i.m.polite x Deveny Faruque x Elke Delespierre

Three new residents who will perform in Het Bos on May 22 during 10 years of het Bos. Meet Pauline, Elke and Deveny!

We asked them some questions:

How do you collaborate with other artists?

Our collaboration unfolded organically, rooted in genuine friendship and mutual admiration for each other's craft. Deveny, a multifaceted artist with a knack for filmmaking, sculpting, and immersive installation art, joined forces with Elke, whose expertise lies in costume design and illustration. United by our shared passion for creativity, we embarked on a journey to bring the music of i.m.polite to life in a truly imaginative manner. While our individual visions and artistic styles harmonized, the process of melding our diverse skill sets posed a stimulating challenge. Crafting a cohesive scenography required meticulous attention to detail, ensuring that our collective vision resonated authentically with the audience's sensory experience during the live performance.

Is there a specific environment or material that's integral to your work?

As a writer, my creative sanctuary is nestled within the cozy confines of my bedroom, often wrapped snugly in a blanket amidst the tranquility of nightfall.This intimate space not only serves as my refuge but also acts as a profound wellspring of inspiration, shaping my vision for an ultimate stage design. In the realm of rap, the prevailing imagery often revolves around toughness and grit. However, as a rapper I wouldn't call myself the brag and boast type. I've found myself drawn to the allure of softness, seeking to challenge conventions through the intriguing interplay of these contrasting elements. The juxtaposition of soft vs. hard, sweet picnick versus real rap raw serves as a captivating muse as Deveny, Elke and I explored innovative ways to translate this onto the live stage.

Tell me about your techniques for overcoming creative blocks.

Looking back on our residence we did learn how to change course quickly and be flexible about altering the whole initial idea. At the start of our project, we tried to think and plan the absolute execution. Since we were making things we never made before, you don't know what problems will occur along the way. That makes time very hard to plan. In our research, when we are sketching, material hunting, testing, doing little mock-ups, prepping fabric, pattern cutting, sewing you do sometimes get lost and it's important to take a step back and look at the work and ask yourself if this is the vision you'd like to see and come true. The act of dispatching your darlings is a fundamental aspect of editing. It is somewhat of an excruciating process of pruning unnecessary elements from our work. We scoured for excess in the scenography and it felt refreshing when we discarded the irrelevant elements and succeeded in merging certain objects and repurposing them on the stage plan.