We have pondered for centuries about the infinity of our soul, which after death leaves our body as a temporary shell and wanders around, reincarnating or enjoying eternal life in a heaven. Recently, a new belief has been added: through artificial intelligence, we could upload our minds, so to speak. Beliefs mostly based on the opposition between the deceptive material world and a higher eternal reality in which we resign ourselves.
Eurydice, a descent into infinity is a Virtual Reality opera in which, as a spectator, you immerse yourself in an immersive experience. A hypnotic and individual journey inspired by the ancient myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. A battle between substance and eternity, in which time fades away and the laws of space fall away. 'Where do you belong? Among wandering, bodiless souls or still with your feet in the clay?'
Director and transdisciplinary playwright Céline Daemen challenges you to put on VR glasses and get lost in a ceaseless maze of corridors, ruins and balustrades, beyond which dizzying depths and vistas open up. Your curiosity is the best compass in this fascinating in-between space full of VR, poetry, and enchanting music.
ABOUT THE CREATIVES
Celine Daemen is a director who connects a great passion for opera with a distinct love for Virtual Reality (VR). After completing her studies at the Toneelacademie Maastricht (2018), she made a first move toward creating her own signature in several productions in which immersion (immersion) in both music and virtual environments was the common thread. She sees herself as a creator of "transdisciplinary work," where combined disciplines together create a new medium. Whereas VR often focuses on recreating the real world (as if you were actually standing in the Rijksmuseum or at the Grand Canyon), Celine actually wants to imagine new worlds and harness the infinite potential of VR to turn the observer's gaze inward. Thematically, questions about "being" are central, with an emphasis on inner reality in all its manifestations: intuition, imagination and so-called "madness. In her project The Opera of the Falling Man (2018), for example, Celine searched for poetry within madness and looked at melancholy as a hopeful source of insight into existence. The journey inward takes the viewer into a realm where new associations emerge and new layers of being human are touched.
Kate Moore (1979) is an Australian-Dutch composer of new music. In 2001 she graduated Cum Laude from the Australian National University majoring in composition and electroacoustic music. After graduating with a master's degree from the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, she has been based in the Netherlands since 2002. In 2013, she received a Ph.D. from the University of Sydney. In 2017, she received the Matthijs Vermeulen Prize, the most prestigious Dutch award for composers, for her work The Dam commissioned by The Canberra International Festival.
Charlotte van den Broek (1991) already made an overwhelming entrance into Dutch literature during her studies, language and literature at the UGent and word art at the Antwerp Conservatory. Her first two books of poetry were showered with praise and awarded the Herman de Coninck Debuutprijs and the Paul Snoeckprijs. Her prose debut Waagstukken, a bestseller with 15,000 copies sold, also won awards.
Read more about the making process of Euridyce, a descent into infinity.
This VR opera is being developed within the New Makers program of Fonds Podiumkunsten in collaboration with Silbersee and VIA ZUID. The experience can be enjoyed individually in half-hour time slots. So you reserve a time slot per person. Be present fifteen minutes before the start of your time slot. Are you coming with more than one person? Then book several time slots one after the other.
Wouter Snoei (1977) is a composer, performer, software developer and teacher in the field of electronic and electroacoustic music. He studied Sonology at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. With his dance project xceptional he won the Grote Prijs van Nederland in 1997. For the piece "Pulse" for solo live electronics he received the Matthijs Vermeulen Encouragement Prize in 2004.
Aron Fels (1992) graduated from the film academy in 2017 in Immersive Media and Visual Effects. Since then has worked as a designer of numerous VR projects, including several previous collaborations with Celine Daemen. In 2021, his VR project "IVFX" received a Golden Calf in the Digital Culture category at the Netherlands Film Festival.
With her keen interest in music, language and theater, singer Sterre Konijn (1987) has built a versatile career. She performs in music theater, cross over and modern classical productions. She received classical vocal training as a member of the Nationaal Jeugdkoor and as a student at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, but continued her studies in Denmark at the Complete Vocal Institute. She obtained her master's degree in Music Theater with Paul Koek and the Veenfabriek at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. She sings from French chansons to Bulgarian folk music and from jazz to classical avant-garde.