Remastered: All The Details

Remastered is an experience that stimulates all your senses. This unfolds throughout a series of rooms where you are surrounded by images and sound. At the heart of the experience is the half-hour show from which Remastered takes its name. It is inspired by the works of the Dutch Masters, such as Hieronymus Bosch, Rembrandt and Van Gogh.

Anyone who steps inside Remastered is embarking on a journey through a wondrous, digitally created world. Every space you encounter is a treasure trove, where you’ll be amazed by the richness of nature and the power of the human imagination.

In the Welcoming Area, the digital world immediately engulfs you. Robin Groenveld, the creative mind behind Remastered, explains: “On the one hand, we have the stunning view of the Rotterdam skyline and our terrace, so here we don’t have a video projection using projectors, but an immense LED screen – the largest in Europe, I’m told”. A typically Dutch landscape unfolds on that screen in the form of a drawn animation. The sky is teeming with flying objects. These don’t appear there by themselves: visitors colour in their own hot-air balloon, rocket, etc… on paper right there and then. You place that drawing in a scanner which digitally renders your image into a 3D object that then appears on the metre-wide screen in no time at all. In this way, everyone creates their own moving object in this digital landscape. With the press of a button, you can influence the landscape with all sorts of special effects.

Then it’s time for the journey of discovery. LED strips guide you towards a waterfall that opens like a door to an unknown world full of underwater sounds.  Through a maze of corridors, where animated Hieronymus Bosch figures show you the way, you eventually reach your first destination. Groenveld: “The effect of the maze is that you lose your bearings. Where am I, where am I going? And in the dark, your pupils dilate, making the projected images even more intense.”

Underworld: A Digital Underwater World

The underwater world is a living digital artwork. Each of the more than 100,000 fish reacts independently. They swim in schools around you, but scatter, just like in real life, when you interact with them. “Nothing is ever the same. We have devised a unique system that converts movement into images in real time.” Coral and underwater plants change colour and shape when touched. Especially for children, a giant whale and a manta ray occasionally swim by creating a space where you are immersed in and become part of the serenity of the underwater world.

Overworld: High In The Sky

Visitors climb a polygonal hill which takes them up and out of the Underworld. You step through a door into a space where a lift shoots you 99 storeys upwards at breakneck speed. There, high up in the clouds, a sky unfolds where flocks of birds fly all around you. “The cloudy skies have been created using images from paintings by the Dutch Masters. This, too, is a living work of art, ever-changing, never the same. The colours of the clouds shift, just as they do at sunset, depending on the position of the sun.” Here and there, a bird breaks away, choosing its own path and leaving a trail of condensation in its wake, reminiscent of an aeroplane.

Speculum: A Digital Masterpiece

Moving from meditative, heavenly tranquillity to a confrontation with human imperfection seems like a huge leap, but it is really just a step away. ‘Speculum’, as the artwork—officially named after Hieronymus Bosch’s famous triptych ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights’—is called, is a digital masterpiece that leaves you spellbound. Groenveld: “This work demonstrates just how inspiring a painter like Hieronymus Bosch still is for a new generation of digital artists, who in turn manage to give it their own highly topical twist and make you think.”

Remastered: The Main Show

With a background in events, Robin Groenveld was inspired by the enormous impact of new forms of digital image creation, made possible by advances in computer processing speed and image projection. “Large pop concerts and dance events are increasingly accompanied by massive visual and light shows. I thought, what if we turned it on its head? Everyone is surrounded by visual imagery all day long, so that premise fits much better with our current experience of the world. The idea of working with that inspired me enormously. And a combination of an exhibition and an event was still a relatively unexplored area.”

The journey of discovery began with the search for a theme. Groenveld: “I wondered what we, as Dutch people, are known for, what we excel at. If you think in terms of images, you quickly end up with the paintings of Rembrandt, Pieter Bruegel, Vermeer and, more recently, Mondrian, for example. But what not many people know is that our country now also occupies a leading position in digital image creation, such as computer games, 3D animation and VR applications.”

“Those are today’s Dutch Masters. It didn’t take me long to realise which direction I wanted to go in.”

Our years of experience in organising events came in very handy here. “I wanted a show that would blow you away. Just like a concert, with a clear beginning, a carefully crafted build-up and a spectacular finale. Featuring surprising visuals and backed by electronic music. Exactly the kind of thing we Dutch people are renowned for worldwide. Our DJs have been at the top of the dance scene for years and can therefore proudly be called ‘Dutch Masters’.”

With this basic concept in mind, Groenveld set about assembling a team of people to help bring all those ideas to life. It turned into a journey of discovery where imagination was given free rein. “I draw my inspiration from everywhere. From Massive Attack videos to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, from Prince to Superman and from Boudewijn de Groot to computer games. The work of a number of renowned painters served as a starting point, but above all as a source of inspiration. Moreover, I noticed that all those painters had inspired one another in succession, so I was able to use a timeline. But the most important thing was that I wanted to think freely, that I wanted to do something unique. Association and alienation are the key words in what I had in mind.”

The sense of alienation begins even before the show starts. Visitors gather in a large space where, whilst waiting for the show to begin, a cacophony of clocks plays tricks with time all around them. Projections on metre-high walls and the floor surround you with images and surround sound coming from all directions. A large time capsule in the middle of the room initially blocks your 360-degree view and disorients you. Something is about to happen.

Once the clock has struck midnight, the show begins with a time-lapse sequence depicting the origins of life. Then the first Dutch Master appears on stage: Hieronymus Bosch. Groenveld: “In my view, that man was pure rock ’n’ roll; a rock star before his time. Raw and unbridled in his imagination. That’s why I wanted to portray him as a sort of Marvel action hero. So not an old man with a grey beard, but a young giant, a magician who brings his surroundings and extraordinary figures to life with his staff.”

As Jeroen Bosch and his entourage make their way through the countryside in a colourful procession, you, the viewer, truly begin to feel the impact of the projections all around you. The music, specially composed by DJ Sam Feldt, enhances the sense of a modern fairy tale.

Finally, when the magician has magically turned day into night and taken his leave of the audience, the Tower of Babel appears in the middle of the hall, heralding the arrival of Pieter Bruegel. Robin: “I was inspired by the story behind the painting, in which God punished the builders of the tower for their hubris in wanting to reach up to heaven, by making them speak in all sorts of different languages. In fact, this is really about the depiction of communication. Or rather: a breakdown in communication, causing people to no longer understand one another. The music for this section comes from Pieter Bruegel’s era and is combined with contemporary music: that of the DJs. And yes, eventually things go wrong and the whole thing collapses.”

God has dealt his punishment; it is all over and done with; pride comes before a fall. What remains is the Triumph of Death, as depicted by Pieter Bruegel in his painting. Through modern technology, death comes to life, riding a cart laden with skulls through a desolate landscape of hell and damnation. Occasionally, the skeletons turn towards the audience, before continuing on their macabre journey. The canvas turns black and darkness falls.

A heartbeat heralds new life. A new canvas destined for Rembrandt. Colourful brushstrokes sweep through the space, revealing famous portraits. Groenveld: “I was determined that all the individual lines should be made up of the colour pixels from the paintings themselves. That was quite a challenge, but it creates a stunning effect. In this way, the images are logically revealed and then ‘broken down’ again. This creates a beautiful palette, which we then mix and allow to flow.”

Vermeer’s work is characterised by its many glimpses into rooms depicting everyday scenes. “It took me quite some time to figure out how to give this a form. How do you depict that? I found the solution in a doll’s house from Vermeer’s time with lots of rooms. I could always look inside through the doors. To bring this to life, we digitally recreated a doll’s house in 3D and filled in the rooms.” As a visitor, you shrink to miniature size and walk together through the corridors and past the staircases. You experience the perspective in a very special way and become aware of the space you are in. A grand tour through Vermeer’s world, where at the end you step out virtually into a small courtyard and are slowly lifted up above the rooftops.

There, the sky turns blue amidst a jumble of thousands of strokes. “Van Gogh’s painting technique lends itself perfectly to a digital interpretation. I deliberately chose not to reproduce or edit his paintings, as I felt that would be too obvious and has been done many times before. I have, as it were, used his building blocks and given them my own interpretation. Everyone is free to see whatever they like in it. And in a way, you also find yourself inside the painter’s mind for a moment; at least, that’s how I experience it.”

The transition from Van Gogh to Mondrian soon became clear. Mondrian’s work underwent a striking evolution. He was inspired by Van Gogh in his early abstract works. This later gave rise to his paintings featuring colours and geometric shapes. Groenveld: “Playing with those clean lines and images was very challenging. Especially because you could set them to a beat with music and sound effects. Electronic music and Mondrian are a perfect match. It invites you to dance.”

Finally, there is the Grand Finale, the closing act, and the show comes to a festive close. The lights come up. “It’s always special to see everyone leaving the auditorium with a big smile on their faces.”