A 3D Phenomenon: the rise of immersive art from Pliny to Paddington

We live in a world in which we are spoilt for visual choice when it comes to art, most notably cinema.  We can watch a film in normal, comfortable 2D, slightly odd, headache-inducing 3D or frankly unnecessary 4D, 5D and 6D.  The last three are all the same, just marketed differently for ‘variety’.  This obsession with pushing beyond previous dimensional boundaries has diffused into other realms of art, however surprisingly it dates back further than the past few decades.

According to acclaimed Algerian artist Maurice Benayoun, the first exhibition of interactive art was documented by Pliny the Elder in the 5^th Century BC.  The story goes as follows: An ancient Greek artist, Zeuxis, challenges fellow painter Parrhasius to a painting contest.  Zeuxis presents a painting depicting grapes so realistic that birds peck at them from the sky.  Parrhasius, impressed by this feat, invites Zeuxis to his studio in order for him to unveil the painting.  Zeuxis does so, reaching to draw back the curtain, and is taken aback when he realises that the curtain itself is a painted illusion.  Parrhasius claimed, ‘Zeuxis may have fooled the birds, but I have fooled Zeuxis.’  In effect, Parrhasius’ painting was meaningless without Zeuxis’ interaction with it; Zeuxis’ involvement in the piece is what gave it such ironical significance.  Although the nature of such a concept may have changed to fit modern audiences, the concept remains the same. 

           

Dennis Severs (1948-1999) was an American artist who dedicated the latter part of his life to the restoration of a George I terraced house in Spitalfields, London.  Visitors to his house are urged to ‘travel past the picture frame’ and immerse themselves within the smoky atmosphere of the 18^th Century building, which is created by period furnishings, guttering candlelight and concealed subtle sound effects. 

Inside Dennis Severs' House: 18 Folgate Street

            “The game” Mr Severs said himself, “is that you interrupt a family of Huguenot silk-weavers named Jervis who, though they can sometimes be heard, seem always to be just out of sight.”  The house’s motto is adamant that “you either see it, or you don’t” – a firm reminder to those who suffer from ‘pigeon-holed intelligence’, that Severs’ canvas is the imagination of his visitors; his art relies on the suspension of disbelief, the willingness to enter through the picture-frame.  Thus, without a conscious interaction with this art it is rendered meaningless: in this case the house would be negated to an impressive exhibition of antiques, a laudable celebration of local history, the obsessive product of an American anglophile.   In this way 18 Folgate Street is a large-scale reproduction of Parrhasius’ painting in that it requires the participation of the viewer, albeit in a more imaginative way. 

            

Similarly this phenomenon can be seen within the traditionally confined arena of theatre.   Although interactive theatre is not a new genre, its popularity has exploded in recent years.  One company leading the pack is Punchdrunk, who seek to reject typical theatrical formats which expect passive obedience from their detached audience.  Instead, the company occupies dramatic sites for their performances and thrusts the audiences into very personal and changeable narratives in which they must immerse themselves within the actors and set.

One such performance is The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable, which takes place in the abandoned Temple Studios - a vast multi-tiered building just outside Paddington Station.  The working film set, in which the audience is free to roam among the actors, is designed with the same precision and attention to detail as Dennis Severs’ house, because in the absence of a typical format the audience are compelled to make sense of the fragmented spectacle before them: by hastily reading a desperate love letter found on the bed of a disused caravan, by inspecting the wares sold in the various shops on each floor of the building, by following the pungent smell of antiseptic to a gloomy corner where a sinister medical examination is taking place.  

Stageshot: A Drowned Man
Photo from www.thepublicreviews.com

Once the audience have grasped the idea that they will never be able to piece together the complete narrative, if indeed there is one, they become aware that their enjoyment of and immersion in the show is more important than their understanding of the obscure plot – indeed every member of the audience’s experience will be as unique as they choose it to be.

So just as Parrhasius’ painting required Zeuxis’ interaction with it, so do Dennis Severs’ house and the Punchdrunk Productions; each ask the viewer or audience to ‘immerse themselves’ within the art form in a way that creates a unique impression upon each person as they experience it.  This increasing appreciation of sensory art forms, from 3D cinema to immersive theatre, perhaps stems from our desire to dispense of the demarcations associated with traditional entertainment and assume some responsibility in the understanding of the piece rather than remain as submissive spectators peering towards stage from the comforting distance of the upper circle.