Culture & Youth in the Digital Society and how to be an artist and create artwork in the Age of AI: Mauna Kea is home to deities, representing the intersection of the terrestrial and celestial worlds. It is, in Hawaiian mythology, revered as a site of transformation, where fiery lava erupts from within the earth, creating new landscapes in its wake.
Mauna Kea, created both as music video by the Dutch band Cavolo Nero and short film by Leeuw van Moerkerken, is a contemporary cultural and artistic digital art expression, in the framework of EURIDICE’s ecosystem. This meaningful artistic project, which shows that there is more than just digital skills for creativity, seeks to promote cross-disciplinary collaborations, where art, digital technology, and cultural partners meet.
Mauna Kea is a digital multimedia exploration that blends art, digital and mythology into a cohesive narrative. It employs greenscreen technology, vivid color contrasts, and visual effects. The bulk of the background footage was shot underwater off the coast of Gili Air, Lombok, Indonesia, resulting in ethereal imagery that is both visually stunning and conceptually rich.
The music by the Dutch band Cavolo Nero gives a special dimension to the visual storytelling. Cavolo Nero is famous for its eclectic blend of Afrobeat rhythms, psychedelic influences, and indie grooves. To add a further layer of meaning, the film also reuses images from Leeuw van Moerkerken and Cavolo Nero’s earlier internationally recognized film Habitat (2022), creating a thematic bridge between the two works. Mauna Kea in many ways serves as a continuation of Habitat, both expanding upon its exploration of the human condition while shifting to a new mythological context.
With Mauna Kea we make a trip into the psychedelic realm. The actual production saw light in 2025, but the artistic idea, and some film shooting started already two years earlier. Mauna Kea will be used in one of the use cases in the Digital Humanism Summer School in September 2025.
p.s. Mauna Kea received an Honorable Mention at the 2025 Neum Underwater Film Festival in Bosnia and Herzegovina.