.ANY RESEMBLANCE TO EXISTING PERSONS IS PURELY COINCIDENTAL

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In the project 'Any resemblance to existing persons is purely coincidental//Stories of Mr. Wood' (2004-2006) we investigate the conventions of telling a story. Starting point is the classical way of telling a story - the Hollywood way - and how this construction determines the way we put the things we see and experience in order. Hereby photography plays an important, but secondary role. The project is collaboration with graphic designer Vanessa van Dam and consists of telling two different courses of one story. One set in Los Angeles (Hollywood) and one in Bombay (Bollywood). The story is formed by pieces of documented reality, obtained by following a self-made method, arranged by the rules of a classic (Hollywood) story. This method consists of a set of rules telling us day by day what to do to gain information. It's an almost scientific method to visualize our way of looking and experiencing. The first day we find out the way Mr. Wood looks, the second day we find the place where he works, the third where he lives. The following days we focus on his social life, his dreams and his memories etcetera. Within ten days a character occurs. Obviously the Los Angeles scenario and the Bombay one unfolds differently. We asked the author Maria Barnas to contribute to the book. She wrote an essay narrating from the point of view of Mr. Wood. 15 October the book is being presented in Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam. .WOOD MEETS BLIIN The experience-machine. The scenario which forms the starting point of 'Any resemblance...' can be played endlessly. Depending on time and place, a new story keep unfolding. Therefore the book is designed to function as an alternative travel guide. By following the same rules as we did the reader/viewer can create his own story of Mr. Wood, taking place on a location of choice; he/she will experience a city in a new way. To underline this part of the project we organized a 'growing exhibition' in the Motive Gallery. We invited Heather Flood, a Los Angeles-based urban planner and Johnny Vivash, a London-based artist/actor to create an Amsterdam version of Mr. Wood. With this Amsterdam version we provide insight into the experience-machine. At the end of each day we collected the material of that day and exposed it in the Motive gallery. In 10 days a new story occurred. We decided to work together with Bliin (www.bliin.com >>), a live location-based blogging and monitoring device, developed by KKEP (Stef and Selene Kolman). Through this collaboration the search for Mr. Wood Amsterdam could be followed live, in the gallery and at home. (This presentation took place 15-24 Oct 2006 in Motive gallery, Amsterdam).