Dragzina

Hi,
I am an artist Nikita Shokhov.
The Dragzina AR app is a work of art; it's our collab with Masha Vorslav, a leader of the Dragzina gender play community in Moscow.

This immersive experience is going to challenge your perception of space. The LGBTQIA+ community is often disoriented within heteronormative spaces, and this work reverses that dichotomy by disorienting the audience.

Through the poetics of augmented reality and cinematic holograms, the Dragzina community and I work together to amplify their voices toward freedom of human individuality. You will see drag artists from Moscow: Lorina Rey, Masha Vorslav, Vanessa Diziai, Ramona Vile, Vannet, Anoche Xenon, Skinny Jenny, and Polis Vera/Robert.

This virtual magical environment represents a typical underground queer party that allows disruption of the state dictatorship. It is where an image of a better future is born.

The length of the performance is 12 minutes.

This immersive experience only works with LiDAR-powered iOS devices (iPhone 12 Pro or newer and iPad Pro 2nd Gen or newer). So please make sure you have an appropriate one before installing the app.

First, you will 3D scan your space and have clear instructions on how to do it.
Then, you will immerse yourself in the drag queen performances. The experience will engage you with virtual characters, the architecture around you, and other humans in space if they are present.

created by NIKITA SHOKHOV, MASHA VORSLAV

producer ANNA EVTIUGINA - IPURELAND.art

developers (Scene Geometry) YUAN LI, FEIYU LU

creative technologist (mise-en-scène algorithm) ZACH DUER

developer (User Interface) PARKER FORD

art managers OLESYA BOLMATOVA, ELENA POPOVA

production assistant ANTON PRESNOV

costume designer (for Lorina Rey) ALEXEY GOLUBEV

director of Home Drag Race ILYA LAGERFELD

sound artist KONSTANTIN ANDZHANOVSKII

lawyer ANASTASIA SKOVPEN

institutional support ICAT, CHCI, SOVA, and ARIES at VIRGINIA TECH;
DEPTHKIT (SCATTER); MSCA (UNIVERSAL UNIVERSITY);
RODCHENKO ART SCHOOL MOSCOW

images by Nikita Shokhov and Marie Hinkelmann

© Nikita Shokhov, Anna Evtiugina, Pure Land LLC, 2022
Ultraflex - Full of Lust (© & ℗ Street Pulse Records 2020)

USA - RUSSIA - UK 2022