Lagos Wide and Close

On the occasion of the launching of the DVD Lagos Wide & Close by Bregtje van der Haak, there will be a special video installation in Witte de With during the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam(IABR). The installation, in which the different video and audio tracks of the DVD can be ‘simultaneously’ seen and heard, is part of the City Program of the IABR and will be on view until 19 June.

Opening: Friday, May 27, 19:30 hours.

Rem Koolhaas in conversation with Bregtje van der Haak: Wednesday, June 1, 20:00 hours.

In 2002, Bregtje van der Haak, in cooperation with architect Rem Koolhaas and The Harvard Project on the City made Lagos/Koolhaas, a documentary on self-organization and urbanization in Nigeria. As a sequel, together with designer Silke Wawro, she developed a new project: Lagos Wide & Close, an Interactive Journey into an Exploding City. This innovative DVD contains an interactive video documentary (60), edited from 55 hours of unused material that brings the viewer closer to the explosively growing megalopolis Lagos. With bus driver Olawole Busayo, the viewer moves through the city and has a choice of a distant (‘wide’) or an involved (‘close’) perspective, at any random moment in the documentary.

Director: Bregtje van der Haak
Designer: Silke Wawro
Camera: Alexander Oey
Sound: Rik Meier
Submarine, 2005

Rem Koolhaas in conversation with Bregtje van der Haak

On the occasion of the publication of the DVD, Rem Koolhaas will join Bregtje van der Haak in a discussion led by Hans Maarten van den Brink on Wednesday June 1, at 20:00 in Witte de With (Auditorium). There are only a limited number of seats; therefore it is necessary to make a reservation. This can be done by sending an e-mail to [email protected] by calling: 010 4110144. Tickets cost EUR 5,00.

In addition to the installation in Witte de With, the documentary will also be interactively viewable on VPRO from 28 May to 5 June, at 21.00 through a special cooperation between digital channels Holland Doc and /Geschiedenis (/History).

produced by Submarine in co-production with VPRO