Sacred Hill
The Iranian artist Ali Eslami, who resides in the Netherlands, explores what it means to live in virtual reality (VR). To do so, he has been building the experimental universe ‘False Mirror’ since 2017, a constantly evolving digital city in which post-human future scenarios are sketched. The work deals with belief systems and mobility, but also with the discovery of new entities. Eslami invites us to think about our essence, who and what we think we are and what we really want or need.
Part of ‘False Mirror’ is ‘Sacred Hill’. The VR installation – for which Eslami collaborated with Klasien van de Zandschulp – is a kind of ritual machine, in which you temporarily leave your body to return to it at the end. When logging in for the first time, you still have hands that seem human, but as you travel through four tunnels your body disappears and you keep experiencing and interact with the space around you differently. Eventually, you no longer move through the space, but the space moves through you. The work explores our need for spirituality within VR. What does it mean to be human in virtual reality? See also: www.sacredhill.space.
artists: Ali Eslami & Klasien van de Zandschulp, in collaboration with Mamali Shafahi | sound design: Shahin Entezami and Arnoud Traa | graphic design: Vincent Meertens | scent design: Andreas Wilhelm | costume: Evita Ative | courtesy of: Creative Industries Fund NL, Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, Mondriaan Fund, Netherlands Film Festival and Het Nieuwe Instituut
