| THE ROMANCE OF TECHNOLOGY

What happens when technology becomes more than a tool — when it becomes a reflection, a counterpart, even a source of longing? In The Romance of Technology, artist and immersive storyteller David Van Eyssen invites audiences into a visually charged, deeply personal talk exploring the strange intimacy we’ve developed with machines.

Part memoir, part manifesto, this multimedia experience unfolds through video, sound, extended reality, and AI interventions. At its core is a question many of us feel but rarely articulate: how do the very tools that shape our digital lives mirror our inner ones?

Known for his genre-defying transmedia series RCVR and a career spanning campaigns for brands like BMW, Google, and Pepsi, Van Eyssen has long been at the forefront of interactive media. But this isn’t a retrospective — it’s an invitation into his creative psyche, where the alienation of technology becomes fertile ground for reflection, and distance gives rise to connection.

“Technology’s alienating qualities draw me to it. They heighten my awareness that reality is always just out of reach,” says Van Eyssen. “In that way, it becomes a mirror of my own isolation, and offers the critical distance I need to create. Over time, I’ve come to see its presence in every aspect of art-making. That’s why I fell in love with it: because it’s the counterpart, the reflection — inescapable, and brutally honest.”

Presented as part of the Wende Museum’s Art Across Boundaries series, The Romance of Technology reframes the machine not as a threat to our humanity, but as a way to understand it more deeply. With generous support from Skip Victor and in partnership with LAist, the event promises both conceptual boldness and unexpected beauty.

Whether you come for the visuals, the ideas, or the rare chance to hear from a pioneer of immersive storytelling, The Romance of Technology is a space to rethink how we feel about the technologies we live with and within.

— Cansu Peker, Curator

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