https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHeRtowAdFI
This VR film can be experienced via mobile phone, Google Box or Standalone VR headsets, Oculus etc. Use headphones for the best audio quality. Ensure the resolution settings are 360 and 5K for best quality viewing.
Historically, pandemics have forced humans to reflect on their past, and imagine the aftermath. We have entered a portal, a parallel universe, between one world, the known past, and the world of the unknown future. Imagination and transformation are keywords in this pandemic-effected work that seems timelier than ever. The apocalyptic nature of events unfolding over the pandemic led to the concept of this work.
For centuries the religious iconographies of the Madonna and the Goddess Kali have shaped the spiritual and social construct of Catholic and Hindu societies. As Kali Madonna, a composite of hybrid iconographies, I am both artist and sacred art, drawing the audience through a mythical portal inhabited by the “terrible divine feminine” – the monstrous female who incorporates birth and death, giver of life and slayer of ignorance.
The body becomes a conduit for transformation through ritual, dance, and embodiment, as you, the virtual pilgrim, travel through sacred terrain to worship at the inner sanctum of Kali Madonna, the post-apocalyptic Goddess.
Concept/Performance: Rakini Devi
3D VR Design/Director: Carlos Gomes VR Filming/Editing/Post-Production Animation: Sam James
Produced by: Theatre Kantanka
Music Composition: Karl Ockelford Vocals: Rakini Devi
Sound Design: Gail Priest
Costumes, Make Up and Props: Rakini Devi
Latex Costume: Jason Patten.
This project was supported by Australia Council for the Arts, Create NSW, Blacktown Arts Centre, Department of Theatre and Performance Studies University of Sydney.