As the son of a magician, Steye tries to create magic with the latest media and technology. A common thread throughout his work is putting the audience at the center of his experiences. His latest project ‘The Smartphone Orchestra’ is an orchestra created with the spectators’ phones with which Steye tells stories with the audience instead of to them. Steye studied both music and visual arts at the Royal School of Music, Dance and Art in The Hague in the Netherlands and was creative leader at the Medialab of the Dutch broadcaster VPRO. After this he worked as creative director for JauntXR EMEA. The VR music video What do we care4, which he made for his own band, was nominated for a British music video award in 2015 and was a worldwide hit. The Cinematic VR experience Ashes to Ashes that Steye directed won gold at the Dutch VR Awards and was nominated for The Dutch Oscars. Weltatem – an interactive Virtual Reality Opera game won two Dutch Game Awards. Steye currently works as Creative Director for The Smartphone Orchestra and as Creative Director for 4DR Studio – a volumetric video capture studio in the Netherlands.
In the Vrijplaats, Steye investigated for his Virtual Reality experience ‘The Imaginary Friend’ how he keeps the tension of disbelief going in an interactive medium in which the user/viewer is present and plays an important role. Through a series of questions and tests – both dramaturgical and technical – Steye wanted to investigate and stimulate the storytelling possibilities of Virtual Reality.
