In 2021, Marine Haverland co-founded fomo.scene with Laure Hendrickx, an immersive arts agency based in Belgium. They recently launched an exhibition of immersive works: Reset Immersive. The exhibition will run from February 22 to May 14, 2023 in a new venue dedicated to digital and electronic cultures in Brussels: RESET. The venue was created as part of a temporary occupation of space by Bozar, LaVallée and UnderMyGarage. Over 3,000 tickets have been sold since February for a 5-day/week operation (10 spectators per visit). Antoine Roland spoke to Marine Haverland about her career and this inspiring exhibition space.
1. AR – First of all, could you tell us a little about yourself and your background?
MH – I originally came from the film world. Between 2009 and 2012, I worked for Versus Production. This initial experience enabled me to contribute to the development and production of feature-length fiction films. My desire to innovate in terms of formats then led me to set up my first company in 2012: Aura Films. The aim of this company was to develop web series and transmedia projects alongside production consultancy activities.
In connection with our business, we created a festival, the Liège Web Fest, which ran from 2013 to 2016. The last edition of the festival was an opportunity to host and program works in virtual reality. It was in this context that I discovered the creative and artistic potential of VR.
Following this experience, I worked at Screen.Brussels from 2016 to 2021 to support Brussels-based companies in the production of new formats (transmedia, VR, video games) and to initiate and develop international productions.
Finally, 2 years ago, we created Fomo.scene with Laure Hendrickx to advise cultural institutions in the development of their digital and immersive projects. As a logical extension of this activity, we decided to support the creation of RESET, a venue dedicated to immersive artistic formats.
2. AR – How did you come up with the idea for Reset?
MH – With RESET, we started from scratch by applying the advice we’d been giving in a practical way to a specific location.
1,800 m² will be reinvested on a transitional basis before construction begins in 2024 and the premises are reassigned to the Brussels police force. Between these two very institutional destinations, and after 20 years of squatting, the idea emerged with Arty Farty Bruxelles, Fomo.scene, Bozar, LaVallée and UnderMyGarage to make this place a place between urbex and electronic culture.
So we raised the necessary finance, set up the logistics and oversaw the work to refurbish the site. We didn’t necessarily want to manage everything, but in the end we did. The venue now hosts concerts, shows, exhibitions and a range of other events.
With my partner Laure, we curated the works we wanted to exhibit for this first RESET immersive exhibition (February 22 to May 4).
It seemed essential to us to highlight Belgian creativity by welcoming Belgian artists such as Laëticia Bica, as well as works by Antoine de Schuyter (German), and to offer a multiplicity of immersive formats between mapping and virtual reality.
3. AR – What are the issues and challenges you face?
MH – The first challenge we faced was the location. We had to move into a damp 2000 m2 space with no heating or electricity. We had to pull cables and put in place all the necessary conditions to welcome our audiences.
The second challenge is financial. The investment project was financed by the National Lottery, the City of Brussels, the Brussels Capital Region, the Wallonia Brussels Federation and the Digital Arts Commission. In the operating phase, we need to develop our revenues to establish our economic model and ensure the mediation that remains at the heart of our project (3 mediators). Depending on the time of day and the type of visitor, we’ve set prices ranging from 8 to 16 euros.
The third challenge was to build an image from scratch. For this, our partnership with Fever for ticketing and digital communications, and with a press attaché to develop media coverage(numerous articles were published to find out more about RESET) were essential.
At Fomo.scene, we’re looking at ways of convincing venues to develop immersive formats (museums, galleries, theaters, etc.), but which lack funding. From now on, we’d like to use RESET as a calling card to show what we can do.
