Live Visuals and Immersive Storytelling: Bringing VASSIŁINA's Femmeland to Life

"I don't want to dwell so much on the pieces we heard as on the emotions created by what we saw: a multi-dimensional and inventive show at an international level, where the avant-pop of Femmeland, the visuals, the cinematic choreography, the violin and backing vocals, that VASSIŁINA joined in a groundbreaking and liberating performance, building a universe full of truth and acceptance and emerging a deep emotional connection."

Live Visuals

For the launch of hyperpop artist VASSIŁINA's second album Femmeland at Romantso in Athens, Machine Earth's Artistic Director Erin Robinson joined forces with an all-female team of creatives to create an immersive concert experience that combined digital and physical storytelling. Working alongside lighting designer Semina Papalexandropoulou, choreographer Iokasti Disgkusty, and set designer Florentina Loren, Erin headed the building of the digital geography of Femmeland, realised as three dynamic projections of the computer generated world within the concert hall space. The projections additionally included interactive elements to embed audiences into Femmeland's speculative geography and blur boundaries between digital worlds, myth and physical reality, including them as part of the mythological narrative.

Worldbuilding

The worldbuilding drew from the album's conceptual inspirations - a sanctuary envisioned as a mythical island where femininities live free from harm, inspired by the story of Circe, and explored themes of transformation, femininity, the eerie, and folklore. The chosen content, aesthetic and colour themes were inspired by the album cover art, folk stories, and Erin's own incorporeal experiences of environments.

To achieve this technically, Erin used the real-time capabilities of TouchDesigner combined with the rendering power of Unreal Engine 5, to enable her to control and configure world elements on the fly. The setup allowed for intuitive, gestural responses during the live performance, aligning the visuals with VASSIŁINA's improvisations and the fluid contributions of the dancers and musicians through the use of a custom tablet app. This real-time adaptability made the world of Femmeland feel alive as a present entity in the space and blur boundaries between the digital and physical environments. Neon lighting elements within the digital landscape were synchronised with the lighting in Romantso's concert hall, interplay between both worlds. Additionally, interactive elements were included to allow both the performers and audience to become a part of the visual narrative. Using a camera input, VASSIŁINA, other performers, and the audience were projected onto the digital cliffs of Femmeland, echoing the speculative world projected onto the physical walls of Romantso. This technique created a striking digital/physical paradox and allowed audience members to actively shape the visual world. As far as we're aware, this approach represents a new frontier in live visuals, expanding the boundaries of what immersive storytelling can achieve.

Infrastructure

The infrastructure behind the Femmeland project had to balance technical complexity with portability, requiring solutions to fit the demands of an international live performance setting. Limited to mobile graphics cards and servers for easy air travel, the system was designed for maximum efficiency without compromising on quality. Working within the constraints of the venue, an ad-hoc control booth was set up to manage the visuals during the performance.

Erin collaborated closely with the onsite lighting and production team, the producer, and the set designer to generate a cohesive experience between different units and teams. The setup for the live visuals included precision projection mapping to align and focus visuals on specific targets, synchronising content with other onsite media servers, and establishing a robust network setup. To maintain reliability, the system used an industry-grade access point for the control network, with a backup hardwired solution to avoid disruptions caused by bandwidth issues.

This combination of artistry, technology and robust infrastructure brought the world of Femmeland to life whilst immersing the audience in its story. At Machine Earth, we're passionate about crafting unique experiences, offering a complete service from concept and design to building and on-site setup. Every detail is carefully considered to ensure your vision is realised. If you're looking to create bold, innovative storytelling with technology at its core, we'd love to hear from you. Let's collaborate to bring your ideas to life - get in touch to start the conversation!

Erin Robinson

Artistic Director

@bluemonday.exe

Erin Robinson is a multimedia artist and researcher with a background in computational arts. Her work critically engages with the concepts of posthumanism and postmodernism and its intersection with artificial intelligence, exploring notions of authenticity and existence in the digital anthropocene.