MORTALITIES is a virtual reality opera that examines the boundaries between life and death, between the living and the virtual. The combination of VR and opera offers the chance to step inside the opera itself and become immersed in the music and the voices of the singers.
The Virtual Reality performance ‘Mortalities’ stretches the opera concept beyond all convention. But the experience, carried by Ursula Andkjær Olsens poetry, is fantastic.
The theme is inspired by Mikkel Krause Frantzen’s concept of “necroaesthetics,” presented in his text Ligvariationer (Mortalities). Necroaesthetics is not merely the story of an actual death; it examines the state in which the boundaries between life and death become fluid—a condition made even more complex by technological development. Frantzen describes necroaesthetics as a way of understanding how death manifests and affects us in different ways.
Cultural researcher Jakob Matzen suggests looking at death from a range of different perspectives. He divides necroaesthetics into six categories: the spectral, grotesque, transcendental, self-destructive, post-human and architectonic necroaesthetics.
Rebekka Sofie Bohse Meyers' music dramatic work MORTALITIES is a VR-experience of the very fine, and I can only hope that the development will continue - also outside the realm of death
MORTALITIES is an exploration of the six categories of death, transformed into six musical atmospheric spaces developed by the artistic team.
● The libretto is written by Ursula Andkjær Olsen and set to music by composer Søs Gunver Ryberg, who gives the operatic voices a new expression within an electronic universe. The visual experession is created by Ninna Steen. In collaboration with MANND and Quad Studio, she merges the physical world with the virtual universe. The concept was conceived and initiated by Rebekka Bohse Meyer, who, through MORTALITIES, explores how virtual reality can open new spaces for opera in Denmark.
Live singers:
Anne-Kristine Skov Andersen
Katinka Marie Frida Bohse Meyer
Kirsten Voss
VR singers:
Anne-Kristine Skov Andersen
Kirsten Voss, Stephen Yeseta
Mathias Monrad Møller
Mikkel Tuxen.
Solos composed through improvisation with the singers.