Presentation of the residency My fears murmured to you by the artist Laurent Bazin

- Can you introduce yourself? 

I am a stage director and visual artist. For many years I create immersive spectacles on the topic of the desire to see. I discovered virtual reality some years ago and I saw in it the possibility to dip the spectator in a mental universe much further than theatre. As I was a resident in the Villa Medici, three years ago, I directed The Cliffs of V. a virtual reality experience at the crossroads between cinematic performance and the installation.

 Nowadays I would like to go further in the construction of immersive fictions to bring always more senses and sensoriality.

- Can you present your project My Fears Murmured to You?

During this project I would like to produce a piece where the spectacular goes with the grasp of intimacy. As many in the field of VR, I strive for creating intense sensations. But perhaps in another way: I want to astonish, not with marvellous landscapes but with human emotions. I believe that a simple conversation can become overwhelming if we can capture the micro variations that disturb a cheekbone. I would like to make the most of what is the slimiest in human exchanges, not describable by words. That’s why we need to work with VR close-ups technology.

- What do you expect from this residency?

I hope to experiment, experiment and experiment again. To have time to make mistakes. To propose new work approaches. Because there are too often self-restrictions in the shooting context where efficiency is the rule. I do really hope to contribute enriching the range of tools and the methodological color pallet of this so young artistic field which is virtual reality.

Finally I would like that the eye comes to sniff the body and brings back unexpected experiences. That is to say, to enhance the feeling of physical proximity with the one, so precious, of human proximity.