The Feeling Sonnets (Transitional Object)
Netherlands / 2024 / 32'
Plot
Based on a poetry collection by Eugene Ostashevsky and mixing film and graphic design, the video follows its protagonist, ONE, a descendant of poets who works collecting trash, as she discovers a set of poems—the feeling sonnets—in which words, expressions, phrases, and poetic conventions are uprooted and defamiliarized to convey the experience of living in a foreign land and language. In dialogue with earlier works by Metahaven such as Chaos Theory and Hometown, the piece continues to explore themes of belonging, childhood, and parenthood, while probing the place of feeling within a saturated media landscape.
Full Cast and Crew
Director:
Metahaven
Guion:
Metahaven
Producer:
Phoebe Perry
Mathias Swings
Alexandra Rashevskaya
Tijs Lammar
Cinematography:
Metahaven
Remko Schnorr
Kyulim Kim
Cast:
Amélie Haest
Music:
inti figgis-vizueta
Vesper van der Velden
Aliona Ciobanu
Póster Oficial
Screenings
| 28/11/2025 | 19:00h | MUSEO REINA SOFÍA |
Director
Metahaven
Metahaven are an Amsterdam-based artist collective whose work comprises filmmaking, design, and writing. Metahaven’s film works include The Feeling Sonnets (Transitional Object) (2024), Chaos Theory (2021), Hometown (2018), Information Skies (2016, nominated for the European Film Awards), and The Sprawl (Propaganda About Propaganda) (2015). As designers, Metahaven have worked or are working with Balenciaga; Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture, Almaty; Tensta konsthall, Stockholm; Valiz, Amsterdam; Sternberg Press, London, and many others. They have done activist design for Independent Diplomat (2014) and WikiLeaks (2010) and have worked on speculative design for Sea Shepherd (2016). Metahaven have presented solo exhibitions at MoMA PS1, New York; Guggenheim Museum Bilbao; ICA London; Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco; Asakusa, Tokyo; Izolyatsia, Kyiv; e-flux, New York, and State of Concept Athens, among others. They have participated in group exhibitions at Artists Space, New York; the Gwangju Biennale; the Sharjah Biennial; Ghost:2561, Bangkok, and many others. Their films have been screened at IFFR, Docs Against Gravity, CPH:DOX, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York, among others. Their work is in several international museum and private collections, including the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Sharjah Art Foundation, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, the V&A, and the National Gallery of Victoria. Metahaven are artistic advisors at Rijksakademie, affiliate researchers at Antikythera, and heads of department at the Geo-Design MA at DAE.
