Creative Tech Week

The Rendezvous captures the action of speaking about death in an installation of aural and visual media.

We all accumulate stories of the people we’ve lost to death. These memories cycle through us in different ways at different times in our lives. Accessing a broader range of experiences than purely personal memories allows us to better navigate future loss. Yet our culture provides few spaces for sharing loss beyond an intimate circle, after the closure of mourning rituals. Where can we go to engage with the details of death – not only grief and absence, but also the day-to-day, the unexpected?

The Rendezvous creates a virtual/physical space where people can explore and share personal encounters with death. Media allows us to share on an intimate, yet public scale not otherwise possible.

Multi-channel video is mapped to human-scale plexiglass panels, illuminated with cinematic visuals. The visual language is grounded by constant reference to the plexiglass surface itself. Bodies are recorded while performing through the same material on which the projection eventually plays - creating the verisimilitude of present bodies in the space.

The relationship between video and audio story fragments in The Rendezvous is chance-based. While visual content is composed, the piece’s audio element remains fluid. The audio landscape splits between public sound design, and spoken narratives that can only be accessed privately through personal devices.

The Rendezvous is designed to let its participants expand their voices across different artistic mediums, while maintaining their privacy and ownership of personal narratives. Due to randomized audio, participants can add or withdraw their contributions at any point in the installation's lifecycle.