EYE CONTRACTS

Crowdfunding. Performance art. A pilgrimage through the city. The whole month of September 2022, starting from my own front door, I would push a self-built, archaic looking video/TV unit through the streets, parks and subways of Amsterdam. I offered my presence, my short films and my Nikon lens for portraits – plus the question:

.

.

How would you like to donate one cent per day to help me create works of cinema art – for the rest of my life?

.

.

Lots of people smiled. Some frowned. Those who sat down, watched and said ‘yes’, I called Eye Contracts. A few have since become dear friends. At the end of the month the media had taken note, but only thirty-or so strangers had stared into my lens and formalised their lifelong donation.

.

Thirty times one cent per day adds up to about €9 per month – not exactly the base income that I was hoping to generate. I next decided to use the momentum and good buzz that the performance had created, to reach out to my own network of family, friends and fans. I asked them to donate whatever they would like – daily, weekly, monthly, yearly or one-time. At the end of 2022, I was nearing seventy five supporters and about €350 in donations per month.

.

The Eye Contracts project has continued to evolve. Two years since the original campaign it consists of a group of about 120 supporters who contribute €5 per month on average. More and more, it is becoming a community that enjoys the first fruits of my artistic labors. Whether it be the latest developments on my next film project, surprise screenings of cinema classics, Cinema Love Letter podcasts – or performance projects that cannot afford to wait for funding, like the original campaign itself – the Eye Contracts have become the first audience and community where I give back what has been given to me.

.

If you appreciate cinema, art or stubborn, romantic ways to monetize the unmonetizable, please consider supporting and enjoying my work.