Mixing real life with virtual reality in a one-on-one experience with headset and performer, a new immersive show exploring touch
“Courageous application of its innovative multidisciplinary approach to challenge audiences in a way that is specific to its form.“
Special Mention from the Jury at Sheffield Doc Fest 2023
“Exquisitely executed”
★★★★ The Stage
“A strangely wonderful experimental piece”
★★★★★ The Reviews Hub
“Innovative blend of art and technology”
London Daily News
Within Touching Distance premiered at Sheffield DocFest 2023, receiving a special mention for the courageous application of its innovative multidisciplinary approach to challenge audiences in a way that is specific to its form. The show has won the Innovation Award at The Stage Awards 2024 and the Unlimited International Partner Awards 2023. Sir Nichola Serota (Chair, Arts Council England) mentioned Within Touching Distance as an inspiring example in his keynote speech at the National Creative Ageing Conference 2023.
Exploring the importance of touch, Within Touching Distance takes one audience member at a time through a journey from childhood to adulthood and old age through the medium of a bedtime routine. A patient-led artwork, the experience asks audiences to consider how we interact at a sensory level with the world and how our decisions can shape our lives. At the start of the 35-minute production, audiences put on a VR headset and are gently put to bed by a motherly figure before being immersed in an interactive dreamscape, exploring memories, and finally experiencing a palliative care setting. Each stage asks us about the nature of touch and the comfort of human connection.
Within Touching Distance is part of a broader research in arts and health exploring the potential of empathy and touch to improve psychological health and wellbeing, co-designing binaural sound and 360o video, using the synching platform developed to explore the potential in therapy settings.
World Premiere at Sheffield Doc Fest (June 2023) and London Premiere at Stephen Lawrence Gallery as part of Sound and Image Festival (Nov 2023).
For more information and to book this show, email producer@zu-uk.com.
