Film consists of a synchronization between sound and image. But what happens if you change that standard and use another form of synchronization as the basis for cinematographic experiences? 

Coming from a background of "locative media art", Esther Polak and her partner Ivar van Bekkum, took up the challenge and developed a way to synchronize sound with the recordings of peoples' trajectories. 

During their research adventure they found out that human awareness of trajectories has accelerated immensely with the emergence of new technologies that are capable of tracing and sharing every move that humans, animals and objects make. They wondered whether this could be considered a seventh sense: a sense for location, direction and speed. And if so, could this new sense be the basis for a different cinematographic experience? And then, how would that change the rules of recording and editing? Would it create a new feeling for reality? 

In her lecture, Esther Polak will share how their work inspired her to look at ‘the city’ in a new way, not as something that pre-exists, but as something that emerges out of movements. One of the works that she will discuss is the brand new version of the film they made in Philadelphia: A Collision of Sorts. 

Biography
Esther Polak and Ivar van Bekkum work together as visual artists under the name PolakVanBekkum. Their work focuses on landscape, mobility and the mediation of those. They search for different ways to look at landscapes and how this influences human understanding and perception.

Rooted in the history of the Dutch realistic landscape depiction, they embrace new technologies to express personal experiences of the spaces of the contemporary city and countryside. Their projects are often informed by collaborations with participants, be they humans, animals, objects or even the rays of the sun. 

They have worked and exhibited internationally, at Transmediale Berlin, Ars Electronica Linz, ZKM Karlsruhe, London, IMAL Brussels, Rento Btattinga | Gallery Amsterdam, Museo for Image and Sound Sao Paolo, Nairobi, Lagos, Marrakech, Paris, Philadelphia Percent for Art program, Los Angeles and Queensland. They are represented by Rento Brattinga | gallerie in Amsterdam.

See: http://www.polakvanbekkum.n

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