Songs for a Passerby

How does one relate to a world of things that are passing? Are we a part of it? Or are we just looking at it? And what about the body—is it something that we are or that we have? There is an ambivalence here that prompts the question: could this be the origin of all melancholy?
In Songs for a Passerby you will autonomously walk through a musical dreamscape shown in a VR headset. You are following your own 3D mirror image and on the way you will pass by various scenes: a dying horse, a choir of murmuring people, two playing dogs.
Songs for a Passerby is a meditative quest that allows you to step outside reality for a moment and look at yourself. As a puppeteer of your own body you will be entering a poetic space where the melancholy question arises: is this me passing by moments, or is it rather the moments passing by me?

By placing spectators outside themselves and showing them the contours of their own “self” through capture with live 3D cameras, I aim to create an experience that touches on a familiar sense of melancholy, wherein we are no longer at one with the world, but in some ways are opposite to it. As the poet Rainer Maria Rilke wrote: “This is what fate means: to be opposite, and to be that and nothing else, opposite, forever.”
In Songs for a Passerby I have attempted to create an experience that investigates the connection between the physical and the metaphysical world. You are both a body that is moving through space and a mind that is looking at it. While the unavoidable passing of time makes itself manifest to you, all past moments will remain present, entering into a simultaneous existence. You are both in the world and simultaneously outside it.

PRODUCTION 1: Dominique Slegers, Nicky Groot - Silbersee
Zeeburgerdijk, 84
1094 AG – Amsterdam, Netherlands
Tel. +31 652624290
nickygroot@silbersee.com
http://www.silbersee.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/silberseeopera
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/silberseeopera/

PRODUCTION 2: Celine Daemen, Nicky Groot - Studio Nergens
Rietlandpark, 379
1019EM – Amsterdam, Netherlands
Tel. +31 614887643
celine@studionergens.com
http://www.studionergens.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/studionergens/

PRODUCTION 3: Joost Heijthuijsen – Muziekgebouw Productiehuis
Piet Heinkade, 1
1019 BR– Amsterdam, Netherlands
Tel. +31 207882000
JoostHeijthuijsen@muziekgebouw.nl
http://www.muziekgebouw.nl/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/muziekgebouw/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/muziekgebouw/

PRODUCTION 4: Ton Driessen – Via Zuid
Postbus, 1001
6201 BA – Maastricht, Netherlands
Tel. +31 611267977
ton@viazuid.com
http://www.viazuid.com/

WORLD SALES: Jimmy-Pierre de Graaf - Silbersee
Zeeburgerdijk, 84
1094 AG – Amsterdam, Netherlands
Tel. +31 642310655
jimmypierredegraaf@silbersee.com
http://www.silbersee.com/

ITALIAN DISTRIBUTION: Jimmy-Pierre de Graaf - Silbersee
Zeeburgerdijk, 84
1094 AG – Amsterdam, Netherlands
Tel. +31 6 42310655
jimmypierredegraaf@silbersee.com
http://www.silbersee.com/

PRESS OFFICE: Dominique Slegers - Silbersee
Zeeburgerdijk, 84
1094 AG – Amsterdam, Netherlands
Tel. +31 613222582
dominiqueslegers@silbersee.com
http://www.silbersee.com/

ITALIAN PRESS OFFICE: Dominique Slegers - Silbersee
Zeeburgerdijk, 84
1094 AG – Amsterdam, Netherlands
Tel. +31 613222582
dominiqueslegers@silbersee.com
http://www.silbersee.com/