I know
In collaboration with acclaimed theater maker Bill T. Jones we created this digital ritual in response to Covid-19, asking an online audience: “what do you deeply know?”. During Holland Festival 2020 crowd-sourced video uploads represent a catalogue of knowledge; a pursuit of the We…
“This innovative idea has effectively taken on the digital daze we are now all living in and created a world in which we connect despite circumstances.”
what do we profoundly know?
‘Fragmented times’ is how African-American choreographer, director and dancer Bill T. Jones describes the period we’re living in, with its rising divisiveness. He sets out to look for a we, together with the audience. Where his large scale production Deep Blue Sea would have had him dancing with a hundred people from the local community on the same stage, ‘in times of social distancing’ he invited people to individually record a short video about something they know deep down and feel strongly about - expressed in words and gestures.
We created an online alternative to the stage work and turned all the individual video uploads into a visual mosaic that grew as the Holland Festival advanced and more people participated. The strong words and gestures of all these individuals - brought together in a dynamic design we created based on complex data visualisation techniques and a refined sound design - substantiate a larger, collective knowing.
“It was a piece about something even bigger than just black people and the sadness and loneliness of being black. I think that the piece really was prophetic.”
Instagram stylo inspired collages
Each video that a person uploaded we used as the basis for a generated personal video edit in which the uploader would take center stage. The person got an automated email with their personalised video ready for social media share. Creating a chain reaction in activating participation.
Within 3 weeks we reached over 40.000 visitors and our project received over 125 unique video uploads, exceeding the anticipated 100 people that would otherwise join physically on the festival stage.
During the Holland Festival 2020 we created a video collage every second day launching with the 'I know' of Bill T. Jones and adding on consecutive days his dancers and audience uploads.
The end result is an interactive catalogue of knowledge, brought in by people from all over the world, each filmed in their own way.
credits
| Concept: | Bill T. Jones |
| Creation: | Ruben Van Leer |
| Commissioned: | Holland Festival |
| Motion Design: | RNDR |
| Web Design: | Martijn de Heer |
| Web Dev: | Amir Houieh |
| Sound Design: | Henry Vega |
| Video Capture: | Essay Video |
| Digital Production: | RVL_studio |
| Powered by: | WeTransfer |
| Partners: | Park Avenue Armory, New York Live Arts, The Mann Center for the Performing Arts and The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage |
| Project URL: | iknow.hollandfestival.nl |
filmmaker & media-artist
