The shortest night in the year is a special one. For many centuries it has been celebrated by cultures all over the world, by lighting bonfires, gathering of magical herbs, dancing, singing and more. At our Biotoop this event will also be rejoiced. The Midsummer Night on 23 June will feature the kick-off of Conny Groenewegen’s Fashion Machine, the screening of the artistic documentary The Great Sperm Race of director Julian Jones, the inauguration ofDiana Scherer’s Spectrum Crops and the reopening ofJasmin MoellerandMasha Ru's Raising Doubts.
Through photosynthesis sunlight gets transferred into energy for plants, so what would happen if you change the colour of this light? It was found out at the installation of Spectrum Crops by artistDiana Scherer's research into the impact of different colours on the growth of plants, opening at Midsummer Night.
This evening showcased the re-opening of artistsJasmin Moeller's and Masha Ru's Raising Doubts. In the interactive art installation, you can find thirty questions which you answer by planting flowerseeds in our flowerbeds. This way your answers will grow out to become part of a lush infographic.
Mediamatic presented the official kick-off of Fashion Machine by designer Conny Groenewegen, a critical art installation on textile and recycling. During the summer, the piece is created in the workshop Cut the Crap met Conny, in which an unimaginable amount of fleece sweaters is knitted into enormous fleece flags by a huge team of volunteers, transforming the Mediamatic building into an expressive coloured landmark. With 'plastic soup' cocktails, a short Q&A with Aynouk Tan and Conny Groenewegen and DJ Cano and Thijs van Geloven.
The documentary The Great Sperm Race is filmed from the point of view of a sperm cell that is trying to fertilise a female egg cell. In the movie, director Julian Jones had people wear white clothes to act like sperm, resulting in hilarious imagery. As special treat, after the screeningWester van GaalfromMOTHERBOARD was supposed to interview Julian himself, unfortunately Julian Jones had a emergency so was unable to attend.
As a side programme, artistJoost Nieuwenburg created cocktails for every event! Inspired by the other artists works, he made original recipes for a special artistic alcoholic beverage.
