ABOUT THE SPOON
IT ALL STARTED...
with a spoon
Not a dream ? Well, sorta, but not quite exactly. Let us explain :
In the beginning of the 20th century artists and writers consciously attempted to use the experience of dreaming as a source of inspiration for their work.
“For instance, surrealist Salvador Dali would lie down and place a glass on the floor. He would then put one end of a spoon on the edge of the glass and hold the other end between his fingers. As he drifted into the first stage of sleep, Dali’s fingers would naturally relax and release the spoon. The sound of the spoon crashing into the glass would then wake him up, and Dali would sketch the odd images that were drifting through his mind.” *
With the creation of Drop The Spoon we aimed to explore this boundary between sleeping and waking, a boundary which touches on the indefinite and the infinite, the surreal and the mysterious, the abstract and the methaphoric.
With the silent use of imagery we wanted to portray beauty, meaning and inspiration; opening doors to other worlds, dimensions and comprehension.
* From “Night School, The Life-Changing Science of Sleep” – Richard Wiseman
But who's behind that spoon ?
Jean-Luc Gason & Patrick Neys
Drop The Spoon was created in 2015, in Belgium, by creatives Patrick Neys, Jean-Luc Gason and Dirk Decloedt. All three were educated and inspired by the work and artistry of Franco Dragone, the visionary director who’s influence has transformed live entertainment for the last 30 years. In 2020, Dirk Decloedt stepped away from the management of Drop The Spoon in a friendly manner, but he is still very close to us by collaborating closely on some of our different projects.
During those years working together, we accumulated wealth of experience in world class permanent shows, but also on smaller scale events, either corporate or governmental, and we learned a lot about what doing theatre actually is. This might be our greatest force, on top of being “video guys”, we were drowned into the whole creative process behind a show, closely working on the pre-production with the director of course, but also with the technical director, costume designer, FX designer, props designer…
But even more, we learned (the hard way) to get out of our offices and computer comfort and discover the sometime harsh but fascinating world of the venue.
We came to it by chance, and we never left…
IN 2015, It was time to leave thE nest!
While we learned a lot and are very proud to have been part of Dragone for a long time, we decided to part from it and create Drop The Spoon as a complete standalone company in November 2015.
Of course we still have friends at Dragone, and we are honored to have been contracted by them for several project since then.
It was time for the spoons to leave the nest !
It was time for us to leave the nest, but since then, and even more so since his passing on September 30th, 2022, our hearts and the way we create will forever hold the soul and creative spirit of Franco Dragone, the one who made us grow and become who we are today.
From now on, his voice with its biblical tone will no longer resound in our ears but loudly in our heads and our hearts.
But what do you actually do ?
We could start enumerating things like architectural mapping, live show content, corporate event, editing… But all that is explained in details in our services page.
No, instead let’s get to the core of what we do :
WE.VISUALLY.
POETIZE.STORIES.
Whether ours, when given a wildcard for a project or a mapping, or yours with your help and following your vision. This is what drives us, because this is what creates emotions. We strongly believe storytelling is at the heart of what we do, more than any technical gimmic our will is to help carry the story and emotion through the video in your show/event/concert while always keeping in mind the delicate balance of the show. And even more than just video, during our journey we learned to use and design sound, music, fountains, scene FX, lighting… We became art directors on top of all this, meaning we can easily take responsability for all these creative parts or communicate with the people in charge and work together as a team.
But we always integrate with the scene, never taking over it (unless needed). It’s one of the most important legacy we acquired from our time on all the shows we worked on : we learned to listen to the needs of the show, of the scene, and to respond to it in a delicate whisper rather that shouting out loud.
That doesn’t mean we aren’t always looking for cutting edge technology to achieve this, but for us technology serves the content, not the opposite.
So welcome to our world, SIT back and enjoy the ride
