In Between Realities
With Michel van der Aa
Art
Synopsis
In Between Realities
How does technology transform humanity? Do we need a body to be human? In his multidisciplinary work, composer and director Michel van der Aa explores the big themes of our digitised age and contemplates existential questions in the border area between humans, machines and consciousness.
Van der Aa re-energises the world of opera. Whether his VR goggles are on or off, he is always looking towards the future. In Between Realities shows him working on a new music theatre project, crossing the boundaries between remembering and forgetting, reality and unreality, life and death. Together with actors and avatars he forges new paths into the metaverse.
Credits
- Character
- Michel van der Aa
- Director
- Carin Goeijers
- Country
- Netherlands
- Duration
- 17 min
- Year
- 2023
Michel van der Aa
As a child, Michel van der Aa (1970) used to build labyrinths out of cardboard, complete with intriguing soundscapes. Today, he lets audiences enter alternative worlds in a different way: through his inventive musical, cinematic and digital creations. As a multimedia artist, he brings together various disciplines and leads the classical opera genre into new dimensions.
Van der Aa has received international acclaim and has won many awards, including the Johannes Vermeer Prize (2015) and the International Opera Award for best digital opera (2022) for his production Upload.