Van Gogh in Me is a live media performance fuse* conceived together with the Nederlands Kamerkoor, a professional choir based in the Netherlands. It consists in a real-time audiovisual experience where the works of two iconic artists, Vincent Van Gogh and Gustav Klimt, accompany the audience through an all-round, immersive journey through the fin de siècle of the 19th century.
The show retraces the history of the commonly called Belle Epoque, going from the 1870s to the outbreak of the first world war, through the melodies of musicians of the time - Satie, Debussy and Mahler - and the reimagined works of Vincent Van Gogh and Klimt. An emotionally-charged experience, the show is a succession of narrative climaxes where the history of those decades finds new interpretations through its cultural scene.
In addition, thanks to microphones and sensors placed on stage, the emotions, gestures and singing of the people taking part in the performance are detected and analysed in real-time, subsequently influencing the visual output of the show. A unique way to live the works of the artists, to stimulate diverse thinking and create new, unprecedented connections between elements: Van Gogh in Me is a new interpretation of the past that could not be more intertwined with our contemporaneity.
Wiener Konzerthaus, 2022
The main narrative of the show was developed by fuse* and the Nederlands Kamerkoor through a collaborative process that characterised the full production of the performance. The central idea was narrating Europe at the end of the 19th century (1880-1914), drawing bridges with the present through a stratification of events and meanings.
This interconnection of elements is reflected by the structure of the show and by the three languages employed: the choral music interpreted by the Chamber Choir, the visual level on which the artistic journey of the two artists takes place and, lastly, the technology, which processes real-time data. The final experience is a cross between performance, concert and participatory installation.
In the show, the boundaries between music and visuals blur: the paintings become audible, the sounds acquire materiality in an all-round experience that swallows the audience. The public’s role is not only about being spectators but becomes, together with the choir, an active participant in the creation of the work: it is their memory that activates the historical component, their emotions that influence the animations of the performance. All elements influence one another in an infinite loop, depicting a unique understanding of that time period.
Wiener Konzerthaus, 2022
Wiener Konzerthaus, 2022
Wiener Konzerthaus, 2022
Wiener Konzerthaus, 2022