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Playing with Fire
IMMERSIVE COMPETITION — CANNES 2026
INNOVATION AWARD — CLASSICAL:NEXT 2026
On world tour

Playing with Fire

An immersive odyssey with Yuja Wang
▶ Play trailer
Format
Immersive mixed-reality installation
Written & directed by
Pierre-Alain Giraud
With
Yuja Wang, piano
Production
VIVE Arts & Atlas V
World premiere
Philharmonie de Paris · November 14, 2025
The work
The classical recital, reinvented through mixed reality. Inches from a real Steinway piano, the audience experiences an intimate performance by Yuja Wang — from Bach and Chopin to Debussy, Prokofiev and Stravinsky — moving freely through eight tableaux that transform as the program unfolds.
Captured in volumetric video, Yuja Wang appears as a hologram while a Steinway Spirio replays her interpretation live, note for note — down to the movement of her fingers. An olfactory score by Francis Kurkdjian accompanies each chapter, beneath Murano glass lamps. A collective, free-roaming experience, up to 40 visitors per session.
~50 minutes · HTC VIVE Focus Vision headsets · FR / EN / Mandarin · United Kingdom, France, Taiwan · Production partner: Lightroom · With the support of Steinway & Sons, the CNC, Maison Francis Kurkdjian and the Philharmonie de Paris
Artistic team
Creative direction & original works — Gabríela Friðriksdóttir
Sound design — Nicolas Becker & Antoine Martin
Olfactory creation — Francis Kurkdjian
Set design — Laurence Fontaine
Art direction — Arthur Maugendre
Lighting — Philippe Berthomé
Playing with Fire — Festival de Cannes 2026
The audience roaming freely — 2026 Cannes Film Festival
Capture volumétrique de Yuja Wang
Volumetric capture of Yuja Wang — ▶ watch the making-of
Playing with Fire — Clair de lune
Clair de lune — image from the experience © VIVE Arts / Atlas V
Playing with Fire — Intermezzi de Brahms
Brahms Intermezzi — image from the experience © VIVE Arts / Atlas V
Playing with Fire — l’installation
The installation — the tree and the perfume lamps
Playing with Fire — l’installation
The installation — Gabríela Friðriksdóttir’s drawings
Awards
79th Cannes Film Festival · 2026
Classical:NEXT, Budapest · 2026
Tour
Nov 14, 2025 → May 3, 2026
Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Hall, Shanghai
May – July 2026
National Theater & Concert Hall, Taipei
Oct 10 → 24, 2026
Lincoln Center, New York · Hong Kong
2027
Press
“That’s not really cinema even, but it certainly is art.”
“A retrofuturist spectacle — Ravel would have approved.”
“Real poetry… and a stunning sophistication in its execution.”
“Blazing images, evocative scents and notes of classical music — the immersive exhibition Playing with Fire awakens the senses.”
“Here, technology turns music into a moving material, to be explored as much as listened to.”
“The image is so realistic that I had to lift my headset to be sure she wasn’t really there.”
“Using art and technology with this new immersive installation is really a dream come true.”
Videos
Official trailer — VIVE Arts
Trailer — Philharmonie de Paris
Making-of — behind the scenes of the creation
Experience Classical Music in Mixed Reality — HTC VIVE