Projects

Projection Mapping, Osaka Expo

Two dancers, formed entirely from butterflies, move in endless pursuit of one another. Their bodies, fragile mosaics of wings, circle and intertwine but never quite touch. At the final moment, the swarm disperses — leaving only silence, emptiness, and the echo of what might have been.

Butterfly was created as a large-scale projection mapping video work and was selected through competition to be featured at an expo in Osaka. The piece explores themes of longing, impermanence, and the beauty of connection that slips just out of reach.

This is collection has a total of 4 works, click here to view them.

The collection ‘moving sculptures’ comes from an idea of trying to capture a sculpture only for a split second and then letting it fade again. I wanted to see if it was possible to create digital sculptures that were formed purely from my own movement and choreography. In this collection you will find 4 different works, all with different materials and a different intention. I experimented with shapes, colors, softness/hardness in the movement and in the choice of materials and feel, all to create these 4 unique digital sculptures. Normally my creation process is quite structured, it usually starts with an idea, I do a lot of research and trials beforehand and once I find what I am looking for I create the collection. For this collection however, I wanted the process to be more free and lose, I started with an idea like usual, but immediately started creating the first work, and then the second, with each work I was discovering new things which I would apply to the work in that moment. So in these 4 works you can experience the thought process I went through while creating the works, seeing a kind of transformation or evolution between each work. I hope looking at these works will give you peace of mind, just like it gave me when I created them.

WOOD

The first piece, Wood, is crafted from bamboo wood. In this work, my focus was on emphasizing the sculptural forms and patterns created by my movements, rather than centering on the dance itself. The result is a calming and serene scene. During the creative process, I was deeply curious about how far I could push the work toward resembling a physical sculpture. As you view this piece, you’ll notice abstract shapes and patterns taking form. While it’s clear these emerge from a dancer’s movements, the dance itself intentionally remains in the background, allowing the sculptural elements to take center stage.

METAL

With the work Metal I wanted to create a very strong and powerful work made from different metals like gold, Iron and bronze. I tried to replicate the feeling I get when looking at a metal sculpture. The music created by Spearfisher is accompanying this work by going through a transformation from softer echoeing voices (also heard in the work wood) to a more distinct and modern sound fitting the material and strong feeling I intended to make with this edition.

MARMER

With this work I thought it would be interesting to create something that was very strong but fragile at the same time. The the way I see it, marmer is strong, stiff and beautiful but the moment a hammer hits it or a marmer tile falls on the ground it shatters, so I challenged myself to create something with the same qualities. To do this I choose to solidify a cloth like simulation, because a cloth has very soft and smooth characteristics, and freezing this cloths gives a very interesting hard marmer quality to it. The cloth simulation is driven by my movement, my turns and jumps. After that the cloth responds and solidifies leaving behind an always moving sculpture.

STONE

For this last work I wanted to keep things very simple. I noticed that when working on the three previous works they kept getting more complex with each new version. Stone is one of the most basic and common things that comes to mind when I think of the earth and its materials, so it felt fitting to keep the design of this sculpture as simple as possible. Just a dancer, stone and the process of solidifying the stone for a quick second.

Click here to view the full film.

Painting the Skies by Wisse Scheele is a captivating and visually stunning short film that explores the symbiotic relationship and the profound connection between creativity and freedom. Directed by Scheele, this cinematic journey immerses viewers in the world of a young boy who feels trapped by the suffocating confines of his everyday life and the mundanity of his daily existence.

As the protagonist grapples with the emotions and pain of his circumstances, he discovers a unique way to transcend his limitations: through the power of imagination and artistic expression. Fueled by a burning desire for liberation, he embarks on a transformative quest to paint his wings, a poignant metaphor symbolizing his inner turmoil’s metamorphosis into a warm, exhilarating sensation of pure joy.

Painting the Skies celebrates the indomitable human spirit, the courage to break free, and the boundless possibilities that await when creativity knows no limits. This short film reminds us that, even in our darkest moments, we possess the ability to paint our own destinies, set our spirits free, and release our souls into the sky.

Starring: Christian Mathot

“Echoes of a Lost Bird” by Apollon Kalamenios and Wisse Scheele, performed live in Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

We were fortunate enough to be awarded the «Audience Award» & the «Responsible AI Award», by Microsoft and FrieslandCampina. In our performance we tell an adaptation of the story of the “Kauaʻi ʻōʻō” bird. We open with a sequence of sound making, a ritual. In this ritual, we exclusively use the Chladni plate in many different ways to produce sounds, accompanied by dance and echoed voices. When Apollon starts to bow on the side of the chladni, sand patterns are being formed on the top of it. We view these patterns as the life and soul of the birds. The last “Kauaʻi ʻōʻō” in existence comes into the screen and starts performing its mating call on top of the sand patterns, hoping for a reply that doesn’t seem to come. At this time, black bubbles start to form. Within these bubbles we can see the many different colors and shapes this beautiful bird takes on during the mating call (the bubbles are completely made with generative artificial intelligence). When the bird is about to give up, it hears a reply in the distance. Eventually another bird appears, only this bird is different, it is artificial and digital. They start to dance together, performing a duet, twirling, jumping, flying around. But unfortunately, it is already too late, the real “Kauaʻi ʻōʻō” starts to fade and disappears into the chladni patterns as glitter, its soul though lives on. Now the artificial bird is left alone, expanding and becoming more and more digital. The closing act is presented with Wisse dancing, accompanied by the poem of Emily Dickinson “Hope”. With elements like sand, glitter and feathers, we try to bridge the gap between the physical and the digital world.

This is collection has a total of 4 works, click here to view them.

The Figures of Light collection by Wisse Scheele is an exploration of dance, light, and space that breaks the boundaries of traditional art forms. Comprising four mesmerizing video artworks, this innovative collection marries Scheele’s skill as a professional ballet dancer with cutting-edge digital technology.

In each piece, human figures are transformed into ethereal forms of light, their bodies fluidly dancing to the rhythm of music. Scheele’s balletic expertise is the driving force behind these luminous figures, their movements a direct translation of his own.

As the audience, we are privy to an intimate depiction of dance, each figure’s movement akin to the undulating motion of fabric caught in a breeze. The result is a visual symphony of light and motion, an immersive experience that extends beyond the physical limitations of traditional dance.

The magic begins with Scheele himself, as each dance is choreographed and performed by him. Drawing from his profound understanding of ballet, Scheele imagines what it would be like to move as light, to morph into a swift burst of brilliance, and to translate this idea into tangible shapes and movements. This choreography is not simply a series of steps; it is a vision of light and energy transformed into dance.

To bring this vision to life, Scheele uses a motion capture suit that is able to precisely capture all of his movements and transfer them into a digital 3D skeleton. Thanks to this marvelous technology, Scheele can accurately transfer all of the nuances of his choreography, ensuring every leap, turn, and flourish is preserved, without any technical limitations.

The final step of this process sees Scheele take this 3D skeleton and infuse it with life, adding a digital representation of light to create the stunning figures we see. These dancers are not merely represented as light; they become the light, their energy and expressiveness radiating from the screen.

It’s crucial to underscore that these are not merely abstract representations. Behind every ripple and burst of light is Scheele himself, his movements meticulously captured and transformed into the 3D realm. This is not just an artistic expression, but a deeply personal narrative of Scheele’s dance journey.

Figures of Light is a testament to the power of dance and the possibilities of digital art. It’s an intimate portrayal of the artist’s passion for ballet, encapsulated within the radiant figures that dance across the screen. It is, in essence, the embodiment of Scheele’s belief that the beauty of dance extends beyond the physical realm, reaching into the very fabric of light and space.

This collection has almost 40 works, click here to see them all.

Symmetry in Existence emerges as a profound testament to the innovative melding of the physical and digital realms. This collection, featuring three distinct works by Wisse Scheele, showcases his versatility as a Dutch dancer and multi-disciplinary artist, currently performing with the Slovak National Ballet. The collection embarks on an explorative journey to discover the precise intersection where the tangible and virtual worlds meet.

Symmetry in Existence unfolds a narrative of contrast and union. It stands as a bold declaration of the potential within interdisciplinary art, a narrative gracefully dancing on the edge of two realms, beckoning viewers to delve into the symmetry within existence. This collection will soon be complemented by another, arriving in one month, featuring shorter, unique works that encapsulate the essence of the three comprehensive videos presented in this collection.

In this project I tried to bring paintings by vincent van gogh to life. Using blender, a 3D animation software and Stable diffusion, a generative AI model I could create a 3D moving version of the painting. I recorded myself dancing and ran the recording through the AI to create Vincent.

This collection is a series of 4 works, click here to see them.

Questioning is the prologue of the three-part series, Our Reality , created by Scheele and the musician Apollon Kalamenios. In this collection, that is made up of four works, Scheele researches and explores what we perceive as real and as fake, and while doing so he tries to blur the lines of our reality, what we perceive as real and what we perceive as fake. In this first part of the series, the work is produced in the physical world, and recorded by a camera whereas in the second part Scheele will present a similar choreography in a digital space.

I came to the realization that our world is becoming more and more digital, because of this I find myself having a hard time defining what is real and what is not, think of deepfake technology or artificial intelligence. In this first part of the series, questioning our reality, everything is physically done. The paint you see on my hands is real, the choreography, the movement and everything is done in camera. I was trying to figure out how I could best blur the lines between real and fake, and then I had an idea, I was going to physically blur the lines by filming through blurry surfaces. To add to this, Apollon Kalamenios, a great musician and friend of mine created a beautiful soundscape that fit exactly with my idea of blurring the lines in our reality. In the second part of the series (which is coming later this year) I will create similar works but everything will be done in the digital space. Who is to decide what is real and what is not?