DANCE FILM OPEN CALL

UNTIL FEBRUARY 15, 2023

Kykeon

Mária Júdová

Friday 18. Feb 2022

20:00 GMT+1

Room A

Dance Film

Slovakia

| Synopsis

Kykeon is an immersive virtual reality experience exploring shamanism as a way to reimagine our current society. Inspired by ancestral knowledge and wisdom, it invites the audience to take a part in a new ritual. The VR trilogy reflects on the loss of a sense of community and empathy, as well as lack of concern for others and searches for a path forward by examining tradition and the ways of the tribes. It takes ancient culture and civilization, ritualistic, folkloric practices as an inspiration, and looks at them as a way for us to move forward.

Ancient shamans wearing a mask were considered to become a bearer of the spirit of the mask, the medium between the spirit and the tribe. The purpose of the mask was to communicate with ancestral spirits, celestial supernatural forces, the spirit of the forest to shed their importance and identity. They became a representation of unity between men, ancestors, and animals, symbolizing the tapestry that unifies the natural world. They became ‘one’ with nature and in return for the ‘sacrifices’ of the ego acquired protection from harm, disease, and famine in the tribe. The shamans could speak the truth without fear. But nowadays we tend to wear a mask to hide our true identity.

In Kykeon, multiple state-of-the-art techniques and technologies are combined in order to set out a journey through the many states of being. The visitors wearing a VR mask will have a chance to look into a hidden realm through the eyes of a shaman. Entering the virtual world inhabited by spirit beings, celestial mechanics, and forgotten harmonics. The viewer might create and hold a space that they communicate and interact with. These forces, in turn, awakening a part of them that they may have forgotten.

| Credits

Director: Mária Júdová | Concept, creation, creative direction: Mária Júdová | Choreographer: Taneli Törmä | Dancers of Staatstheater Mainz: Amber Pansters, Bojana Mitrović, Finn Lakeberg, Milena Wiese, Zachary Chant | Sound Designer: Alexandra Timpau | VFX support: Florian Friedrich / Narranoid | HW support: Marko Júda | Project title, logo design: Constantine Nisidis | Producer: Mara Nedelcu | Co-producers: Motion Bank/ Hochschule Mainz, Sensorium festival | Kykeon has been produced with the support of the Arts Council National Lottery Project Grants and Goethe-Institut (International Co-production Fund)

Mária Júdová

| Website

www.kykeon-vr.com

mariajudova.net

| Social

| Biography

Mária Júdová is an independent visual artist who has been investigating the creative potential of technology for over a decade. She is particularly interested in exploring the intersection of digital and performance arts. Her work spans from (interactive) installations and Virtual Reality experiences to audio-visual performances.

She received her BA in Digital Media at the Academy of Arts (SK) and MA at the Center for Audiovisual Studies (CZ). She has worked with renowned bodies such as Choreographic Coding Lab (DE), Rambert Contemporary Dance Company in London (UK) and Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (JP).

Her works have been presented worldwide – Sonar Hong Kong (CHN), Laboratorio Arte Alameda (MX), Japan Media Arts Festival (JP), Immersive Expressions of Siggraph (NY), Athens Digital Arts Festival (GR), Sensorium (SK), Berlin Atonal (DE) amongst many others. Her work was awarded by Japan Media Arts Festival (JP), B3 Biennale (DE), Nexon computer Museum (Korea) and Zealous (UK).

| Biography

Mária Júdová is an independent visual artist who has been investigating the creative potential of technology for over a decade. She is particularly interested in exploring the intersection of digital and performance arts. Her work spans from (interactive) installations and Virtual Reality experiences to audio-visual performances.

She received her BA in Digital Media at the Academy of Arts (SK) and MA at the Center for Audiovisual Studies (CZ). She has worked with renowned bodies such as Choreographic Coding Lab (DE), Rambert Contemporary Dance Company in London (UK) and Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (JP).

Her works have been presented worldwide – Sonar Hong Kong (CHN), Laboratorio Arte Alameda (MX), Japan Media Arts Festival (JP), Immersive Expressions of Siggraph (NY), Athens Digital Arts Festival (GR), Sensorium (SK), Berlin Atonal (DE) amongst many others. Her work was awarded by Japan Media Arts Festival (JP), B3 Biennale (DE), Nexon computer Museum (Korea) and Zealous (UK).

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