Saskia Olde Wolbers (1971)
In her London studio, Saskia Olde Wolbers produces the virtual worlds that spring from her imagination completely by hand, without the slightest digital manipulation. She can become mesmerised by a tiny newspaper article, obsessively investigating the dramas behind the story that set off her imagination. Her fascination lies in the unanswered questions, which she fills in with her own answers. 'So much of what happens in reality is too crazy to make up,' says Olde Wolbers.* The artist creates another dimension in her short film loops, complete with handmade special effects that she controls down to the finest details. Olde Wolbers works frequently in metal and plastic, but always with existing objects: 'The material often dictates what my films are going to look like.'
Her films are accompanied by a documentary-style voiceover, reading the artist's text in a detached tone, at a relaxed pace, over the evocative images. Image, text and sound flow seamlessly together. The driving force behind Olde Wolbers' work is real people's loss of their grip on reality and their entanglement in their own overactive imaginations. Epic tragedy is to be found in the true stories of ordinary people who become completely absorbed in their own imaginary worlds.
* quotations: Olde Wolbers in an interview for VPRO programme Picabia, 25.06.2006
