A collaboration by Vincent van Lieshout, Stephanie Specht and Karolien Polenus
Important: for the best experience, we recommend watching it with a high-quality
sound system or good headphones, allowing the vibrations to reach every cell
in your body.
‘Human Resonance’ is a new self-initiated piece, premiered exclusively at Us By Night (Sept. 27, 2025 - Antwerp, Belgium) and Forward Festival (Oct. 3, 2025 - Vienna, Austria). It’s a seven-chapter visual meditation that delves into the inner world of being human — especially the creative and playful side of our nature. Each chapter unfolds its own distinct identity and typographic language, forming a rhythm between visuals, type, and emotion. The entire soundscape is generated from a fig tree using the bioelectrical device PlantWave which measures the subtle changes in a plant’s electrical currents - the shifts that happen as water moves through its tissues, as ions flow across cell membranes, and as the plant respond to its environment. Those fluctuations become data, and that data becomes sound, which then is composed to a music piece through choices of scale, frequency, and instrumentation. The fig tree’s music is tuned to 432 Hz, a frequency often associate with natural harmony and resonance, inviting a grounded and balanced state of being. Over the course of four minutes, visuals, sound, and typography merge into a short yet immersive meditation. The work places strong emphasis on typography, culminating in a credit sequence that acknowledges all the typefaces and foundries used.
We created Human Resonance for one simple reason: to invite to reconnect with ourselves — to have something to return to in stressful times, and to rediscover joy in color, type, sound, and motion. All the ingredients that make us, as creative beings, feel truly alive.
• MOTION & GRAPHICS Vincent van Lieshout, Stephanie Specht
• MUSIC Karolien Polenus
• TEXT Vincent van Lieshout, Stephanie Specht and Karolien Polenus
• VOICE Hannah Gardiner