Joris Strijbos
Joris Strijbos is a Rotterdam-based artist whose work focuses on the synaesthetic relation and interaction between moving image and sound.
His artistic research focuses on cybernetics, swarm intelligence, communication networks and emergent systems. Through kinetic installations and expanded (live) cinema performances, he develops complex immersive and synesthetic landscapes in which image, sound and light are continuously intertwined in a synchronized choreography. In his work he combines artificial, electronic and digital media with models and algorithms based on biological systems. In many of the works, the viewer witnesses a process in which machines, computer programs and the physical world interact with each other. The installations are programmed using algorithms to reflect specific organic structures and “natural” behaviors such as self-organization, which are then revealed to the audience in the movements and abstract light patterns of the machines. Sometimes the artworks explore the edges of human visual and auditory perception and produce strong hypnotic patterns such as stroboscopic light pulses and sound waves. In other installations, the experience is more meditative and the composition focuses on choreographies and shifts of minimalistic and mathematical objects. What the pieces have in common is their multisensorial nature. Light, sound and movement are merged with precision into time-bound sculptures.
Óra
Óra is a kinetic sound and light installation that explores the concept of ‘loaded time’ a temporal state characterized by a slow accumulation of energy that ultimately erupts when a threshold is reached. This buildup-and-release dynamic is commonly observed in natural phenomena such as geysers, where underground pressure builds until water is forcefully expelled into the air. In Óra, this idea is reinterpreted through a sculptural system in which compressed air is used to trigger a wind turbine. As the turbine spins, it generates power that activates a circular array of lights surrounding its blades.
Drawing inspiration from systems theory, Óra incorporates concepts like neural networks and autopoiesis, the capacity of a system to self-regulate and sustain itself through internal feedback. These principles are woven into the installation’s behavior. Its elements air, motion, sound, and light, are in constant interaction, forming a responsive and evolving ecosystem that mimics an artificial living, time- sensitive organism.
The installation consists of multiple identical units that are placed together in a group. The process unfolds in different phases: initially, all units enter a charging state, silently accumulating pressure. In this state a visitor can hear the compressors charging and see litle lights that indicate the charging proces. Once a unit is “charged,” it becomes acoustically receptive. If it detects the characteristic wind sound of a neighboring turbine in motion, it too is activated, unleashing its stored energy and setting its own turbine in motion. This cascading chain reaction produces a synchronized yet organically evolving composition of light and sound.
After all units have discharged, the system resets. The cycle of tension and release begins anew, turning Óra into a meditative and cyclical ritual. A choreography of machines in motion which unfolds over time.
