Month: October 2025

Erik Dahlin – Between Worlds

Published on by Ragnar di MarzoLeave a comment

As a technician, I worked with the internet at the very beginning of its development, at a time when there was no content to fill it with. The technology was there, but the question was how it should be used in a meaningful way.

Today, internet is a part of our daily lives, and it would be hard to imagine a world without it. Many discuss the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and what possibilities and dangers it offers. But the use of AI in computer science is not a recent discovery.

We used AI to maintain the core IP network with self-learning scripts, long before AI became common or easy to use. Still, technology continues to develop and create new possibilities. Ragnar di Marzo is a pioneer who now places Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence on the artistic roadmap with Echoes of Morantia.

When I read Ragnar’s script, I instinctively knew I wanted to be part of this epic journey. I was especially drawn to the mysterious nature of the narrative. Having read all of Haruki Murakami’s books — filled with dreamlike and supernatural elements — and being raised in the belt of superstition (Nås Finnmark), this was like coming home.

Together with the rest of the ensemble, we now prepare to step into the world of Morantia.

— The Artist

Erik stands mid-rehearsal — or perhaps mid-invention — on the stage of our virtual theatre. A ladder, a rowboat, and a set of scattered tools surround him, like the remnants of a world being shaped.
He’s not yet The Artist, his character in Echoes of Morantia. But he’s somewhere close. This is Erik — actor, creator, ensemble member — moments before stepping into the unknown.

More of Erik’s world, at FilmCafé


Henrik Norman — A Theatre Between Realities

Published on by Ragnar di MarzoLeave a comment

The first thing that captivated me in Ragnar di Marzo’s grand project, Echoes of Morantia, was an image I recognized as a variation of Böcklin’s famous painting Toteninsel — a motif that has fascinated so many viewers for nearly 150 years, myself included. It became my entry point into that dreamlike, mysterious, and existentially charged world — the winding adventure that a number of player characters are invited to step into.

Are they their characters, or are they actors performing parts assigned to them in a script they’ve just received? We don’t know. The starting point is, in any case, a theatre — at the intersection of illusion and reality — a point at which I’ve always thrived, both as a person and as an actor.

The script, Ragnar’s script, was developed in dialogue with an AI program. That alone could be a reason to join the project — to confront my own scepticism, and perhaps fear, of a development that seems to be running amok, full of both promise and peril. A way of facing the bull by the horns, so to speak.

Likewise, the VR world is largely unknown territory for me, and it feels incredibly exciting to step into it and see what it does to me as an actor. Echoes of Morantia offers a suggestive visual experience — and to inhabit it in a true ensemble drama is something I very much look forward to.

Behind the image. Henrik stands here on the stage of our virtual theatre — a custom-built Blender environment inspired by dreams, ruins, and the paintings of Böcklin. He is not yet his character. Not The Bully. This is Henrik — part of the ensemble, looking into the space where fiction begins.

More of Henrik’s world, on his homepage.