Adelaide Festival 2020 review: Eight
Eight is a triumphant merging of technology and art, and a “must do” during the 2020 Festival.
Festival
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Eight
Virtual Reality / The Netherlands & Australia
Hetzel Lecture Theatre, Institute Building, State Library of South Australia
Until March 15
IF it is the role of art to transport the audience then Eight, a virtual reality experience staged in the State Library, succeeds on every level.
For the 15 minutes that I spend inside Eight’s beautifully rendered world I’m completely immersed, from the moment I’m “collected” from my starting point by an elderly woman to the moment I take off my headset and realise that I’ve been in the Hetzel Lecture Theatre the whole time.
Unlike many VR experiences, you’re not seated during Eight.
Instead, you follow your “guide” – who is sometimes an elderly lady, mostly a young woman, and sometimes a child.
After following her through corridors and through a curtain you emerge in a vast space that may be disconcerting for anyone with a fear of heights.
After walking through a dark grotto the “audience” (which is only you, and Eight is experienced alone) enters an incredible area that can only be described as heavenly as was actually hard to leave.
There’s also a face-to-face interaction with your guide that I won’t describe in detail as it would be giving too much away, but I will say that it was quite moving.
The whole thing is scored by the music of Michel van der Aa, with vocals from Kate Miller-Heidke, and the music – delivered through noise-cancelling headphones – takes equal star billing alongside the visuals.
Eight also features the sometimes disconcerting feature of being able to see your own hands – rendered digitally – in front of you. Somehow this makes everything seem more real.
Eight is a triumphant merging of technology and art, and a “must do” during the 2020 Festival.
