In the spring of 2019, together with my musician friend Marnix, I started with the creation of a character. A character based on the region in the Netherlands we are both from; Westfriesland. The region is known for its stiff, stubborn, not a word too much, and concealed character, but as a result of the boredom, it is also known for her typical eccentric provincials who attempt to conquer the world. Because with no drama happening around you, you have to create your own.
The project started out as an ode to the way we always exaggerated our lives as a result of the boredom we have experienced growing up in the flat and dull Westfriesland. This ode is the character Martin Malibu. Martin is a parody on romanticising provincial life, and the pain and burdens of the troubled provincial artist. Martin’s life is dominated by his dream of becoming a singer, following in the footsteps of world famous West-Frisian singer George Baker.
The fictional character, played by my friend Marnix, started out with a short film followed by the debut release of Martin’s music. In the process of creating this film I already started noticing how similar Marnix started to behave to Martin. He started to wear the same clothes, say the same things and act the same way as Martin. This made me curious to research this further. I started to approach the character in a more documentary way to slowly introduce him from his fictional world into the real world. I noticed that the more I was doing this, the less I had to direct it.
Marnix started morphing into Martin.
YESTERDAY THE FUTURE
THE FUTURE YESTERDAY
"He did not achieve even the perfection of a pig that lies still in the mud and lives in contentment, never wondering why the apple had fallen upon its snout and why it had not flown upwards instead of falling from its branch.” sci-fi pioneer Dragutin J. Ilić, an 1889 extract taken from his drama ‘Posle Milijon Godina’ A lost play in the European sci-fi history.
a film by Linus Kropp | sound by Linus Kropp | starring Miloš Lučić
made during a one-week fieldtrip project week in Novi Sad, Serbia with the 2nd year class of the photography department of the Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague.
part of Forgetful Number
2018