Analysis: The Rainbow Serpent

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The Rainbow Serpent by Zzilla, 361 University Avenue Nuit Blanche is an annual sunrise to sunset arts festival that happens in downtown Toronto. It transforms the city into a never ending supply of art installations from all mediums; paintings, sculptures, dances, live action, digital media and much more. These events can range from being just an observation piece (following Brecht’s theories) to full audience interaction and immersion (following Artaud). The art installation that we saw at Nuit Blanche was called the Rainbow Serpent. The Rainbow Serpent was created by the artist Zzilla whose work is inspired by the environment. This specific installation falls under the category of audience interaction. The audience was presented with an …show more content…

The Rainbow Serpent installation needed the spectator to not only observe but also interact with their cell phone via an application that would further the immersiveness of the installation. Therefore, this would go alongside with Artaud’s theory that there should be as little space between the audience and the art, “It is in order to attack the spectator’s sensibility on all sides that we advocate a revolving spectacle which, instead of making the stage and auditorium two closed worlds, without possible communication, spreads its visual and sonorous outbursts over the entire mass of the spectators” (Antonin Artaud, Letters on Cruelty pg. 89). When you open the application on your smartphone, the earth would appear in the middle of the pond. As time progresses, we would see the earth being destroyed by humanity. After the Earth is destroyed the Rainbow Serpent appears from the centre of the pond, to save us from our inevitable death. Therefore, the audience needed to forgo distance and use the application to get the full experience of the …show more content…

He says “it is cruelty that cements matter together, cruelty that molds the features of the created world.” (Antonin Artaud, Letters on Cruelty pg. 84). No one likes to be reminded that we are slowly destroying our world, but that’s exactly what this installation does. It can be considered cruel because it makes people feel uncomfortable to think about. However, the artist Zzilla believes that humanity needs to feel the unformortableness this installation causes, in order to truly feel the impact. Artaud reiterates this aspect by saying “Mainstream art, and the society we live in, “alienates” us from our true selves. It removes us from both our immediate experience and desire” (PowerPoint, Week 3). It was his belief that emotions, desires and feelings couldn't be translated into language, but could only be revealed by gestures. Therefore, experiences outweigh spoken

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