IDFA DocLab is ‘coming of age’ this year with its eighteenth edition. The new media program of the international documentary film festival IDFA in Amsterdam will showcase interactive documentary art and immersive storytelling in a free exhibition at the Brakke Grond and @droog in Amsterdam between November 14 and 24, 2024.
This year, IDFA DocLab revolves around the theme of This Is Not a Simulation. Digital media ranging from virtual reality to augmented reality and from live performances to interactive installations, challenge you to think about reality. Can computers think or create something new? Can reality really be virtual? Would we want it to be?
As IDFA DocLab celebrates its 18th edition, it is time for a reality check. How are interactive media, VR, and artificial intelligence changing our perception and physical experience of the world around us? Can they offer us more than addictive escapism from a reality that feels increasingly broken?
This Is Not a Simulation presents 28 immersive artworks, AI experiences, and live performances by artists working across theatre, film, games, new media, and bio art. Each in their own way celebrating the true fabric of reality, a connective tissue that connects us all.
The free DocLab Exhibition at de Brakke Grond and @droog presents a variety of non-fiction narratives to find the right answers—or, arguably more interesting: even more questions and reflections. Then there’s the VR Gallery at @droog, where you can watch a range of virtual reality projects. This year’s all-new DocLab Playrooms at de Brakke Grond invite you to come and play with new technologies and prototypes. On top of that, during two thematic evenings at ARTIS-Planetarium dubbed DocLab at the Planetarium, you experience special full-dome screenings of selected projects.
Explore the full program of IDFA DocLab at idfa.nl/doclab. Below are some of the projects from the Netherlands that can be seen and experienced during Doclab.
Drift by Lieven Heeremans, Nienke Huitenga and Hay Kranen
In a generative audio experience, Drift connects rising sea levels and the climate crisis to the rise of AI. The story world developed by Lieven Heeremans, Nienke Huitenga and Hay Kranen, combines the imaginary with factual sources at the pace and rhythm of the lunar phases and the tides.
Future Botanica by Polymorf (Marcel van Brakel and Hazal Ertürkan)
Nature and technology are increasingly merging. In an installation developed by Polymorf (previously featured at Doclab with the scent documentary Famous Deaths and the VR experience Symbiosis) this augmented reality app allows you to design botanical lifeforms and thus explore desires and fears regarding the future of nature.
Oryza. Healing ground by Tamara Shogaolu
This immersive installation by Amsterdam based artist Tamara Shogaolu places a hidden chapter from world history in the full glare of the spotlights. Experience the resilience, inventiveness and historical influence of African farmers within a relentlessly oppressive system.
Töngö sondi by Ruben Cabenda
A short surrealist animation about language and oppression, inspired by the story of the Tower of Babel. Within an immersive installation, as intense as it is minimalistic, the film by Ruben Cabenda depicts the intimate entanglement of language and identity.
Me, a Depiction by Lisa Schamlé
As a living part of her performance/installation, Lisa Schamlé confronts both herself and her audience. Is it possible to look at her body without judgement? As you watch, she looks back.
Ancestors by Steye Hallema
Using AI, a simple selfie becomes a lifelike vision of the future. During this interactive group experience, the abstract idea of “generations to come” is brought home in a striking way.
You Can Sing Me on My Way by Seán Hannan
The Irish Gaelic sean-nós singing that this sphere produces does not originate from the distant past, but is generated automatically by AI. A celebration of Irish cultural heritage with the help of innovative technology created by Dutch-Irish artist Seán Hannan.
