Happiness
Happiness
Happiness
Happiness
Happiness in Kaunas (LT) (Martynas Plepys)
Happiness
Happiness in Barcelona (Sylvia Poch) EN
Happiness in Kaunas (LT) (Martynas Plepys)
Happiness in Hannover (Helge Krückeberg)
Happiness in Berlin (Derk Stenvers)
Happiness
Happiness
In public space stands a small concrete building, resembling both a public toilet and a clandestine pharmacy. A humanoid—a human-like robot—provides an informative overview of recreational drugs, painkillers, and antidepressants—substances that allow us to regulate serotonin and dopamine levels in our brains and, in turn, influence our mood. With her mechanical body, the humanoid seeks to mimic the human experience.
In the fusion of robotics and drugs, the work explores the intersection of humanity and artificiality—where synthetic means help us reclaim or enhance our humanity, or briefly step away from it.
In public space stands a small concrete building, resembling both a public toilet and a clandestine pharmacy. A humanoid—a human-like robot—provides an informative overview of recreational drugs, painkillers, and antidepressants—substances that allow us to regulate serotonin and dopamine levels in our brains and, in turn, influence our mood. With her mechanical body, the humanoid seeks to mimic the human experience.
In the fusion of robotics and drugs, the work explores the intersection of humanity and artificiality—where synthetic means help us reclaim or enhance our humanity, or briefly step away from it.
Video
Short compilation Happiness
Registration Happiness
Press
"Though her silicone face prompts the typical distress of the uncanny valley, she is stunningly emotive when she tips her head back in pleasure, her eyes squinting in the orgasmic relief of the heroin whose effects she is modeling."
ARTnews review of the Plásmata exhibition by Onassis Stegi in Athens, by Shanti Escalante-De Mattei (8 June 2022)Read the review (in English)
"This litany of descriptions, the mechanical repetition of that icy voice and that glassy look produce a disturbing vertigo."
A review by Nicolas Garnier on cultural website Maculture of Happiness in Strasbourg (31 January 2022)Read the translation of the review (in English)Read the review (in French)
“Happiness subtly explores the malleability of our emotions… empathy rather than the usual moralising.”
Fransien van der Putt wrote a review for Theaterkrant (3 September 2019)read the review (in Dutch)
“Absolutely fascinating… humans become mechanical and the mechanical becomes human”
A review by Hein Janssen in de Volkskrant newspaper (4 August 2019)read the review (in Dutch)
"For a radically different approach, Grapperhaus (Dutch Minister for Security) Halsema (mayor of Amsterdam) should check out Verhoeven’s installation. Not for advice on drug use but to see for themselves just how arbitrary the boundary is between sanctioned and illegal drugs—or between drugs used for medicinal and recreational purposes.”
Christiaan Weijts dedicated a column in het NRC newspaper to Happiness (30 August 2019)read the column (in Dutch)
“The muck has to go somewhere.”
For Mister Motley Selm Wenselaer interviewed Verhoeven about his installation Happiness at the NDSM-wharf and on the questionif art can still disrupt the public space (19 September 2019)read the interview here (in Dutch)
“In Happiness, I try to imagine a world in which drugs are a part of everyday life. It’s up to the viewer to decide whether that is a utopian or dystopian vision of the future.”
In Dries Verhoevens new performance humanoid Amy plays the lead'. Herien Wensink de Volkskrant newspaper (25 July 2019)read the article here (in Dutch)
“If the doctor gives it to you, it’s fine. But if it comes from the dealer it's rubbish – that's what we think, but there’s more to it than that.”
Thomas van Huut interviewed Dries Verhoeven about Happiness for het NRC newspaper (30 July 2019)read the interview here (in Dutch)
Credits
concept Dries Verhoeven
production Studio Dries Verhoeven
dramaturgy Hellan Godee
creation humanoid Chris Creatures Filmeffects
digital puppeteering Stefano Trambusti
director assistant Bart van de Woestijne
voice Annie Saunders
sound Jimi Zoet
understudy Yurie Umamoto
costume Saskia Schoenmaker
production Olga Godschalk
assistent production Jennifer Welts
technique Roel Evenhuis
intern Charles Pas
software Sylvain Vriens
graphics Julia Berg
Happiness is made possible with the support of BPD Cultuurfonds, Fonds Fentener van Vlissingen, stimuleringsfonds creatieve industrie, Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst and BNG Cultuurfonds.