Story Lab is an ongoing project that started in 2008 when I made a house of recycled plastic bottles in which I “recycled” the fear of visitors into fairy tales during the Wereld van Witte de With Festival in Rotterdam. This experiment had a successful outcome. The improvised stories had a strong effect on the visitors.
I later revisited the project to study the workings of synchronicity. In the summer of 2020, my twin sister Joanna and I performed this project every week in the streets of Rotterdam. Joanna and I have a lot of experience with synchronicity. Identical twins like us are often used in studying genetics or telepathy.
I'm interested in these synchronistical experiences from a personal point but, also, in a broader sense. Shamanistic cultures, for example, have a different way of looking at the bond between mind and matter but are mostly discarded by Western science. I feel the combination of personally experienced science and empirical science strengthens them both.
The experiences in the Story Lab were coincidental, intimate and mysterious. A large and diverse audience shared their fears. Candidly sharing these fears with us and our openness to tell a story without any prefabricated plan seemed to enhance the coincidence in the moment.