presentation: Mediamatic Foundation

Midsummer Night

A celebration of the shortest night of the year

23 Jun 2017

The shortest night in the year is a special one. For many centuries it has been celebrated by cultures all over the world, by lighting bonfires, gathering of magical herbs, dancing, singing and more. At our Biotoop this event will also be rejoiced. The Midsummer Night on 23 June will feature the kick-off of Conny Groenewegen’s Fashion Machine, the screening of the artistic documentary The Great Sperm Race of director Julian Jones, the inauguration of Diana Scherer’s Spectrum Crops and the reopening of Jasmin Moeller and Masha Ru's Raising Doubts.

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Mediamatic Biotoop Dijkspark on a sunny day - Waterside view of Mediamatic Biotoop with the refugee vessel "Meneer Vrijdag" of Rederij Lampedusa mooring in the Dijksgracht Ruby Lee

Spectrum Crops - Findings in Color 17:00-18:00

Through photosynthesis sunlight gets transferred into energy for plants, so what would happen if you change the colour of this light? It was found out at the installation of Spectrum Crops by artist Diana Scherer's research into the impact of different colours on the growth of plants, opening at Midsummer Night.

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Spectrum Crops - Artist Diana Scherer researches the impact of colour on plant development in her new Spectrum Crops project initiated at Mediamatic. Chiara Barraco

Raising Doubts 17:00-18:00

This evening showcased the re-opening of artists Jasmin Moeller's and Masha Ru's Raising Doubts. In the interactive art installation, you can find thirty questions which you answer by planting flowerseeds in our flowerbeds. This way your answers will grow out to become part of a lush infographic.

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Twijfel Zaaien - Seeds are being sown Xiang Yu Yeung

Fashion Machine 20:00 - 01:00

Mediamatic presented the official kick-off of Fashion Machine by designer Conny Groenewegen, a critical art installation on textile and recycling. During the summer, the piece is created in the workshop Cut the Crap met Conny, in which an unimaginable amount of fleece sweaters is knitted into enormous fleece flags by a huge team of volunteers, transforming the Mediamatic building into an expressive coloured landmark.
With 'plastic soup' cocktails, a short Q&A with Aynouk Tan and Conny Groenewegen and DJ Cano and Thijs van Geloven.

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Cut the Crap met Conny at Mediamatic - The installation Fashion Machine is presented at Mediamatic in spring/summer 2017, a space invading installation of knitted flags made from fleece strips. Elise Jansen

The Great Sperm Race 21:30 - 23:30

The documentary The Great Sperm Race is filmed from the point of view of a sperm cell that is trying to fertilise a female egg cell. In the movie, director Julian Jones had people wear white clothes to act like sperm, resulting in hilarious imagery. As special treat, after the screening Wester van Gaal from MOTHERBOARD was supposed to interview Julian himself, unfortunately Julian Jones had a emergency so was unable to attend.

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The Great Sperm Race Movie Still -

Cocktails

As a side programme, artist Joost Nieuwenburg created cocktails for every event! Inspired by the other artists works, he made original recipes for a special artistic alcoholic beverage. 

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Cocktail for Midsummer Night - Joost Nieuwenburg served this cocktail at 2017 event Midsummer Night. Flores, Hierbas Y Semillas, a colourful botanical merger of pan Caribbean, Mesoamerican and West-African flavours cocktail Joost Nieuwenburg

Information

Midsummer Night
June 23, 17:00-01:00
Mediamatic Biotoop, Dijksgracht 6, Amsterdam
Free admission