Music videos have always been a controversial and transgressive medium. While intended as vehicles for selling music, they also expose dominant narratives and existing struggles, challenge cultural norms, and offer an experimental space to imagine and propose alternative realities. 

Through a series of videos, designs, interviews, and essays, Set Stage Screen unveils the technologies, design strategies, and forms of representation in music videos and live events as sites for the production and circulation of realities. Only under closer inspection can we make sense of how these story-worlds are imagined, constructed, shared, and adopted.

For the Record

The installation is part of Het Nieuwe Instituut’s research project For the Record on the politics of contemporary video culture. Involving a broad network of set and stage designers, architects, artists, film-makers, musicians, choreographers, media producers and cultural critics, Set Stage Screen will continue to be activated by public events and video recordings. The installation is free to use as a stage and recording station, as you see fit.

With contributions by Emmanuel Adjei, Davide Bellotta, Misty Buckley, Tom Burke, Liselotte Doeswijk, Aude-Line Dulière, Romke Faber, Lauri Faggioni, Roland de Groot, Natalie Hartjes, Dan Hassler-Forest, Jason King, Imara Limon, Gabriel A Maher, Momtaza Mehri, Natalie Nzeyimana, Frans Schupp, Eliza Steinbock, Chiara Stephenson, Stufish Entertainment Architects, Léa-Catherine Szacka, TAWBOX studio, Marc Thomas, James Westcott, Emma Westenberg, Juha van ‘t Zelfde, among others.