In Sightless Seeing #5: Remember by Heart, performer Leroy de Böck is followed deep into the collection of the former Theater Instituut Nederland (TIN), which is in the custody of the Allard Pierson. Guided by his physical memory, his senses, and by the careful keepers of the collection, small openings are discovered in the closeted memories of generations of theatre makers and lovers.

One,         two,          three,         turning left, a hand holds a skeleton from someplace else, dipping the fingers in archival dust as the body navigates the repeating patterns. Like a Borgesian character, pausing between the turning of pages, adopting a new role each time, growing and shedding skins with the changing of the lights.

The Sightless Seeing #5 series by Sarah van Lamsweerde was part of the Suns and Stars program of 2021-2023, an overarching program for artistic practices that develop through open-ended research in a context of collaboration, initiated by Marjoca de Greef and Anastasija Pandilovska. Other participating artists were Aram Lee and Richtje Reinsma. Sightless Seeing #5 has given birth to a number of interventions in and around the former Theatre Institute Nederland (TIN) Collection, now stored in a large depot in Amsterdam Zuid-Oost, including the audioscape Marble Hall, the video Rehearsing the Archive, the scented booklet Jan Hessels 1989, and the performance Black Box.

The short film Sightless Seeing #5: Remember by Heart was presented as part of a tactile video-installation at the group show In the pause of a gesture there might be an echo #3 curated by Suns and Stars at Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Concept and creation: Sarah van Lamsweerde, development and performance: Leroy de Böck, camera and editing: Alina Ozerova, tactile screen and costume design: Janneke Raaphorst, soundtrack composition: Lam Lai, tactile scale model design: Marjoca de Greef, Sarah Van Lamsweerde, and Anastasija Pandilovska. Remember by Heart was filmed on location at IWO Boekendepot and the Allard Pierson, Amsterdam. Many thanks to Gonneke Janssen, Hans van Keulen, Rogier Rompen and Martine Lunshof. No objects from the Theatre Collection were harmed nor unprofessionally handled in the making of this film.


Made possible with the kind support of Mondriaan Fonds, Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, Elisabeth Vermaat Müller Fonds and the Allard Pierson.