I interviewed Rose Bond about 1968 on Sunday, August 31, 2025 at Venice Immersive in Venice, Italy.
Here is the story synopsis for 1968:
- “1968 is communal VR theatre that explores the transformative power of protest through allusions to 1968 — a year charged with societal, cultural and political unrest. Animated from still photographs of both the iconic and the mundane, the piece investigates international interstices of history, human bonding and power in times of socio-cultural upheaval. Rose Bond’s 360° hand-drawn animation interacts with Massimiliano Borghesi’s spatialisation of inti figgis-vizueta’s original recorded tracks of Seven Sides of Fire to ignite a dynamic, evocative and shared immersive experience. 1968 is a collaboration of international creatives and stands as the first movement of a longer, anticipated work. 1968 is experienced collectively under a geodesic sound dome.“
Here are the contextual domains that are explored:
- Power of people and culture [11] to change government [10], but also the modes of violence that are used against them [7]. The Transformative Power of Protest
Here is the Elemental Center of Gravity:
1st Center of Gravity of Emotional Presence: Story, Music – Visual storytelling language of abstract animatsion – Very tightly coupled with the patterns of music |
2nd Center of Gravity of Earth Element / Environmental and Embodied Presence: Spatial Audio via the Dome. There’s a lot of void spaces here, and you end up seeing some hand-drawn animations that start to sketch out various scenes of political liberation from the 1968 |
3rd Center of Gravity of Air Element / Mental and Social Presence: No words, Poetic Dream Logic to evoke the memories based upon these iconic events from 1968. No explanation or discourse about anything, and so it does require the audience to be somewhat familiar with the specific cultural histories being referenced from both the United States as well as in France. This is shown as a group experience, but you don’t see anyone else, and so it also feels like a solo experience that you are parallel playing with others as they watch it |
4th Center of Gravity of Fire Element / Active Presence: No narrative agency or any embodied Interactions |
Archetypal Themes and Character Explored:
- Revolutionary change and upheavel of the socio-political order of the 60s: “investigates international interstices of history, human bonding and power in times of socio-cultural upheaval” – Transformative power of Protest
Artist Statement:
- “‘VR, when combined with hand-drawn animation and immersive sound, can articulate complex emotional and lyrical dimensions with rare sensitivity.’ Coming from a school of animation that values gesture over spoken word, I regard 3D space as a gift — an expansion from the flatness of film, a place for extended choreography. Sound has long inhabited the space between sense and sensation. This communal VR installation, ensconced in a geodesic dome mounted with fifteen acoustic speakers, seeks a shared experience — one that verges on the haptic, with exquisite spatial precision.“
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Music: Fatality
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