THE RHYTHM OF THE OCEAN VORTEX

Curator Antonia Folguera commissioned Barcelona-based studio Desilence to adapt their existing work, The Rhythm of the Ocean, to Bellver Blue Tech Zone’s Vortex—a 360-degree immersive space encased in LED screens and measuring 7x4.5 metres. As Desilence explains, “It’s the closest feeling to VR without a headset.” The work, a visual collaboration with synth pioneer Suzanne Ciani and her iconic soundscapes, proved tailor-made for the Vortex environment.

Desilence took the ocean itself as their guiding light, envisaging it as the perfect metaphor for immersion. They brought a workstation and began experimenting directly in the space, exploring how the fulldome and mapping versions of the project could work in a cylindrical format. The piece evolved through hands-on testing, letting the architecture and immersive conditions of the Vortex guide the work’s transformation.

As the studio explains, they chose to approach the adaptation as “an abstract digital painting in constant transformation.” Currents, waves, and light patterns flow across the cylindrical canvas, occasionally punctuated by ephemeral bubble trails suggesting the fleeting presence of marine life. Working to Ciani’s soundtrack, they remained fixated on the idea that underwater, sound behaves differently, light refracts, temperature shifts—everything responds to a physics unlike that of the surface world in which we live.

Technically, Desilence used their six years of experience with Notch to render their visuals in equirectangular format, delivering final renders in NotchLC format. They used their custom-made “visual instrument,” a real-time 3D art engine combining Notch and VDMX. The LED environment’s capacity for pitch-black shadows intensified the immersivity, creating emotionally resonant experiences many visitors returned to more than once.