For several months the artwork has been taking off Everyone is dead except us by artist Ben Zegers in a prominent place on the Binnenrotte, the place where Rotterdam originated 750 years ago. CBK Rotterdam and Sculpture International Rotterdam (SIR) commissioned visual artist and filmmaker Mels van Zutphen to make a film about the realization of this work. This short film, which shows the creation process of the artwork in various stages, will premiere on Thursday 28 January.
Two years ago, Zegers gave a lecture about his artwork, which was still in the design phase at the time. In a performance-like manner, Zegers spoke about the background and sources of inspiration for his designs. Van Zutphen was inspired by this and decided to use this lecture as a guideline for his film about the work-in-progress. The result: a short film in which the viewer is taken along in the special two-year process of creating the gigantic artwork that nowadays adorns the Binnenrotte.
This short film by Mels van Zutphen will premiere on Thursday 28 January at 20.00 p.m. the Youtube channel of CBK Rotterdam. In the run-up to it be in the days after prior introductory films published - also on the same channel and social media - which provide both the work and the film with more context. In these three films by filmmaker Ciska Meister, those involved are interviewed by Ove Lucas, director of CBK Rotterdam.
Mels van Zutphen (1963) is a visual artist. He lives and works in Rotterdam. He studied at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam and the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht. His work includes film, photography, video and sound installations. He also occasionally makes films commissioned for the cultural sector. In 2018 he made the film for CBK Rotterdam / SIR The Thing, untitled 1957 about the restoration of the statue of Naum Gabo that stands next to the Bijenkorf.
