Remastered brings old master paintings to life with young masters of dance

The experience, which combines light projection art with trance music, opens tonight, with DJ Sam Feldt set to perform.

What is Dutch culture really known for beyond its borders? The old masters of painting spring to mind first: Rembrandt and Vermeer. But in recent decades, other masters have emerged who have made just as big an impact on the world. The young masters of dance music have transformed international music culture, and not just DJs such as Tiësto, Martin Garrix and Armin van Buuren, but also the forces behind the scenes, from event organisers to set and lighting designers.

In Rotterdam, a museum-style ‘experience centre’ has been created around a unifying concept: bringing the old masters together with the new. Remastered, beautifully situated on the quay beneath the Erasmus Bridge, brings painting to life through an audiovisual spectacle, in which pulsating dance music transforms Mondrian’s *Victory Boogie Woogie* into a dance floor in a futuristic nightclub. The organisers, who come from the music industry, naturally hope that Remastered will enable them to run a lucrative exhibition space (a ticket for a one-hour guided tour costs almost 25 euros), but also to foster mutual understanding. Young dance music enthusiasts might start to view old paintings in a different light, and conversely, a Rembrandt fan visiting Remastered might think: that dance music isn’t half bad, actually.

Remastered comprises a building with six rooms, through which the public is guided in groups. In the first rooms, visitors are introduced to the art of light projection: in a darkened room, schools of fish swim across the walls and along the floor, making the viewer feel as though they are in the ocean. The fish also react to movements in the room, a remarkable feat of lighting technology.

Remastered centres primarily on the final grand hall, where all the spectators gather for the finale: a half-hour show in which the great Dutch masterpieces are presented to us in a dazzling display of light, set to the four-four beat of electronic dance music. The spectacle begins with a parade of fantastical figures, straight out of Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights. They walk across the walls in a surreal creation story, and it feels as though, as an audience member, you are part of the bizarre world of the master of early Dutch painting. The trance-like music is just as mysterious.

Then comes one of the most stunning performances, which is bound to give the youngest visitors a bit of a fright: a Breughelian procession that transforms the painting *The Triumph of Death* into a sort of three-dimensional *Mad Max* film. A cart with a skeleton at the wheel ploughs through a burning horror landscape. You really do find yourself blinking for a moment, especially as the sharp corners of the hall seem to become rounded, thanks to the ingenious lighting design by the Amsterdam-based design studio Woodwork.

More beauty follows. Rembrandt’s portraits come into view, in calmer waters: fine details are highlighted on the walls, making the work seem almost tangible. ‘Geestverruimend’ is a Van Gogh-inspired show, in which millions of strands of paint, like swarming worms, trace beautiful trails of light. It is as if you are inside Van Gogh’s head, taking over his perception of light, colour and movement. The music by DJ and producer Sam Feldt grows increasingly rousing, slowly pushing the audience towards the finale: a tight, pounding techno interpretation of Mondrian’s primary paintings, with the square planes around you exploding to the beat of the bass drums.

One minor criticism: at the climax of the show, the auditorium can get quite crowded, meaning you have to peer over the heads of the other audience members to see the projection on the walls. But otherwise, Remastered is a fun, accessible ‘experience’ that’s particularly well-suited to a family outing.