Tribeca Immersive 2019: "Gymnasia"

Gymnasia crept onto me even before I put on VR set on and “stepped” into the abandoned school inhabited by ghosts and mechanical puppets. A puppet with a giant head on top of the projection table floats along the Virtual Arcade and sways her hands gracefully as if she is conducting an unseen choir to hypnotize passersby. I curiously follow the lady. I step into the booth and there is a small waiting area inside where a puppet boy with green skin keeps me company. The crumpled note sheets are rustling underneath my feet. Projections of shadowy silhouettes of children racing occasionally flash across the walls of the room. An assistant dressed in a lab coat helps me into the VR set. 

Gymanasia at Tribeca Immersive. Photo by Asya Gorovits

                  

I find myself in the middle of the abandoned gym with basketballs scattered around the floor. For some time I just marvel at the detailed textures of decay in this animated world created by Clyde Henry Productions in collaboration with Felix & Paul Studios. But soon the space around me starts to come alive with inhabitants both unseen and visible. The familiar doll on top of the projecting table peaks into the room. The green skinned boy emerges next to me as I am suddenly in the middle of the stage now looking down at the same auditorium. The puppet on top of the projector uses it to projects sheets of music and sways her hands. The boy next to me starts singing. I can see the world in 360 degrees but I can’t move. Am I also some kind of puppet serving in this school even long after the humans have disappeared?  

Gymnasia has the liquid quality of a surreal dream. The sound design consisting of invisible children playing and the green boy singing creates an eerie atmosphere of a horror film. Myriads of questions are buzzing inside my head: What is this place? Why is it haunted? Did something horrible happen to the children? How and why do the puppets maintain their autonomy? Hardly any questions get answered during this six-minute experience. I get out of the VR confused and intrigued like after an odd dream. For now, Gymnasia seams like a teaser to a bigger story. I hope this is what it is and I will be first in line to see how Clyde Henry Production will further develop the fascinating world that they have created.    

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Gymnasia (World Premiere) – Canada

Project Creator: Clyde Henry Productions

Key Collaborators: The National Film Board of Canada and Felix & Paul Studios

Duration: 6 minutes

(This review was published in Meniscus Magazine on May 19th)