At this Portland art exhibit, you explore virtual worlds to save our real planet - Oregon Public Broadcasting

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In Egypt this month, President Joe Biden and different satellite leaders are successful talks to tackle a planetary situation astatine the United Nations clime alteration league known arsenic COP27.

Starting Saturday, the Portland Art Museum volition face the clime situation with a antithetic benignant of diplomacy — creative.

Fusing creation and technology, the caller virtual world installation “Symbiosis” puts the assemblage successful a satellite that reflects the impacts of planetary warming. Audiences volition sojourn respective imaginary worlds designed to marque america each attraction much astir our existent planet.

“Symbiosis is this multi-user VR acquisition that’s truly much than VR,” says filmmaker and co-creator Marcel van Brakel. “It’s truly similar an installation successful which the assemblage get this robotic wearable.”

Van Brakel is simply a subordinate of the Dutch plan corporate Polymorf who began seeding the thought for this installation astatine the Sundance Institute.

Polymorf's multisensory VR installation includes aggregate characters visitors tin prime from and acquisition a symbiotic human-animal relationship.

“You tin beryllium a slime mold. You tin beryllium a Colorado stream toad, hybrid with a human, a monarch butterfly combined with an orchid and a human,” van Brakel said.

The carnal mounting of the installation is wrong the colorful workplace abstraction called PAMcut, the Portland Art Museum’s Center for an Untold Tomorrow. PAMcut’s extremity is to showcase artists — similar the Polymorf unit — who adjacent into the aboriginal utilizing the tools and tricks of cinema. Each show acquisition lasts astir 45 minutes and includes six assemblage members who volition see, hear, feel, odor and adjacent sensation fantastical caller worlds.

To start, depository unit volition assistance participants hop into costumes that look similar abstraction suits, fashioned with tubing, aerial bladders and VR goggles.

Then the amusive begins.

The Symbiosis VR/XR acquisition engages each 5 senses to transport you to antithetic post-human oregon nonhuman realities.

Depending connected the quality you become, you mightiness find yourself hopping astir a lush primordial wood successful hunt of yummy flies successful the relation of the toad with partially bound hands and feet. The toad is conscionable 1 of respective bizarre characters you tin go wrong the immersive story. Some characters get to “swim” portion others alert oregon slither.

“With Symbiosis, we benignant of research the anticipation of a aboriginal —of aboriginal scenarios, successful which nine is not organized successful a human-centric way,” van Brakel said.

Polymorf’s inspiration to research that non human-centric nine done creation comes from the ecofeminist, futurist writer Donna J. Haraway, whose 2016 publication “Staying with the Trouble” explores the bully that mightiness hap if we weren’t truthful speedy to disregard our damaged planet.

“Perhaps offering thing else,” Haraway said successful a 2014 speech successful Denmark. “Something much livable.”

Haraway suggests that “livable” successful the aboriginal means a satellite wherever quality bodies and quality fuse together, go 1 and past collaborate to past connected our struggling planet.

Yes, you work that correctly.

The thought is that humans and different surviving things, similar plants oregon animals, mightiness articulation bodies and enactment unneurotic to troubleshoot biology problems.

Symbiosis means “living with,” but Haraway argues possibly the much important thought we should see arsenic humans is “Sympoiesis,” which means “making with” due to the fact that surviving with conscionable isn’t capable anymore if we are looking up for caller ways to survive.

“There has been an detonation wrong the biologies of becoming with,” explains Haraway, “with an knowing that to beryllium a 1 astatine all, you indispensable beryllium a many. And it’s not a metaphor.”

Symbiosis co-director Mark Meeuwenoord acknowledges the conception is challenging, but is speedy to constituent retired that the clip has travel to see each ideas, adjacent the unexpected ones fixed the severity of the biology problems humanity is facing.

“[It’s] possibly not the champion strategy to perpetually effort to lick and cleanable things up,” said Meeuwenoord. “But possibly set ourselves and beryllium adept successful a mode that possibly we tin really grip the trouble.”

Symbiosis makes its U.S. debut connected Saturday, Nov. 12, and runs done February 2023.

How that works wrong the Symbiosis VR goggles and high-tech suits is simply a substance of cooperating with the different radical successful your radical portion trusting your senses to get you done the story. It’s not a competition. It’s “Symbiosis” oregon “living with.” Otherwise… well, determination isn’t truly an otherwise, says van Brakel.

“We are truly successful trouble,” helium said. “Things are truly collapsing. We can’t conscionable determination guardant successful the mode that we did. We get utilized to this satellite wherever everything is controllable and makeable and changeable, and we person the afloat powerfulness to bash so. We’ve benignant of mislaid the quality to judge nonaccomplishment oregon symptom oregon mischief.”

And portion clime alteration is ne'er a pleasant taxable to tackle — adjacent done creation — there’s plentifulness of amusive and fancy plan to bask wrong “Symbiosis.” The suits are by a Dutch manner designer, the scents are customized blends of everything from flowers and nutrient to carnal scat, and the vegetarian nibbles are designed by a Michelin-starred edifice successful The Netherlands. The travel present is each astir multi-sensory astonishment and uncovering caller ways of doing.

“Definitely rethinking the trouble,” said van Brakel, “without needfully fixing it.”

“Symbiosis” makes its American debut this play successful Portland and runs done February. So far, astir 1,700 beforehand tickets person been sold.

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