Marco Brambilla's video projections are part of the production of Pelléas et Mélisande, Claude Debussy’s only opera, which runs at the Opera Ballet Vlaanderen in Antwerp until 16 June 2018.
The opera’s set was designed by Marina Abramović; it features a giant, crystal-covered convex mirror that merges into the floor and act like an eye. Brambilla's video work acts as the "iris" at the center of the ‘window to the soul’, as well as a portal linking the cosmos, the conscious and the unconscious. Brambilla’s artworks also build a link between art and science. The images were produced using collages of Hubble and NASA images. More stills from the video backdrop can be seen via Designboom.
Written in 1902, Pelléas et Mélisande is a contemplation on human states of being. It deals with creation and destruction, love found and lost, soulmates and separations. The opera is presented to mark 100 years since Claude Debussy’s death. It was co-directed and choreographed by Damien Jalet and directed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, with costumes by Iris van Herpen. Following its Belgian showing, the production will tour Europe - visiting Luxembourg, Strasbourg, Geneva and Venice - in 2019.
Top image: Courtesy of Marco Brambilla studio, Opera Vlaanderen
