Depart

The Entropy Gardens is an artistic VR experience that explores one of humanity’s most archetypical artforms – garden making. It challenges its myths, aesthetics and modes of perception. Like a garden, Depart’s work attempts to become a spatiotemporal poem — a poetic organism.

In an open simulation, a hermetic world in form of a virtual garden is constructed, creating a multisensory experience that explores the nature of post-digital reality. A virtual landscape that invites us to leave behind the gate of physical reality, admitting the visitor into a place that is equally challenging and contemplative (and of course, profoundly weird).

Deeply rooted in our culture and often conceived on the basis of given ideals, the garden determines the behaviour of the visitor, but, at the same time, requires its active participation. Virtual narration only exists and develops through the visitor’s immersion and interaction with the garden. Through sounds, images and algorithms, a virtual immanence is generated and the passive observer becomes the protagonist, indispensable for the work to unfold completely.

DEPART

DEPART is Leonhard Lass and Gregor Ladenhauf. Their core endeavour is the conception of poetic, audiovisual immersions. Deeply rooted in the digital, they explore the ritualistic character of algorithms and venture deliberately into the uncanny – creating unique moments that are coined by formally rigorous and profound aesthetics.

DEPART work in a poetic tradition. They strive to subvert languages – not just literal, word-based languages, but languages as symbolic systems in general (involving sounds, images, algorithms, gestures, objects, etc). Through subtle manipulation of their specific grammars, intentional short-circuiting of their reference networks and slight shifts of perspective they aim to trigger internal landslides of consciousness. As their modus operandi they employ generative processes and realtime simulation to construct hermetically “believable worlds”, transitory sandboxes of synchronicities bordering on the surreal, which evoke a virtual immanence. They love surprises.

Virtual Reality activities are not recommended for children under 13.

Please arrive ten minutes in advance.