Over the past decade, the ways of human interaction have started to change. Where the worldwide pandemic made it challenging to come together and experience each other in the same space, it also accelerated the technology to do so online. Now that it is possible to be online and physically present again, it leaves us wondering which space to claim. This debate about ‘Claiming Spaces’, functioned as the main theme for the Spring Performing Arts Festival, an internationally renowned festival for cutting-edge theater and dance. The organization invited us to develop a campaign and festival set-dressing, attracting both visitors in the physical- and online realm.
Spring Performing Arts Festival 2022
claiming spaces
Are you (really) there?
Linked to the theme of ‘Claiming Spaces’, we wanted to visually trigger the visitors by making them aware of their presence in both these realms. As a result of being constantly present online, we get to process many images and impressions daily. We can literally lose ourselves in the ‘infinite scroll’, therefore thinking less consciously about each other and ourselves. How could we make encounters in the world more tangible (and therefore more lasting)?
Real-time crowdsourced sculpture
We used the physical encounter as fuel to drive the interactive campaign, by developing a tool that builds a body of images: a digital creature made out of festival visitors. Online spectators and offline passer-bys could upload a picture of a body part which would then be inserted into the digital creature. Unlike social media, images of you and other contributors won’t compete with each other for attention, as you need each other to reach your full potential. This creates a gesamtkunstwerk where we can come and build something together.
Festival implementation
With an interactive installation as the statement piece, we claimed the prominent festival location in the physical- and online realm. During the festival, visitors could interact with the creature as it would wiggle, jiggle and wobble just like them. This dynamic campaign element would change every now and then, creating new persona’s of contributors inside the same creature. This way, the campaign belongs to all of us.
