Shortlist of materials, equipment and labour used to set the stage for the Grand Rehearsal:
* Venue: an empty shopping space in the Nordsee Passage shopping mall of circa 100m2, half of which needed for the set-up; incl.:
- a clean and smooth wooden floor,
- electrical power, ceiling lights,
- wifi (for live streaming),
- a secluded rest room and small kitchen (backstage area),
- some basic furniture,
- sliding glass panels 'showroom' with two entrances,
- (access to) Mall security.
* Add-ons:
- 20m2 cotton canvas (prepped on site with gesso) and taped to the floor,
- about 500 Rembrandt / Royal Talens soft pastel sticks
- 22m x 1m red carpet,
- an 8 part mdf flat frame (coated with black gesso), 30cm wide and 200/250cm long,
- poles and cords around the artist working area,
- 4 spot lights,
- plastic protective sheets,
- gopro mounted on the ceiling over the artwork for daily live streaming
- lettering on windows and walls,
- promotional materials (hand outs) and a cardboard Rembrandt standy,
- one Golden Age costume,
- location team: one location manager, one producer, two artists, 2 volunteers,
- miscellaneous media presence: newspapers, radio, television, social media,
- project photography,
- webnode project website.
* Time: obvously it took some time to prepare and plan for this special project. Once on location it took one day to prep the canvas, so the actual work on the Night Watch itself (starting with the outlining, and continuing with the top background) could start on day two. Other parts of the set-up (such as setting up the wifi and spotlights, positioning of the lettering on walls and windows) took a bit longer due to practical reasons. From day 3 everything was up and running according to plan.
The artists worked a full 8 consecutive days, mornings to evenings, to complete the pastel painting of approx. 3.5 x 4.5 meter. In hindsight, having a third or even a fourth artist there, at least for some of the time, would not have been a luxury. Nevertheless, we were able to finish on time, exhausted but proud and very fulfilled!
With this experience, we gathered all the information needed to plan for another special Night Watch performance, be it of similar size, or up to six times larger (100m2), as originally intended. Who knows, fingers crossed we wil get there!
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