Delirious Departures

Abstract

Delirious Departures is a VR experience in the form of an installation/performance. It questions the nature of travelling and our relationship to others. It explores the desire and impossibility of travelling, of leaving meaningfully in times of pandemic. The participant moves through impressive environments, based on iconic Belgian railway stations. An actor acts as guide, antagonist and director of the journey. The mocaped actor mixes with canned animations, intelligent avatars and figures in fixed poses, in various degrees of abstraction. Who is real, what is live? The experience of the participant is visualized in an experimental XR set-up which projects a mix of realtime video and computer graphics. The one-on-one performance builds on animation and crowd simulation technology developed by Inria and Cubic Motion (Epic Games).