The performance begins with the VR performer
located in a cave below the tableland. Her first action is to leave
the cave and ascend to the tableland. On the tableland, the sculptures
in the working drawings were replaced by icosahedral "gems"
in twelve different colors. When the VR performer approaches a gem,
it slowly spins and expands. When the VR performer enters the gem,
the appropriate musical score pops up on the laptop screens the
musicians are watching.
The VR performer was represented in the virtual
world by a mask which floated in front of her. The position of the
mask was controlled by the three-button wand used for navigation.
Within each gem, the VR performer would put on a new mask, representative
of the proverb associated with the gem. The moment when the new
mask appeared sent a cue to the musicians to begin the short song
for the proverb.
Upon leaving the gem, the VR performer travels
with the new mask; meanwhile, a large image of the mask replaces
the gem. When the performer has visited all the gems, the island
is populated by masks, all of them turned toward the performer.
Only the first and last masks are fixed elements in the performance;
otherwise, the performer is free to move about the landscape. With
the closing mask, a bird, the performer flies into the air and follows
the stream of words down the center of the island. She turns and
looks back over the island, and the final mask is replaced by the
mask that represented her at the very beginning of the piece, now
turned towards the audience and left floating in the air as the
performer, too, turns to look at the audience.
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