Joost Rekveld

1. Joost Rekveld musician experimental film artist kinetic installation designer

2. Personal Information Joost Rekveld was born on April 23, 1970 in Terneuzen, The Netherlands. He now lives, creates, and teaches in Amsterdam. He attended The University of Utrecht, The Royal Conservatory in Hague, The Royal Academy for the Visual Arts, The New Media Department of the AKI in Enschede, and com- pleted an external year of philosophy and aesthetics at Leiden State University. He also Worked as projectionist and programmer in multiple art- cinemas from 1986 until 1990.

3. Inspirations “My interest in color began with watching films. The first time I remember seeing colors was when I for the first time saw films by Paul Sharits and James Whitney. It was shocking. After that I have seen many colors around me and many other films which derived much of their perceptual force from color. The films of Oskar Fischinger, James and John Whitney, Jordan Belson and Paul Sharits made me want to make films myself. Color and time have become the two main themes in my work.” “The most amazing color phenomenon I know is the daily cycle of night, sunrise, day, sunset, night … the idea of an essential analogy between times of day and states of mind struck me at the time as especially significant. This idea became the main principle in my thoughts about color. He is also greatly inspired by artificial light, color palates, space and interferences, as well as the writing of Ellen Marx, Herald Kupers and Marius Schneider. He uses color as representations of larger ideas, such as “states of mind and points in space.”

4. Abstract Films Joost Rekveld began his work as a musician, using very scientific methods of understanding pitch, range, tone, and resonance. His first two pieces, entitled #1 and Newman Gebruikte Zelf ook Verfroller were completed in 1991. He then turned to abstract films during his next eight years of work, and has completed over twenty films, ranging from three to eighty minutes in length. The focus on everything from color to light, and most are accompanied by music he has composed specifically for the film.

5. Number Three "#3 is a film with pure light, in which the images were created by recording the movements of a tiny light source with extremely long exposures, so that it draws traces on the emulsion. The light is part of a simple mechanical system that exhibits chaotic behavior.” "Already for a long time I have been fascinated by the fact that it is possible to construct a static image using movement, and that it is possible to recreate movement by showing several of these static images in succession. In this way both the images as well as the transformations of those images are caused by the interference between the movement of one single light-germ and the movement of the film camera. I regard this as a kind of zero point of photographically recorded film.” "The film was made according to an extensive score covering color, exposure, camera position, width of the light-trail and the direction and speed of movement of the mechanical system. The score consists of 13 sections in which I have tried at all costs to avoid repetition, symmetry and trivial developments.ﾊ The light that draws the traces was fastened to a double pendulum. This system is known from chaos-theory and shows unpredictable behavior in a certain range of speeds."

6. More Experimental Films

7. Installations

8. An Evening with Joost Rekveld, 2000 On November 17, 2000, Joost Rekveld gave a presentation on #19, one of his most recent installations. An observer and friend said “he [Joost] considers the fundamentals of moving image technology; the way in which it comes to grips with the flux of the world by dividing time in atoms. His most recent work is entirely based on spatial and temporal interferences, making use of very elementary mechanical scanning principles.

9. On Technology “This made me think differently about technology. Instead of a neutral means to an end, technology is a part of our culture just like art or mythology. In the history of technology specific motives recur in ever changing constellations, motives which often originated in philosophy or art. Also the contemporary disgust or devotion to technology stands in no proportion to the supposed mere functionality of it. The rift that many perceive between the world of 'cold' functional science and technology, as opposed to the 'human' world of art and intuition, is in my opinion based on a dangerous misconception. The full exposure of the sensory and human aspects of technological motives has gradually become one of the main aims of my work.” –Joost Rekveld

10. Bibliography Rekveld, Joost. 21 Nov 2006 <http://www.lumen.nu/rekveld.html>. Hutt, Ron. Experienced through Time. Fine Arts Center Galleries. 21 Nov 2006 <http://www.uri.edu/personal/vwi1087u/Joost.html>. Srpij, Jan. "An Evening with Joost Rekveld." V2_. 2000. V2_Archive. 21 Nov 2006.<http://framework.v2.nl/archive/archive/node/event/ 05 November 2006. Holland Animation Film Festival. 21 Nov 2006 <http://haff.awn.com/?page=archief&id=151〈=en⊂=151&block=Jury%3A+Joost+Rekveld>.