Video: Interview with the makers of the Pictorial Opera

Four months ago - about a week before the opening of this world exposition - François Schuiten and Alexandre Obolensky were in the Belgian pavilion, finetuning and finishing the elaboration of the "Pictorial Opera", the artistic part of our pavilion. Since I wanted to eternalise the artistic view on the project, I asked them on a cold March evening if I could videotape them explaining me their view on the paintings. For people not familiar with the two artists, this is what you can read about them on the official Belgian pavilion website:

François Schuiten and Alexandre Obolensky have designed a route through the Belgian pavilion which immerses visitors in “a fairytale atmosphere combining artistic creation and high technology”.

Or also:

Together with the painter and opera scenery designer, Alexandre Obolensky, Schuiten is responsible for the interior of the Belgian Pavilion in Japan. The two men enjoy an international reputation, due to their impressive “Planet of Vision” pavilion at Expo 2000 in Hanover.

A time ago, the large video was approved for hosting by Google's rather new Video hosting service. But! Let me warn you, there are some issues before being able to watch the video. First of all, you are obliged to install the Google Video Viewer, a (free) small application (less than 1MB) that will play any video available on Google Video.

Besides the technical burden, there is also a language issue. Schuiten and Obolinsky speak French, and that's also the language that is used in the video. And I'm not done yet. The third element is that filming inside the Belgian pavilion is really a contentious entreprise, and so because of the darkness the quality of what you see on tape is often not ideal. Sorry for that. If you can surpass all those obstacles, I'm sure that after watching (and hearing) the movie, you'll have more insides in the "idea behind the artistic part of the Belgian pavilion".




[Video - A pictorial Opera: interview with François Schuiten and Alexandre Obolensky (18 minutes 12 seconds)- Language: French]

Download first Google's Video Viewer.

Qu'est-ce que vous en pensez?