Stedelijk Museum: Blikopeners

Staring at another person for hours.. How does that affect someone? That is the biggest question during the creative research of the Blikopeners by The Stedelijk Museum. Performance artist Ulay (1943-2020) is one of the biggest names in performance and body art, and pioneer in Polaroid photography. He was married to the mother of performance art herself, Marina Abramovic, with whom he collaborated on many projects. One of their projects was a performance called 'Nightsea Crossing' in which they looked in each other's eyes for hours while seated at a long table. The Stedelijk Museum opens the exhibition 'ULAY WAS HERE' about this remarkable man and asks their internal focus group, the Blikopeners, to find a creative way to announce their new exposition.

The Blikopeners is a group of artistic people who aim to inspire everyone to look at art and creativity with a new perspective. This is also the goal with the newest exhibition of the Stedelijk Museum. Maak developed a few workshops in which we guided the Blikopeners. The outcome of these was a campagne video based on Ulay's work. And it was easier said than done when the reactions to Ulays work varied from ''this makes no sense'' to ''this guy is really cool''. Eventually the idea arose to experience this for themselves. Experiencing what it really feels like to stare at each other for that long. Only then can you decide what it's supposed to be, was the thought behind it. This poetic film was the result.

Maak guided the Blikopeners during their creative process by developing a few workshops that went on for a couple of weeks. This resulted in a unique co-creation, where the Blikopeners really understood the target audience on a more personal level. This is also new era marketing. The production of the film is by us, but the Blikopeners are the creators responsible for the concept and execution. Applause!