An Immersive Odyssey with Yuja Wang draws audiences into Yuja’s personal and artistic journey through a multisensory mixed reality concert, combining 360° video and spatial audio with a precise acoustic recreation of Yuja’s playing on a Steinway Spirio piano; her inner thoughts as running commentary; and dazzling animations, all experienced via a cutting-edge HTC VIVE Focus Vision headset.
Playing with Fire introduces audiences to an intimate virtual performance by Yuja Wang, inviting guests to witness the physical and mental act of performance through repertoire personally selected by Yuja, ranging from Bach and Chopin to Debussy, Prokofiev and Stravinsky. From this repertoire, writer and director Pierre-Alain Giraud has crafted a narrative and created transformative visual and musical worlds in collaboration with artist Gabríela Friðriksdóttir.
At the center of the space, both real and virtual, is a Steinway & Sons Spirio concert grand piano, which acts as the bridge between the concert hall and the artist’s inner visions. The Spirio system—an advanced self-playing technology that can precisely record and reproduce the keystrokes of live performances—recreates Yuja’s virtuosity on the physical instrument in real time, synchronised with the holographic fingers of her virtual self.
As a performer, I am constantly seeking new ways to connect emotionally and creatively with audiences through music. In this vein, I am immensely curious about the evolution and potential of technology: how it changes our daily lives, enables new forms of art, and can push the boundaries of how we experience music. I have found so much inspiration from joining forces previously with artists like the legendary David Hockney and now collaborating with the talented creatives and technologists behind this project. To be able to marry art and technology with this new immersive installation is really a dream come true. Yuja Wang
Seamlessly shifting between mixed reality and virtual reality depending on the participants’ positions and different phases of the experience, Playing with Fire offers viewers unprecedented closeness—both sensory and emotional—to the musical performance. Audience members can move freely throughout the space, observing Yuja’s gestures, concentration and the way music comes to life under her fingers. Throughout the gallery, Murano glass “light bulbs” designed by the acclaimed lighting designer Philippe Berthomé are both physically suspended and also recreated in the virtual experience. As participants move closer to the piano and to the bulbs, they enter an immersive audio zone where they can hear fragments of poetry connected with the repertoire. This experience creates the illusion of being inside Yuja’s mind, allowing a deep appreciation of her personal connection to the music and the intensity of musical interpretation.
The repertoire and accompanying visual landscape of Playing with Fire explore the many facets of fire as the spark of human imagination—from the divine, transcendent light of Bach to the primordial, revolutionary blaze of Stravinsky and Prokofiev, illuminated by the works of great poets and painters—showcasing the expression of creativity through art and the power of music to capture the essence of the human experience. The repertoire is carefully selected to take audiences through a journey of human creativity and expression, with each piece and landscape representing a pivotal moment in humanity’s artistic and emotional development.
This grand narrative is intertwined with the personal story of Yuja Wang. Through her musical choices, audiences discover her evolution as an artist and her intimate relationship with music. From childhood memories to her deep connection with composers like Chopin and Stravinsky, each piece becomes a window into Yuja’s world, and her path from a young pianist in China to a world-renowned virtuoso becomes a reflection of the universal quest for artistic excellence. By sharing her thoughts and emotions as she plays, Yuja invites audiences into her mind, allowing them to experience music not merely as passive listeners but as active participants in her creative process.
A Fragrant Odyssey
Perfume shares far more than vocabulary with music. Olfactory and musical composition, the memory of scents and sounds—they echo one another and intertwine.
Throughout my conversations with Yuja Wang, and later while immersing myself in her interpretations, I sought to capture the nuances of each of the eight musical chapters. Based on the fragrances she selected, I composed olfactory impressions that reflect the variations of her incandescent and virtuosic playing, while aligning with the different visual universes created by artist Gabríela Friðriksdóttir.
Thus, for Jeux d’eau, a succession of scents reveals warm and enveloping amber notes; for Bruyères, they become woody and vibrant; I imagined them radiant for The Firebird, and round and sensual for Clair de Lune.
Each fragrance was deconstructed to reveal its core, enhance its aura and facets, and ultimately orchestrate an eight-part olfactory score—one that can be experienced in harmony with the other senses, each awakened and stirred throughout this odyssey. Francis Kurkdjian
Pierre-Alain Giraud is a director working across immersive experiences, documentaries, short fiction films, and animation. A graduate of Arts et Métiers and the London Film School, he explores the connections between cinema, music, and immersive technologies.
He is the co-founder of Novaya, a company that develops new forms of storytelling in mixed reality along with the technical tools to support them. Together with Stéphane Foenkinos, he co-directed Noire (based on the work by Tania de Montaigne), which was showcased at the Centre Pompidou, selected for the Tribeca Festival, and awarded Best Immersive Experience at Cannes 2024.
In 2023, he directed the music video Victimhood with Björk and Gabríela Friðriksdóttir for the album Fossora, which became part of the Cornucopia 2 tour. He also directed two feature documentaries with Anne Brochet — Une Cabine à Soi and Rêve de mouette — both selected for the Angoulême Film Festival, and he collaborates with Arthur Nauzyciel and Valérie Mréjen in theater.
Performer
Yuja Wang
Writer, director & creative director
Pierre-Alain Giraud
Creative director & original artwork
Gabríela Friðriksdóttir
Art director
Arthur Maugendre
Sound designers
Nicolas Becker, Antoine Martin
Lead developer
Sylvain Hayot
Scenographer
Laurence Fontaine
Lighting designer
Philippe Berthomé
Olfactory elements
Francis Kurkdjian
A production of
Vive Arts, Atlas V
Supported by
Steinway & Sons
With the support of
CNC, Maison Francis Kurkdjian, Pictanovo, Philharmonie de Paris, RGB Space
In collaboration with production partner
Lightroom