Video artist Juul van der Laan in the room where her work I M U is on display. Photo Resource The interactive audiovisual installation I M U, created by video artist Juul van der Laan, has been on display in the Forum library since Tuesday.
The stars of this video are the South African philosopher Mogobe Ramose… and the viewer, who becomes part of the 12-minute philosophical visual essay thanks to AI and the combination of a mirror and a video screen. ‘I M U is an invitation to reflect,’ says the creator Van der Laan. ‘Or as Professor Ramose puts it: “We have to look into the mirror, especially when we know we are ugly”.’
Walk of Fame
I M U was presented on Monday at the event to mark the close of Birgit Boogaard’s tenure as National Teacher of the Year. To celebrate her achievement, she got her ‘own’ tile laid in the Walk of Fame at the entrance to Impulse. Dean of Education Arnold Bregt praised her not only for being the first WUR person to be crowned National Teacher of the Year but also for what she epitomizes as a teacher. ‘Crossing boundaries is an important concept at our university. Birgit embodies that concept by showing WUR and the WUR community new, difference sources of knowledge.’ She does that for example in her African Philosophy course.
Critical self-reflection
There is a link between the tile and the video artwork. In addition to Boogaard’s name and honorary title, the tile also has a quote by Professor Ramose, the man in the video and one of Boogaard’s main sources of inspiration. It states: ‘Education for liberation is the direst need of our times’. The video essay elaborates on this and uses an interactive approach to make clear that ‘liberation’ is partly about critical self-reflection and taking an uncompromising look in the mirror.
I M U is on display every day during the library’s regular opening hours until 3 July.
Monday to Friday from 8:00 to 22:00; Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 to 18:00.
Room 360 (3rd floor of Forum, 2nd floor of the library, at the back).
Non-members of WUR are also welcome. The interactive aspect means one person at a time can experience the artwork.
