Artists who work with technology often develop their own tools as part of the articulation of an aesthetic language. Joost Rekveld takes reflections on this mutual construction of tools and artist as a starting point for thinking about the dialogue between humans and technology in a more general sense. He is especially interested in the role and autonomy of technology in this dialogue, and is working towards formulating an artistic position on technologies that deal with matter on a molecular scale.
Using media archaeology as a method, he has been working for several years with the historic technologies of analog computing and electronic modeling as a way to investigate the materiality of computing systems. The concept of one physical system being an analogue of another is a fruitful way to think across patterns occurring in multiple situations without introducing ideas of hierarchy or control between those situations. This has clear links with the practice of unconventional computing, and will hopefully lead to a poetic questioning and un-disciplining of notions of computation and information.
Joost Rekveld explores the sensory consequences of systems of his own design, often inspired by forgotten corners in the history of science and technology. His films, installations and performances are an attempt to reach an intimate and embodied understanding of our technological world. His abstract films have been shown world-wide in a wide range of festivals and venues for experimental film, animation or other kinds of moving image. He had retrospectives at the Barbican in London and the Ann Arbor film festival amongst others, and in 2017 he was filmmaker in focus at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. He has realized several installations and was involved in many collaborative projects involving composers, music ensembles, theatre companies, dance companies and artist’s labs.
Next to his artistic work, he has been giving lectures since 1993, has been teaching since 1996, and from 2008 to 2014 he was the course director of the ArtScience Interfaculty of the Royal Conservatoire and the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague.Since February 2017, Joost has been affiliated to the School of Arts, University College Ghent (KASK) as an artistic researcher, and he is a member of the S:PAM (Studies in Performing Arts & Media) interdisciplinary research centre at Ghent University.
Photo: Patrick Rafferty