¥2,000
General Adv ¥2,500 / Door ¥3,000
Available at the YPAM Ticketing site / at the door (cash only)
Notice:
1. Age-restricted and inappropriate for viewers under 18. Contains nudity and explicit sex scenes that some viewers may find offensive/disturbing.
2. To maintain performance quality, latecomers and those who leave during the session will not be admitted or readmitted.
3. VR experiences may cause dizziness, nausea, or other discomfort. Please consider your physical condition before participating. If you feel unwell during the experience, inform a staff member immediately.
4. Consumption of alcohol before or during the experience is strictly prohibited to ensure safety.
5. The organizer reserves the right to make final changes or modifications to the experience.
Artist Information
- Very Theatre Company
Very Theatre Company, founded by CHOU Tung-Yen, is a multi-artform organisation focusing on envisioning new ways of seeing and experiencing performance through new media. Aside from producing live performances, the company's unbridled creativity has prompted the team to create various works in the form of video art, VR, and installation.
Their VR360 work In the Mist and XR public choreography project Free Your Head were respectively selected for the 78th and 81st Venice Film Festival. 6DoF work Traversing the Mist selected for the 77th Festival de Cannes and won the grand prize at NewImages Festival.
- CHOU Tung-Yen
CHOU Tung-Yen, founder of Very Theatre & Very Mainstream Studio, is an award-winning theatre, film and XR maker from Taiwan. He focuses on envisioning new ways of experiencing narrative through the use of new media. CHOU's work was laurelled with a World Stage Design Award for Interactive and New Media 2013 (for Emptied Memories) and the Knight of Illumination Projection Design Award 2018 (for his set design in Formosa by LIN Hwai-Min and Cloud Gate Dance Theater). In the Mist (2020), his first VR film, was selected for the 78th Venice Film Festival and won the Panorama VR Prize at the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma de Montréal 2021. Traversing the Mist (2023), a 6DoF multi-user experience that pushed the boundaries of real-time technology and narrative storytelling, earned selection at the 78th Festival de Cannes and won the Grand Prize at the NewImages Festival 2024. His XR public choreography project Free Your Head were selected for the 81st Venice Film Festival.
Staff, Cast and Credits
Presented and Produced by Very Theatre Company
Direction and Concept: CHOU Tung-Yen
Actor: LIN Jing-Yan
Production Stage Manager: WU Yun
Spatial design: WU Tzu-Ching
Music and Sound Production: LIAO Hai-Ting, DEAN Chi-You, HO Kung-Shan (Center for Sound Arts and Acoustics Research, National Taiwan University of Art)
Stand-in: CHO Kai-Cheng
English Voice Actor: Berto (Heberto Josafat Orozco Jiménez)
Theatre Producer: Neo WU
Production Managment: CHEN Yi-Zhen, LIN Ming-Chieh
Company Intern: HSU, Hui-Chueh
International Representative (2022-2023): Jonas Johannes G. Schildermans
International Consultant: Sasha Dees
Graphic Design: FANG Wei-Hung
Documentation: LIU Chien-Yu
Performance Highlight Editor: Very Mainstream Studio
Interaction Design Team: Ankh Interaction Design Ltd., CrtlS Ltd.
Director: CHEN Chun-Ju (Jacki Chen)
Art Director: WANG Pin-Qi
Developer: CHEN Yi-Hsuan, FU Tzu Ling
3D Art: LIN Li-Rong
Project Manager: YANG Pei-Ya
2022 initial development with
Company Manager: CHUANG Chih-Chung
Administrative Assistant: HUANG Hong-Jyun
Videography Assistant: SUN Min, HONG Chen-Wei
Technicians: HUANG Jun-Yan, SU Quan-Wei, CHEN Da-Zai, CHEN Ren-Fang
Special Thanks to Kaohsiung Film Archive, Kaohsiung VR FILM LAB, VR FILM LAB, Innovation Center for Art and Technology, NTUA (Taiwan)
Supported by Ministry of Culture (Taiwan)
Official Website
Contact Information
Contact 1: zhen.vmstudio@gmail.com
Contact 2: vmtheatre.tw@gmail.com
Related Programs
CHOU Tung-Yen/ Very Theatre Company In the Mist
