Mei

A transmedia project by Marleen van der Werf and Jeroen de Vries.

A new spring and a new sound – Herman Gorter, from May (1889)

This is one of the best known and most quoted lines of poetry in Dutch literary history. But hardly anyone has read the other 4380 lines, which are in Herman Gorter's poem Mei. It is too long or too difficult and offers little to hold on to.

With their transmedia project Mei, Marleen van der Werf and Jeroen de Vries want to make the poem more accessible and anchor it in the various platforms of contemporary (multi)media. This approach allows users to look at work – and at everyday nature and our own role in it – from new angles. In this way, the Dutch spring will firmly anchor itself in our multimedia culture.

The poem deserves this place not only because it is a beautiful portrait of everyday nature in the Netherlands. Gorter's epic observations of the Dutch spring also provide a timeless perspective on the search for meaning and with his text from 1889 he is able to interpret our contemporary unrest. By using nature as a metaphor, existential concerns and questions, which we also struggle with today, are placed outside ourselves and our own time and become insightful. The intention is to place this audiovisual, mobile installation at events, schools, museums and exhibitions.