Making of Ego - DRIFT 

Ego is a time-based sculpture, portraying the perspective of a human, and how our hopes, truths, and emotions are a direct result of the rigidness or fluidity of the mind.
Ego represents the rigidness of our man-made systems and how they can become fluid or even collapse. A massive woven block, made of more than 16km of hair-thin Japanese fluorocarbon, controlled by motors, allowing the artists to animate and choreograph it. There has never been a block this size woven before, therefore the artists created their own weaving loom. Algorithms, developed specially for this project, order to be able to control every movement and being able to convey
Transforming between natural and non-natural states, it gives the viewer a sense of perspective that they can relate to but also shows its vulnerability at the same time. A seemingly rigid shape expressing feelings and emotions, strengths and weaknesses of human perspectives.
This sculpture Ego was specially developed for Monteverdi’s Opera L’Orfeo (1608), to be premiered in January 2020, and is a co-production with the Dutch Travel Opera house (Nederlandse Reisopera). The oldest opera, with modern cutting edge technology.
Ego embodies Orfeo’s perspective, his view on the world, the limits of his mind and what happens when everything that makes you certain in life falls apart. Representing Orfeo’s inner world and his changing perspective, Ego is the stage, a sculpture and a soloist in the opera at the same time. The dancers are trained specially to move with the block.
Credits
Video
Jefta Varwijk
+31 (0) 6 51 06 91 79
jeftavarwijk@gmail.com
@jeftavarwijk (instagram)
Opera
L’Orfeo (Monteverdi) is an opera production by de Nederlandse Reisopera (Dutch National Touring Opera) and a co-production with Studio DRIFT and Opera2Day, in collaboration with Dance Company Nanine Linning.
Concept: Monique Wagemakers, Lonneke Gordijn, Nanine Linning
Conductor: Hernán Schvartzman (Opera2Day)
Director: Monique Wagemakers
Choreography: Nanine Linning (Dance Company Nanine Linning)
Installation “Ego”: Lonneke Gordijn (Studio DRIFT)
Costumes: Marlou Breuls
Orchestra: La Sfera Armoniosa
With dancers from Dance Company Nanine Linning.