Before this project, Esmail and I were total strangers. But working together kickstarted a collaboration that's bound to bear fruit in the future. Plus, we got to network with Italian artists and key institutions like Cosmograf and Iuav, opening doors for future projects and partnerships.
In our project, we set out to dive deep into new media software, aiming to create captivating sound and visual experiences. Through a tailored workshop, we brought together a group of talented visual artists, mostly linked to the Iuav School of Arts, to both teach and learn about these powerful tools. Our main goals were all about learning, creating, and connecting.
Learning was at the forefront of our agenda. We wanted everyone involved, including ourselves, to get a solid grasp of the software we were working with. So, through the workshops, we not only shared our knowledge but also soaked up insights from each other. Esmail and I, with our different teaching styles and expertise, ended up learning from each other. Conncluding the workshop week with a collaborative teaching day where we showed how to seamlessly blend different software packages together and finally a performance showcasing the possibilities.
But our project wasn't just about the technical. We also wanted to soak up the local vibes. From the buzz of the biennale to the everyday life in Venice overshadowed by mass-tourism, we absorbed the cultural backdrop that infused our creative process with fresh perspectives.
When it came to creation, Esmail and I teamed up to push the boundaries of audiovisual performance.
Drawing from our unique strengths, we crafted an immersive journey through surreal landscapes. Our performance, happening live, was all about taking the audience on a trip through the unknown—a journey tinged with the existential unease of being a stranger in a foreign land.
So, to sum it up, our project was a wild ride through the world of new media, creativity, and cultural exchange. Through workshops, performances, and immersing ourselves in the local scene, we achieved our goals of learning, creating, and connecting. And now? Well, we're itching to keep pushing boundaries, forging new connections, and diving deeper into the rich tapestry of culture and creativity.
Visuals: Vincent Boon
Music : Esmail Bnaoe
(De leegte) The emptiness represents the future, a danger, an absence & a numbing vastness of possibilities both positive and negative. Simultaneously it explores the fragile and transient nature of memories. The underwater world as a metaphor for subconscious experience, otherworldly and under the surface.
This esoteric research project was almost therapeutic as the process started by the act to capture and digitalize memories encrypted in personal paintings from more depressed episodes of my life. These paintings that never really came outside of studio needed a platform but as they do not represent my ideas anymore they do tell a story of where i came from. The act of digitalization and publication gave me power to create my own memory palace and reimagine traumatic feelings that were locked inside and only surfaced trough abstract images.