#1784: The Incredible Spatial Transitions of “Dark Rooms” with Radical Consent Innovations

I interviewed Mads Damsbo & Laurits Flensted-Jensen about Dark Rooms on Saturday, August 30, 2025 at Venice Immersive in Venice, Italy. Here is the story synopsis for Dark Rooms: "Dark Rooms is an exploration of human psychology through the prism of sexuality. The viewer and two other participants are invited to explore four inner spaces, each one a private, intimate story told and co-created by real people. A unique, embodied experience, guiding the users step by step into the heart of human desire and the shadows it casts. Dark Rooms is a sensory, site-specific and immersive installation that confronts the audience with their own bias and boundaries, exposing our deepest longings and the forces that may shape our sexual identities." Here are the contextual domains that are explored: Alternative and non-normative sexualities [5] that are usually hidden or taboo [12]. Exploring the culture of these Dark Rooms [11], the connection to personal identity [1], but also past and various familial traumas.[4]. Watch both as an invisible ghost [12], but also moments as an embodied character [1] to mimic being a part of this alternative culture [11]. Here is the Elemental Center of Gravity: 1st Center of Gravity of Earth Element / Environmental and Embodied Presence: Immerse yourself into the spatial architecture of these dark rooms. You're mostly a ghostly observer, but sometimes you do swtich into having an embodied role as a character within the narrative that's unfolding. But more to embody the form rather than to communicate or fully participate. More to evoke some embodied memories than to truly participate. The spatial transitions and overall spatial journey within this piece was one of the best jobs that I've ever seen. Feel like truely being taken on a spatial journey that I locomote through using my body and walking, but there's a cinematic quality to the spatial editing and rhythm of storytelling that's mirrored and amplified by embodied movements through space.2nd Center of Gravity of Water Element / Emotional Presence: Sense of awe, excitement, and wonderment. Listen to the oral history stories of these main protagonists, but in a way that's like walking through a spatial film, a waking dream, and a montage of memories. We see the stories of 3 different protagonists told sequentially.3rd Center of Gravity of Fire Element / Active Presence: Walking through a spatial architecture to tell a story. There's instances where you become a character who is play acting in the scene. No real narrative agency4th Center of Gravity of Air Element / Mental and Social Presence: Voice over narration is the primary mode in which the story is being told, but you're also embedded into these various spatial contexts and environments, and so there's also additional aspects of environmental storytelling happening. This experience allowed 3 people at a time to see it, and you see the other people as avatars who are also exploring these worlds. There was an AI-enabled offboarding pilot where you would start to debrief and talk about your experience, but it didn't necessarily have a clear stopping point as it would sort of endlessly ask questions. Archetypal Themes and Character Explored: exploration of human psychology through the prism of sexuality especially the "queer and non-normative sexualities." Also intends to "step into the heart of human desire and the shadows it casts" & "wish to open the doors to the darker spaces of our protagonists’ sexuality." Embodied radical consent within the production of the process where participants had more control and agency over how their story was being told Artist Statement: "Dark Rooms was born out of a shared playfulness and curiosity. Laurits, coming from classic documentary, and Mads, from immersive storytelling, began a collaboration based on the idea of a virtual reality experience that would allow the audience to explore unknown territory through the prism of sexuality. Early on, Anne Sofie was connected to the project, and through her eyes and experience with queer and non-normative sexualities, the project grew into its current form. Dark Rooms is not only a reference to the unknown and the sexual — it is also a wish to open the doors to the darker spaces of our protagonists’ sexuality. Under the maxim of “nothing about us, without us”, Dark Rooms was developed and designed through an intimate co-creation process with the protagonists, to help expose their journeys in a form that the audience would embody." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JV7H0mn_BPU This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality