ONASSIS ONX at Cannes Film Festival 2025
Onassis ONX is showing up big for the Festival De Cannes 2025 Immersive Competition with two works: “The Vivid Unknown: CloudQatsi” by John Fitzgerald and Godfrey Reggio and “In The Current of Being” by Cameron Kostopoulos.
Image: “In the Current of Being” courtesy of Cameron Kostopoulos
Onassis ONX member Cameron Kostopoulos’ “In the Current of Being” is a haptic VR experience that shares the true story of Carolyn Mercer, a survivor of electroshock conversion therapy aimed at 'correcting' her gender identity. Through wearable haptic vests, sleeves, and gloves, participants physically connect to the rhythm of Carolyn’s heartbeat, the cadence of her breath, and the tremors of the procedures she endured. Her journey confronts the inhumanity of these practices and highlights the extraordinary strength it takes to live authentically.
“In the Current of Being” received the Agog Immersive Impact Award.
Photo: Courtesy of the artists
The Vivid Unknown: CloudQatsi
“The Vivid Unknown: CloudQatsi” is an ephemeral installation composed of projected light and water vapor, inspired by “Koyaanisqatsi”’s sweeping vision of a world in transition—a life out of balance (“Koyaanisqatsi” is a groundbreaking 1982 non-narrative documentary film that depicts the contrast between nature and contemporary civilization). Projected onto a veil of mist, clouds of light converge into fleeting apparitions, housed within a cavernous, resonant chamber. The visuals breathe with the elements, dissolving the boundaries between image and environment, technology and nature, presence and absence. As the very ground beneath us shifts from terra firma to techno firma, the installation invites viewers to stand inside the flux. Inseparable from its surroundings—reshaped and eroded by the winds of time—“CloudQatsi” asks, which age is this, the sunset or the dawn?
The work was developed through Onassis ONX, the global platform of Onassis Foundation for new media art and digital culture. It will be showcased at Plásmata 3 exhibition at Pedion tou Areos park from 27.05 - 15.06.2025.
