In an interactive video installation, the protagonist on the evening news looks directly at the viewer, providing a framework for each viewer to scrutinise his or her own feelings of discomfort. Dutch theatre-maker and visual artist Dries Verhoeven asks us: What if the people we watch on the news can look back at us? What if the gaze is reversed?

The 24-hour news cycle, continuously available on laptops, TVs and smartphones, makes us perpetual witnesses to complex situations across the globe. We feel uneasy with the confrontation of presumed poverty and desperation. Guilty Landscapes III transports images of uncomfortable responsibility into the white cube of a gallery.

In the otherwise empty space, a disconcerting landscape is projected on a large wall. As soon as a viewer steps into the room, he or she becomes an integral part of the installation. Every viewer experiences a truly individualised connection to the situation on screen. Suddenly, feelings of distance and proximity seem to merge. 

Guilty Landscapes III challenges feelings of guilt and shame. The project investigates psychological complexes, such as the guilt of privilege and social hyper-awareness, all the while asking whether it is possible to reverse such relative social positions. Is it possible to meet the presumed victims without assumptions and pity?

In 2016, Verhoeven created a series of four episodes of Guilty Landscapes, commissioned by and for various European cities. Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) will show the third episode from this series.

An event for one audience member at one time.

Registration is required for this event.

Asia-Pacific Premiere.

72-13 is located at 72-13 Mohamed Sultan Road, Singapore 239007

Dries Verhoeven Dries Verhoeven (1976 Oosterhout, the Netherlands) is a theatre-maker and visual artist, specialising in installations and performances in museums and public spaces of cities. On the boundary between performance and installation art, he critically evaluates the relationships between the spectators, performers, everyday reality and art. The spectator is directly involved in the work or given the opportunity to steer his or her own experiences. In his work, Verhoeven highlights aspects of the common social reality in which we live. He is not concerned with conveying a statement about reality, but mainly about unbalancing the visitor in order to evoke a shared vulnerability between the viewer and the viewed work. In recent years, the current crisis mind-set and the influence of digital media on his interpersonal relationships in particular have formed the basis for his projects. Verhoeven currently resides in Berlin and Amsterdam.