Sonder

How long can a grieving partner carry on imagined conversations? Can artificial intelligence reunite a widower and his beloved wife, physically, here and now? What does technology do with our most intimate experiences? 

The visual artist Kaat Pype lost her mother unexpectedly. Her bond with her father and their shared grief led to a photography project. She photographed him in the houses of single women of his generation – interiors where someone else’s absence is felt – as if he had lived there for twenty years. Director Yves Degryse filmed these encounters and created a ‘making of’ documentary. 

Kaat, her father and Yves share the stage with musician Berlinde Deman in Sonder, an innovative collaboration with technology start-ups and Wintercircus Ghent. Every evening, the father talks to his late wife. Every evening he does the same, but differently.