Olivia Mc Gilchrist: Virtual ISLANDs
Canada, 2022
Duration: 7 min
Courtesy the Artist
Kindly supported by Québec Government Office in Germany
Virtual ISLANDs explores the interplay between virtual immersion and physical submersion, offering viewers evocative audio-visual interpretations of the ebb and flow of water. Drawing from the artist’s Caribbean and European heritage, the work reflects on the insular geography of the Caribbean and its profound influence on Caribbean identity.
Within this virtual reality experience, visitors are transported into an aquatic realm where they follow the movements of Canadian aerial performer Keely Whitelaw, rendered as a particle effect. To create the volumetric video Whitelaw was submerged in the underwater VR world while performing on a floor-based aerial structure, her gestural response being captured by a ten-sensor depth camera system. The performance-based VR experience is complemented by a soundscape by British composer Jack Hyde, drawing visitors deeper into the underwater landscape.
Olivia Mc Gilchrist is a white French-Jamaican artist-researcher based in Canada whose practice encompasses video, installation, and virtual reality. Her work explores the relationship between the experience of immersion in VR and the physicality of submersion. Gilchrist’s work engages with questions around identity, feminist performance, and colonial legacies. She has participated in exhibitions at MUTEK Festival, Montréal, CA (2021); Ars Electronica Festival, AT (2018); and Screen City Biennial, Stavanger, NO (2017); among others.