Location SORT/HVID, STALDGADE 26-30, 1699 COPENHAGEN V
14.08.2023 - 21.08.2023
MUSIKHUSET AARHUS, THOMAS JENSENS ALLÈ; 8000 AARHUS
19.09.2023 - 23.09.2023
Language ENGLISH
Duration 55 MIN.
There is room for 4 persons pr. time slot.
During the performance the audience will be walking, standing, and sitting.

    ABOUT

MORTALITIES - is a virtual reality opera that examines the borders between life and death, between live and virtual. Combining VR with opera offers the chance to enter the opera itself and to become immersed into the music and the singer’s voices.

The theme is inspired by Mikkel Krause Frantzen’s concept of ’necroaesthetics’ presented in his text ’Ligvariationer’ (Mortalities). Necroaesthetics is not only the story of an actual death, but tries to present the state where boundaries between life and death are negotiable - and with the development of technology, even more so.
He describes necroaesthetics as a way to understand how death manifests/infiltrates and affect us in different ways. 
Cultural researcher Jakob Matzen suggests looking at death from a range of different perspectives. He divides necroaesthetics into six categories: the spectral, grotesque, transcendental, self-destructive, post-human and architectonic necroaesthetics.

MORTALITIES is an exploration of the six catagories of death, transformed into six musical atmorspheric spaces developed by the artistic team.   

The libretto by Ursula Andkjær Olsen is musically composed by SØS Gunver Ryberg giving the opera singers’ voices a new expression in an electronic universe. The visual expression is created by Ninna Steen. In corporation with MANND and Quad Studio she unites the physical world with the virtual universe. The concept is created and initiated by Rebekka Bohse Meyer who wishes to explore the potential of virtual reality in opera in Denmark with MORTALITIES.

MORTALITIES is produced by Jakobe Performing Arts in co-production with Sort/Hvid and Copenhagen Opera Festival.