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Rebekka Fries
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VIDEO INSTALLATION Did not take place
THESIS Our (not so) guilty pleasure
WORKSHOP & PRODUCT In-Between
VIDEO Smart parade
GRAPHIC DESIGN Mediafonds@Sandberg
VISUAL Research
WEBSITE Most Wanted

Group exhibition 'Wait for Cue'
Video stills extended screen
Video stills smartphone interface
Did not take place
VIDEO INSTALLATION

Named after a collection of three short essays by Jean Baudrillard: 'The Gulf War Did Not Take Place'. The culture theorist argues the Gulf war was a carefully scripted media event and its coverage in the news was used as a tool for imaging.

‘Did not take place’ is a two screen video installation, in which the narrative is visualised using a smartphone interface, experienced by the visitor on didnottakeplace.com. Using this particular ‘intimate’ medium produces an immersive experience and a new form of digital storytelling.

The project confronts the visitor with our current Western disconnected worldview towards conflict related news items. And researches how the smartphone user responds to contemporary political and society news related topics, which collide with personal, software and hardware notifications.

The narrative of the project is set in a suggestive scenario taking place in 2021; inhabitants flee the Netherlands. Using the interface of the main character, the visitor experiences her uncertainties and displacement.

UPCOMING


— Group exhibition 'KONTRA' 30 Nov - 2 Dec, Roodkapje, Rotterdam 2018
— Screening at Rotterdams Open Doek Film Festival 26th of May, Rotterdam 2018
— Screening at 'Onderweg 5 mei Festival' 5th of May, Leeuwarden 2018
— Group exhibition 'A Celebration of Chaos' 10th of March at ArtEZ, Arnhem 2018
— Screening at Roodkapje, organized by MINT, Rotterdam 2018
— Group exhibition Wifibles at Todays Art, The Hague 2017
— Graduation exhibition Wait for cue at Sandberg Institute, Amsterdam 2017

Video stills smartphone interface Project 'Did not take place'
Our (not so) guilty pleasure
THESIS
Ignoring conflict related news notifications on our smartphones by watching a 'cat videos' instead, but we won't escape the suffering of 'the other'. As cats might live in a human designed environment, all of the cat 'failures' captured on video represent an situation in which the cat is being 'spoken for' and taken 'advantage' of. Which means I am still looking at suffering.
Product processPicture Rebekka Fries
Prototype 'In-Between' Picture Isabel Zoetbrood
In-Between Rebekka Fries & Nour Nsheiwat, Artisan Jaber Tayeh (Disarming Design from Palestine)
In-Between
WORKSHOP & PRODUCT
'Disarming Design from Palestine' workshop focuses on a collaboration between designers and artisans developing products, which exposes the current situation of the Palestinians.

The double-sided wooden maze toy 'In-Between' refers to the current situation of students at the Palestinian refugee camp 'Gaza' in Jerash, Jordan. As the students aren't allowed to continue their study at universities considering their current citizenship the two-sided Arabic texts 'dream' and 'reality' represents: their 'dream' to continue their education and 'reality' as the bureaucratic situation. This product is designed in collaboration with designer Nour Nsheiwat and made by artisan Jaber Tayeh.


— Organized by
  Disarming Design from Palestine, Darat al Funun
  Amman Design Week & Sandberg Institute
— Participation supported by
Video stills
Smart parade
VIDEO
In the 'Smart parade' video, the smartphone interface is used to inform the viewer about the Gay Parade taking place in Amsterdam. The protagonist makes his friend enthusiastic about several events, while using different applications and platforms. The smartphone interface provides the opportunity to use a new form of informative storytelling.
— Made for Algemeen Dagblad in cooperation with ACED & MyChannels

Presentation of Unmapping Europe projects Pictures by Birte Veenkamp
Mediafonds@Sandberg: Unmapping Europe
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Mediafonds@Sandberg is a yearly masterclass in which designers and journalist realize new ways of storytelling.

For the end presentation an visual language was designed to represent the topic 'Unmapping Europe'. By literally unmapping the geometrical form of the flags provided an playground to rearrange contexts.
— Made for Sandberg Institute in cooperation with Birte Veenkamp