Segal Center Film Festival on Theatre and Performance (FTP) 2022 presents
Live stream Arielle F
by Simon Senn
Country: Switzerland | Running Time: 55 | Language: French | Year Of Release: 2020
About Live stream Arielle F
In this digital conference, Simon Senn, a videographer and visual artist from Geneva, demonstrates how the virtual world and the real world are not always in opposition, revealing the unexpected entanglements between technology, representation, gender, and law.
Simon Senn’s experience began when he bought the digital replica of a female body online. He then went in search of the woman whose body he was « virtually » inhabiting. Onstage he conveys this disturbing experience to the audience.
“What can this body do ?
I bought a digital replica of a female body on a website for $12. The file contained a static, photorealistic representation in three dimensions of the naked body of a young woman. I used a free online tool to give her digital bones; this enabled me to get her moving. With the help of several Internet users around the world that I met online, I developed an immersive motion capture system. I bought a set of virtual reality equipment, including sensors, designed for playing video games. I positioned the sensors on my body, put on the virtual reality headset, and ‘became’ this young woman. I raise my hands, I look at them, and they’re her hands. I look downwards and my mind is fooled into thinking that I have the body of a woman. All the details of this body and skin are visible.
I even catch myself thinking that it suits me.
After this disturbing experience, I looked up the woman on social media by using the hashtag #3dscanstore. I discovered a selfie she had posted at the time the scan was done. I contacted her and suggested we meet. She accepted. I went to her home in England and filmed our meeting. We decided to call her Arielle.
This encounter unsettled me, so I visited a psychologist and asked about the identity is- sues related to the perceptions of one’s own body. « Snapchat dysmorphia », the desire to surgically transform oneself to resemble filtered selfies, is today recognised as a clinical condition. I also queried a lawyer about the legal issues related to the use of this digital body. The discussion with Arielle continued. We talked about what her body could do. She got me doing things I would never have done without this new body-image, which in a way became mine.
Alone onstage with this commonplace virtual reality technology and the tools that I bought throughout the project – and with Arielle joining in on Facetime and the third presence of her body that I move around – I’m here to explain the story.”
SIMON SENN MAY 2019
Live Stream Arielle F
Digital live performance based on the show Be Arielle F Duration: 40 min
Online Live-stream performance
English subtitles available
Concept and direction
Simon Senn
With
Simon Senn Arielle F.
and a virtual body
Production
Compagnie Simon Senn
Coproduction
Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne
Le Grütli, Centre de production et de diffusion des Arts vivants, Théâtre du Loup
Distribution and touring
Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne
With the support of
Fondation suisse pour la culture Pro Helvetia
Fondation Ernst Göhner
Pour-cent culturel Migros
Porosus
Loterie Romande
A working version of the performance Be Arielle F came second at the PREMIO awards for encouraging performing arts, which was held on Saturday 18 May 2019 at the Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne
Creation April 2020
About Simon Senn
At first sight, Simon Senn’s work sometimes gives the impression that he is a socially engaged artist speaking out against a certain type of injustice. However, his work reveals a more ambiguous approach. Even though to a certain extent it is primarily based on reality, there is always a layer of fiction that is interposed. Simon Senn lives in Geneva. He has completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the HEAD in Geneva (Haute école d’art et de design) and a Masters at Goldsmiths College in London.
About The Festival
The Segal Center Film Festival on Theatre and Performance (FTP) is an annual event showcasing films drawn from the world of theatre and performance. The festival presents experimental, emerging, and established theatre artists and filmmakers from around the world to audiences and industry professionals. The 7th annual festival will focus on work for the screen created by theatre artists during the Time of Corona. The festival will be held digitally from March 1st – 15th 2022.
Watch Live stream Arielle F from March 1st to March 15th 2022 on the Segal Center Film Festival on Theatre and Performance (FTP) website.
Support this film by Simon Senn by making a direct donation to them at the following details: bank account information: CH85 0900 0000 1750 9224 9 / swift code: POFICHBEXXX
Read more about Simon Senn and Live stream Arielle F at (https://vidy.ch/en/live-stream-arielle-f-0) or get in touch at production@vidy.ch / Facebook @theatredevidy / Twitter @theatredevidy / Instagram @theatredevi
For more visit:
- https://www.rts.ch/audio-podcast/2021/audio/be-arielle-f-theatre-virtuel-et-vertigineux-25116003.html
- https://usbeketrica.com/fr/article/corps-virtuel-douze-dollars-black-friday
- https://www.tdg.ch/culture/stade-miroir-ere-numerique-be-arielle-f-garantit-vertige/story/26953827
