About the Project
PolakvanBekkum, an artist duo from the Netherlands will work in Philadelphia from May to November 2014 on the Science Center’s campus. ...
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A project by PolakVanBekkum
Announcement: Drexel University
Drexel is a comprehensive global research university committed to use-inspired research with real-world applications. Drexel has committed to being the nation’s most civically engaged university, with community partnerships integrated into every aspect of service and academics.
Announcement: Our Sponsor: Wexford Science and Technology
Wexford Science & Technology, a BioMed Realty company, is a real estate investment and development company that meets the growing and specialized facilities needs of for-profit and not-for-profit institutions, including universities, university-related research parks and healthcare systems. Wexford Science & Technology’s objective is to become a long-term partner, support strategic organizational growth in significant, value-added ways while strengthening the communities in which they work.
Announcement: Philadelphia’s Redevelopment Authority’s Percent for Art Program
The Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority pioneered the Percent for Art Program in March 1959, becoming the first city in the United States to create a program requiring developers to commission art as part of the development process. The Redevelopment Authority’s Percent for Art Program obligates developers who are building on land acquired and assembled by the Authority to dedicate at least one percent of the total building construction costs toward the commissioning of original, site-specific works of art. Since the inception of the Program, nearly 400 works of public art have been installed in all areas of Philadelphia. Works of public art can be found in such diverse developments as high-rise commercial and residential towers, housing for families and the elderly, shopping plazas, parks, hotels, universities, schools and libraries.
Announcement: Our Host: The University City Science Center & STEAM Initiatives
The Science Center is a dynamic hub for technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship in the Greater Philadelphia region. It has provided lab space, office space, business incubation and support services for entrepreneurs, startups, and growing and established companies for 50+ years. The Science Center was the first, and remains the largest, urban research park in the United States.
Team
We had a very intensive residency in Philadelphia that would have been impossible without the efforts, help, guidance, assistance and wisdom of:
Once we get There trailer
Excerpt of the film
Once we get there
A Documentary that leads you through an unfolding city
by Esther Polak and Ivar van Bekkum.
Movements and audio recorded in Philadelphia
Techno Mourning
Update per May 2016:
We updated the interactive website in a very great and reliable way. It now runs based on video files.
Interactive Website
The work contains all raw footage that was recorded in Philadelphia and that was the basis of the film Once We Get There. All 27 tracks, each contain the total recording (20-70 min. in actual time) of a different protagonist.
The Beagle
For the project a special recording device was developed, nicknamed “The Beagle”. The Beagle looks like a normal sling-bag and allows people to go out on their own, and record the city in a special orchestrated way. It takes the participant into a solist, yet shared journey and center stages the role of the individual as a data collecting entity.
The Beagle records sound and movements and gives the person who wears it a series of prompts (via a pre-recorded pod-cast) whereby the participant is given a choice on forehand: between 3 options of prompts-flavours: an empathic, a suspicious or a neutral angle. After her/his return, the participants trajectory is synced with the sound recordings and both are audio-visualised in a cinematographic way: they play out on the flatness of the satellite images.
The Mural: Down the Rabbit Hole
A hand, reaching for a gift wrapped in wrinkly tissue paper with an image of the street that lies on the opposite side of the location where this image can be seen – the façade of the Apple Storage Building on 52nd and Willows Avenue.