Het Nieuwe Instituut

Some music videos give visibility to the daily reality of local communities, transmitting their specific living conditions across different continents via online platforms. In the time of Covid-19, lockdown and home quarantine, the information supplied by music videos contributes to a solidarity and collectivity that transcends (national) borders. This live programme is about the way local circumstances and changing views of public space are represented in music videos. It also examines how fan culture and online communities are dealing with the current situation, as well as which video production methods are possible in the 1.5 metre society.

Set Stage Screen: Realities of Postproduction takes a closer look at how contemporary video culture forms a public space for consumerism, activism and emancipation. Behind the videos that viewers watch on their screens, there lies a kind of parallel world of constructed spaces and a unique material reality. This reality behind the video often remains invisible and inaccessible. Using a series of videos, designs, interviews and essays, the installation offers a peek at the technologies, design strategies and forms of representation which are used to depict the alternative realities of music videos and live concerts. The installation can be seen in real life at Het Nieuwe Instituut from 1 June (in the next edition of the newsletter you’ll receive information about the reopening of Het Nieuwe Instituut’s buildings to the public).

The Toosie Slide music video by hip-hop superstar Drake is a five-minute ‘sad boy’ reflection on soulless spaces full of splendour, but stripped of life. The video, which was released on 3 April, is a controversial statement, widely experienced as provocative, about the Covid-19 pandemic. In this essay, Jason King (Associate Professor and Head of Writing, History & Emergent Media Studies at NYU) examines how Drake exploits the viral properties of online videos to promote his music during a pandemic, and how the video presents problematic class differences and confirms the difference between indoor and outdoor spaces in the Black lived experience.

In a series of video essays, writers and other experts explore music videos and live events and their underlying ideology, genre, technology and design history. With contributions from Guus Beumer, Craig Buckley, Rüdiger Campe, Francesco Casetti, Liselotte Doeswijk, Jason King, Momtaza Mehri, Eliza Steinbock and Léa Catherine Szacka.

For the Record’s series of live programmes is modelled on a kind of public recording studio. This model not only depicts the production and post-production techniques that are used in video, but is also used to record the conversations and can even distribute them as video. Watch the new videos Designing Realities and K-Pop Fandoms and Digital Diasporas.