Introducing: A City of Foxes
20 December 2020
A City of Foxes is one of four Immersive projects at the 2021 edition of CineMart. It is the creation of US-based multidisciplinary artist Nihaarika Negi alongside Remi Large, a producer working in France. The two were brought together by associate producer Nicolas Rouilleault at the Venice Gap-Financing Market, where the project was part of the Venice Biennale College Cinema VR Labs.
According to Negi, they were “immediately aligned in our goal of discovering new frontiers of storytelling by combining the live arts with interactive VR and have been working together ever since”.
The project will be a 30-minute immersive experience “at the crossroads of virtual reality and immersive theatre” says Negi, where a participant meets an oppressed, persecuted fox who guides them through a journey into his life. It is based on notions of tenderness and intimacy in storytelling, says Negi, with the revolutionary potential for the audience “to experientially understand the power of listening, in a world that continues to use our lack of communication as a way of keeping us divided.”
Negi’s work is based on contemporary performance and narrative storytelling, which has manifested in theatre shows, participatory workshops, immersive performances, films and now a VR project. This is an evolution of a 2015 performance that took place in Mumbai, India in which an audience moved through six spaces throughout the city and engaged with performers in deeply personal conversations.
“While the experience was immense, we often felt – on both sides – the veneer of our social personas getting in the way. I wondered then if the construct of fictional storytelling merged with immersive theatre and interactive VR – that allowed you to embody another character like a mask, could enable us to transcend these borders and really allow ourselves to be seen by another.”
Remi Large brings technical and creative expertise to the project, after having created the Tamanoir Immersive Studio in 2017, based in Le CentQuatre in Paris, which has created experiences combining the living arts and new technologies for cultural institutions such as the National Opera of Paris, CentQuatre-Paris, France TV.
“We are thankful to the entire team at IFFR for reimagining Pro Days in these uncertain times and remaining steadfast in their commitment to supporting the work of artists. We have no doubt that the sharing of this virtual space will be as valuable as the sharing of a physical one. We are excited by the possibilities of new discoveries and connections.”
