Dancing with Dead Animals

 

Animation artist Maarten Isaäk de Heer was astonished by the huge number of animal deaths in his direct environment: from masses of fruit flies all dying together, to mice brought in by his own cat. He decided to make a record of all of the dead creatures he encountered over the course of a single spring and summer.

 

Making 3D photograms of their sometimes semi-decomposed bodies enabled him to bring them back to life, so they can dance with a contemporary Adam and Eve in a paradisiacal landscape of twigs, leaves, bark and other dead organic material.

 

The dome projection draws the viewer into this celebration of life after death. Along the way, this living tableau of cadavers becomes increasingly surreal, like a scene by Hieronymus Bosch. It’s a danse macabre, but without any malevolent intentions. It goes beyond good and evil, simply illustrating the same biology that governs us all.

 

Winner of the Filmfund DocLab Interactive Grant 2022

Honorable Mention at Fulldomefestival, Jena 2023

 

Exhibitions

Sheffield DocFest, Alternate Realities 2023

IDFA Doclab 2022

 

Screenings

Fulldome Festival Jena 2023

 

Fulldome/ VR, 8K, 10 min loop

 

Director

Maarten Isaäk de Heer

Production

Richard Valk, Evelyn Brancard for Menetekel Film

Sound Design

Michał Krajczok

Screening copy

Evelyn Brancard for Menetekel Film