a monochromatic light instrument played through collective presence.
Harmonic Dissonance presents White Space, an immersive installation that transforms negative space into a place where strangers connect.
At its heart, a monolith of intense blue and white light spins on its axis, casting compositions of monochromatic light and generative music that shift and dance among the audience. Responding to pose and position, the sculpture becomes an instrument, played by everyone present at once.
Only by coordinating their positions and synchronising their poses can visitors reach the climax of the installation: illuminating the emptiness that separates them and transforming the negative space into White Space.
White Space is an interactive light installation by artist Matthias Oostrik, who leads its concept, software, and production. Developed under the Harmonic Dissonance Collective, it premieres during Amsterdam Dance Event – Arts & Culture 2026, hosted by ICK Dans Amsterdam. Its sonic language, developed with composer Marcel Wierckx, draws from electronic dance music and generative composition, placing the work at the intersection of light art, club culture, and participatory performance.
The Harmonic Dissonance Collective, which Oostrik co-founded with Suzanne Dikker, is known for award-winning work on human connectedness, with collaborations spanning artists from Marina Abramović to Bad Bunny and institutions including the Max Planck Society, VU Amsterdam, New York University, and ICK Dans Amsterdam.
The program also features SMILE, Oostrik’s AI installation that transforms your portrait into an eerily perfect version of yourself.
— Practical information
Cost:
€5.00 per person
Which days and times:
Tryout: Thursday, 22 October, from 8:00 PM until 9:00 PM
Premiere: Friday, 23 October, from 8:00 PM until 9:00 PM
Location address:
ICK Dans Amsterdam / Space for Dance Art
Rijnlandlaan 3, 1062 MX Amsterdam
Do you have any questions?
Please contact at communications@ickamsterdam.nl.
Please include “White Space” in the subject line.
SMILE is an interactive tech-art installation that turns audience portraits into eerily flawless AI-generated replicas. Using existing AI tools with minimal interference, the work exposes the biases and “super-persuasiveness” embedded in image-generation systems like Midjourney, DALL-E, and Stable Diffusion.
Visitors see themselves transformed into hyper-perfect versions smiling back as idealized, almost uncanny beings. The installation critiques how AI often produces not truth, but polished illusions that reflect and amplify societal imperfections.
Drawing on a critical investigation into generative AI, SMILE preserves the inherent biases of these systems in tasks like describing a participant’s race or gender not as technical errors, but as magnifications of societal flaws that need to be brought to light.
SMILE serves as a cautionary reflection on the rising tide of bullshit in technology, politics, and daily life.
Come see your perfect self and question what you see.
ICK Dans Amsterdam, Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie, Amsterdam Dance Event and Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunst (AFK)
