Research snapshots

Ruben van Leer (the Netherlands, 1984) has a Master's Degree in Visual Arts from the Sandberg Institute. He started the Master’s Degree Programme in 2011. An interview about his efforts to redevelop a next Total Work of Art.

"During the first year of the master, the intense programme consumed almost all of our time and energy, leaving only a few weeks for our own research. For me, the most important discovery was the confirmation of the notion that it does matter to make a choice. It’s been inspiring and supportive to find out that our teachers and mentors as well as my fellow students fight this struggle I know so well: to give priority to my personal, professional and artistic development, instead of choosing the easier way of making a living without bothering too much about unanswered questions: who am I as a maker today? Where do my stories and fascinations come from? How do I express them?

Of all the interesting workshops, lectures and assignments, the lecture by Johan Grimonprez was a highlight. I could easily relate to his intuitive way of processing ideas and emotions into tangible art forms. During this first year, I drafted my research plan along with the script for Symmetry, a short film to be shot later this year at CERN in Geneva, among other locations. I grew up in a musical family and I am interested in the concepts of the Gesamtkunswerk and intersubjectivity in the creative process. My initial research question was: How do I transform this spontaneous, intersubjective, both discursive and emotional co-creation process, which seems to be so exclusively reserved to improvising musicians, to the domain of integrating music, choreography, sound, image and drama with science? How do subjectivity and objectivity relate to this process and its results?

In my short film Instrument, shot in 2011, I tried to investigate the relation between external input and the choreography of a dance. How does a dancer react to sound, space and physical stimuli? Among other things, I found out that I do need practical experiments to enable my reflective process. Furthermore, I found out that my obvious fascination for the relations between opposites is leading me to the new question how do I judge value and how do I create it?

This touches directly on my view towards today’s economic and environmental crises. I think we need answers to the grey world of mass consumption and conformity. In my work, I am searching for the sublime. I want to unify the spiritual and the material world and I keep making stuff in which they meet. Symmetry will be a film, but at the same time it will be a book, a video installation, a web site, a stage opera and a community. I am a writer and a director, but I aim to be a designer, a producer, a facilitator and a moderator as well. To me, the process of creating is as precious as the result. I want to investigate how Lucas, our main character, is searching for his identity and his connection with the natural world. That’s our central question. As a consequence, we have to find out how we combine various art forms like choreography, music, data visualizations, acting, photography and dialogue. It’s so great to have the opportunity."

February 2012