The Milan Machinima Festival is delighted to present Nicolas Gebbe’s visionary project The Sunset Special, as part of the special program Utopia/Dystopia. Gebbe’s work will be available between March 19-26 2023 on the MMF website.
The Sunset Special is a mesmerizing audiovisual and interdisciplinary multimedia experience centered around an animated short film. With a critical and yet ironic eye, Gebbe delves into the effects of reality-distorting imagery and narratives perpetuated by social media and advertising through new technologies. The project provocatively questions our desires, nostalgia, and wanderlust, and skillfully deconstructs the digital products that promise us the perfect life: the idyllic trip, the flawless partner, the ultimate existence.
Immersed in a world of luxury, abundance, and travel, The Sunset Special masterfully plays with the superficiality that permeates these digital products and their constructed worlds. This thought-provoking project examines the role of the individual in the digital world as a consumer, exploring the connection between virtual experiences and real-world desires. How much of our attention is consumed by these virtual worlds, and what influence do they have on our desires and moral compass? Gebbe's exploration of these questions invites viewers to consider their own relationship with digital narratives and social interaction.
The Sunset Special comprises a multi-dimensional and multimedia project that includes an exhibition, a VR experience (coming soon), and a concept social media account. Each of these independent projects is narratively and audiovisually linked, forming a comprehensive and coherent experience that offers viewers a deeper understanding of the connections between the digital and analog worlds. For instance, the VR experience, currently under development, delivers “a constant stream of tropical travel paradise images. The VR-experience lead through a high-resolution 3D rendered holiday resort featured by The Sunset Special”.
Nicolas Gebbe, The Sunset Special, the virtual exhibition (Courtesy of the Artist)
A visionary work that boldly challenges our perceptions of reality, digital media, and social interaction, The Sunset Special premiered at the Locarno International Film Festival, and was subsequently screened at Annecy International Animation Film Festival (WTF screening), Athens International Film + Video Festival Ohio, Motovun Film Festival, Lago Filmfest, Vilnius Film Festival. Filmfest Dresden: Open Air Screening, Festival du nouveau cinéma Montreal and KFFK Short film festival Cologne.
Matteo Bittanti
Works cited
Nicolas Gebbe
The Sunset Special
digital video, color, sound, 17’ 30”, Germany, 2022