Performance, Digital Arts

Mature audiences

60 minutes

Description

MÆ – Motion Aftereffect explores the perceptual and embodied implications of emerging consumer technologies associated with extended reality (XR). The work incorporates motion-capture data (sourced online and uniquely generated), off-the-shelf and customized 3D models, as well as various monologues found on the Internet. These monologues present first-person accounts of virtual reality gaming, VR pornography, psychedelic explorations, out-of-body experiences, and tutorials on astral projection and 3D avatar customization. Their intentional diversity places virtual technologies on the same level as analog methods—such as psychedelics and metaphysical exploration—as tools for expanding individual perception of reality, time, and space.

The work references historical and contemporary approaches to mediating the body, from Oskar Schlemmer’s Bauhaus stage experiments and Al Hansen’s Lettuce Manifesto during the Fluxus period, to Brody Condon’s early artistic video games (Adam Killer, 1999) and the speculative provocations of Manifest.AR’s Manifesto for Augmented Reality Art (2011). These manifestos, texts, and artworks offer insight into the digital reproduction, transfer, and translation of human movement on screen and/or on stage.

MÆ – Motion Aftereffect was shortlisted for the Lumen Prize for Art & Technology in the “B.C.S Immersive Environments” category in 2021 and received the OFFTA Award in 2025.

Biography

Freya Björg Olafson is an artist working with video, audio, animation, motion capture, extended reality (XR), painting, and performance. In spring 2020, Olafson was a finalist for the Sobey Art Award, and in July 2021, was shortlisted for the Lumen Prize for Art & Technology. Olafson is an assistant professor in digital media at the School of Art, University of Manitoba.

**Please note that the doors will close at the start of the performance and no latecomers will be admitted.**

Credits

Creation + Performance + Video: Freya Björg Olafson

Co-presence: Alanna Kraaijeveld (TBC, may be a local performer)

Sound Design: Emma Hendrix

Lighting Design: Hugh Conacher

Assistant Lighting Designer: Jon Cleveland

VR Motion Capture & Environment: Freya Björg Olafson

Artistic Consultant: Tedd Robinson

Wardrobe: Wanda Farian

Translation: Marie Claire Forté

With the support of:

Canada Council for the Arts, Manitoba Arts Council, Winnipeg Arts Council

CounterPulse “Combustible – Artist Residency & Commissioning Program,” with primary support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, the Zellerbach Family Foundation, and the Ken Hempel Fund for the Arts.

Canadian Heritage / OFFTA – which supported the translation

Special thanks to:

For their contribution to the research: Lise McMillan (Winnipeg), Thomas Wester (Portland), Rachel Harris, Ellen Furey, Kathy Casey, and Larry Lavender (Montreal), Yağız Mungan (San Francisco), James Phillips and Will Pappenheimer (Montreal).

Refunds

No refunds