New media in times of distancing

In 2020, Head of New Media and IDFA DocLab Caspar Sonnen soon realized that interactive and immersive artists would bring a unique perspective to the challenges faced by the festival, the industry, and the audience. “Last year, more than ever, DocLab was about embracing radical artistic experimentation and exploring new ways to experience this together: physically, online, and in virtual reality,” he says. “Creating the IDFA DocLab program has always been a dialogue with artists, and a response to how the emerging media field is developing. In 2007, our main creative challenge was how to present ephemeral digital art forms physically and how to celebrate them in a collective festival context. In 2020, we had to take it one step further by developing new exhibition and live performance formats together with artists, even though we had no idea what kind of physical festival surroundings we would have in November. “As the interactive and immersive field responded to the first lockdown, we quickly discovered artists were coming up with amazing new ideas. Together with our team, artists, and research partners, we decided not to bet on a single scenario, but to follow the artists’ lead and explore as many different platforms as possible—virtual reality, computer screens, outdoor public spaces, theaters, and our own kitchens and living rooms to name a few. We had to be flexible and continuously adapt our plans to new measures—in some cases even after the festival had started. “The result was do {not} touch, a new festival program co-created by IDFA DocLab and IDFA on Stage that showcased almost 40 interactive experiences and live performances in Amsterdam, online, and in virtual reality. Many of these were special commissions for the festival, made possible in part by the Netherlands Film Fund and Gieske Strijbis.