Return of the Oxygenius12/20/2023 What are you doing on Christmas Day? While the rest of us are struggling in the kitchen or slumped on the sofa, Jean-Michel Jarre will be in the Château de Versailles’ hall of mirrors, staging a unique hybrid performance in front of a live audience and simultaneously via the metaverse through virtual reality.
It is almost de rigueur for the electronic music innovator whose lavish shows featuring huge laser displays and projections began with a free performance for a million people on Paris’s Champs Élysées on Bastille Day 1979, and have since taken in megagigs at Nasa in Houston and by the Pyramids on Millennium Eve. At 75, the man who proved so influential with groundbreaking albums such as Oxygène and Équinoxe is still creating using the latest technologies. In Versailles, he will don the LYNX mixed reality headset, allowing a virtual audience to connect with the event through VR, or on tablets and smartphones. His avatar will appear in the centre of a futuristic hall of mirrors, commemorating Versailles’ 400th anniversary – a location that symbolised artistic and technological excellence in the 17th century. Jarre’s long tradition of embracing the visual arts was marked at last month’s Geneva International Film Festival with a special award for his outstanding contribution to music and the digital arts. But rather than reflect on past glories at Geneva, he instead unveiled another immersive creation. The Eye and I, a virtual reality experience made with Taiwanese artist Hsing-Chien Huang. (...) Oxymore too has a visual extension in the metaverse. Oxyville is a virtual Music City, an open space in which Jarre hopes DJs or young artists will create and exchange ideas. The Eye and I, meanwhile, came from his and Hsing-Chien Huang’s shared fascination with the notion of surveillance with its influence and presence throughout the ages. Their immersive work invites participants on an interactive journey through the evolution of surveillance, from religious supervision to today’s digital omnipresence and control. Through 12 cells set in a panopticon, visitors explore the influence of surveillance in art, family, politics, social organisation and technology. Jarre’s exclusive music composition enhances the immersive experience, creating a singular collaborative work for the mind and senses. Jarre added: “If the Lumière brothers were alive today, they would be creating in the metaverse. More than an artistic encounter, The Eye and I is a unique opportunity for immersive creation, addressing the theme of surveillance and control in the form of a digital entertainment accessible to all.” His fascination for creativity using the latest tools available shows no sign of dissipating, extending also to a collaboration with Renault to develop unique new sounds for the car manufacturer’s future electric vehicles. “I don’t have a deliberate plan,” he says simply. “My driving force is just curiosity. Since I was a teenager, what makes me explore one field or the other is actually curiosity. And as long as your body is carrying you and you keep your curiosity fresh, it’s a kind of timeless activity, writing music or doing movies. (...) Source
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