Matteo Zamagni and Nicolas Sassoon have contributed artworks to an experimental project which creates a clubbing experience for online audiences.

Organised by Sinjin Hawke and Zora Jones, Virtua is the latest endeavour for the producers behind the label/collective Fractal Fantasy. Known for blending the digital and the physical, Fractal Fantasy create themed shows which combine club night with record label, blending live shows and album launches, interactive websites, audiovisual projections, dance and a visual theremin.

For their latest show, Hawke and Jones created a club space in the digital realm. The space is both a present experience and a projection into the future; while designing Virtua the producers asked themselves what the ideal club will look like once lockdown conditions ease. 

“We asked ourselves: what would be the best blank canvas for meaningful cultural interaction? What fosters the highest level of expression for artists and creative engineers? We intend to build Virtua physically. For now, we'll start by building a temporary space for feasibility testing, observe what goes wrong, what needs improvement, make the necessary adjustments and then pitch for something more long-term and permanent.” - Hawke and Jones, PAPER.

Virtua has a central DJ booth and a spatial audio system, and all walls in the space are projection screens. The online space features wall projections by Nicolas Sassoon and Matteo Zamagni and a soundtrack by Martyn Bootyspoon, Sinjin Hawke, Zora Jones, Xzavier Stone and Zubotnik. The soundtrack has been released as an album and the club experience can be experienced as a 360° fly through (watch the fly through below). Fractal Fantasy intend the fly through as a blueprint for a future physical space.