Jan van IJken

26/07/2024

02/07/2024

Glastonbury Festival - Tree Stage - 27th June 2024
Planktonium live performance with Entity (Steve Everitt)
So wonderful to be part of this amazing festival!

Thanks so much:

Steve Everitt / Entity
Lilith Piper
Luke Piper
Woodsies Area Glastonbury
Glastonbury Festivals

Photo: Ron Vink

23/06/2024

07/06/2024

Some more exciting news about Glastonbury 2024:

I will do 2 live performances / video projections, together with ENTITY (Steve Everitt), who will produce the live soundscape for both shows:

Woodsies Area - Tree Stage:

Wednesday 26th June 19:30 - 20:15 THE ART OF FLYING (acoustic set)

Thursday 27th June 11:30 - 12:10 PLANKTONIUM (full immersive set)

Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts

26/05/2024

The art of flying will be screened at Vienna Shorts in Vienna Austria on 30th May:
https://www.viennashorts.com/en/en/program/schedule-cinema

14/05/2024

My films The art ot flying and Planktonium are screened in the
MAXXI Med videogallery in the MAXXI Museum in Rome, Italy from
Thursday 9 May 2024 - Sunday 26 May 2024 in:

A Yellow Sun, A Green Sun, A Yellow Sun, A Red Sun, A Blue SunEchoes through the Mediterraneans

videogallery
opening hours
Monday closed
Tuesday to Sunday 11 am – 7 pm

Video artworks, untold stories, and sound tales from underground, along with whale songs and archaeological traces, deconstruct the idea of the ideal Mediterranean, multiplying narrative forms and generating alternative visions.

On the occasion of its first public exchange, MAXXI Med – which will open in Messina, Sicily – presents some hypotheses from its research. Almost like a manifesto of ever-evolving intentions, the program multiplies echoes and horizons to listen and to share the issues expressed by the arts in the many contexts of the Mediterraneans, reaching as far as the seas of the Moon. The title of the project comes from the poem The Arab Apocalypse (1980) by Etel Adnan, in which the artist transcends the limits of words, also including in the text tiny hand-drawn hieroglyphics that suspend meanings and cross the various verses, generating liminal spaces with suns of different colours; hinting at the many facets, even dramatic ones, illuminated each day on the shores of the sea.

From the tuna fisheries in Sicily, the investigation moves to the area of the Greater Maghreb, in Arabic المغرب al-Maghrib, “the place of sunset”), with a view both inward and outward, following a pluralistic approach without the prejudices of research determinations.

The project includes a curatorial proposal titled (Un)told Stories, a section co-curated with Elisabeth Piskernik (Le Cube, Morocco). This section presents artistic positions that question the construction of History and official narratives, reworking alternative narratives that are undocumented, orally transmitted, or voluntarily repressed.

featured artists:
Adel Abidin, Randa Ali, Diana Anselmo, Fiona Banner, Carlo Benvenuto, Oli Bonzanigo, Maeve Brennan, Eglė Budvytytė, Eleonora Castagnone, Ali Cherri, David Claerbout, Anouk De Clercq, Enar de Dios Rodríguez, Badr El Hammami, Abdessamad El Montassir, Francesco Fonassi, Marianne Fahmy, Luke Flowler, Theaster Gates, Fairuz and El Moïz Ghamma, Margo Gobbi, Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, Laila Hida, Pierre Huyghe, Jan van IJken, Maria Laet, Giuseppe Lana, Mohammed Laouli, Auguste and Louis Lumière, Marcos Lutyens, Sarah Munaf, Ziad Naitaddi, Pınar Öğrenci, POLISONUM, Nour Ouayda, Julian Rosefeldt, Hanna Rullmann and Faiza Ahmad Khan, Stéphanie Saadé, Alessandro Sciaraffa, Katrin Ströbel

10/05/2024

Conochilus unicornis
Colonial rotifers

Planktonium - short film and photobook about microscopic plankton

Uitgeverij Terra

08/05/2024

Dinobryon algae

Planktonium - Short film and photobook about microscopic plankton

Uitgeverij Lannoo

30/04/2024

Wonderful news: I will be performing at Glastonbury Festival, U.K. 2024 at the Woodsies Area - Tree Stage with my films!

More detailed information about the program will follow later.

I am very honoured to be part of the largest Festival of contempary performing arts in the world.

https://www.facebook.com/glastonburyofficial
https://www.facebook.com/WoodsiesAreaGlastonbury

15/02/2024

Five years ago, my short film Becoming was released. I never could have imagined the amount of publicity and reactions the film received; really wonderful!

So, on this ‘anniversary’, I want to thank: Alex Kenter for his endless patience and supply of fresh salamander eggs, Ben Geutskens (and other members of the Dutch microscopy club Nederlands Genootschap voor Microscopie) for his help and advice, Huibert Boon for the sound.

Also I am very grateful to everyone who published the film: Aeon, Vimeo for the Staff Pick and the Nomination for Vimeo Best of the Year award 2019, Innsbruck Nature Film Festival, Austria for the Award for best short documentary, Academia Film Olomouc for the honorary mention, Imagine Science Films Abu Dhabi for the Visual Science Award. And everyone supporting me in the making of this film (especially Ron Vink, Rijk van Kooij, Simone de la Rie, Jan-Paul Hendriks, Jan Hartholt and José de Winter), the many institutions, film production companies who licensed the film, etc .

On 15 February 2019 the film was broadcasted on Dutch television in De Wereld Draait Door, with an interview by Matthijs van Nieuwkerk.

National Geographic published the film on their Short Film Showcase channel. The film received a stunning 12 million views (and still counting!):

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/.../time-lapse-film...

14/02/2024

https://www.geo.de/wissen/-planktonium---fotos-der-faszinierenden-welt-des-planktons-34255754.html

Jan van IJken offenbart mit seinem Bildband "Planktonium" die wundersame Welt des Planktons – oft skurril und von berückender Ästhetik.

09/02/2024

Starling murmuration, De Houtwiel, NL, 2024

08/02/2024

Starling murmuration, De Houtwiel, NL, 2024

24/01/2024

For the second day of "De Week Van De Belgische Muziek", we pass the microphone to Stefanie, our booking agent. She explains why Naima Joris 'O' at VIDEODROOM 2023 remains a special memory for her. Or how image and music came together that evening and created an unforgettable experience. 🇧🇪

"In the run-up to 2023, the idea of starting a VIDEODROOM project together with Naima Joris came up. Together with Jan van IJken, Niels Van Heertum and Vitja Pauwels, the idea took shape. The project was given the name "O". After about a year of preparation, I went to watch the rehearsals a few weeks before the premiere. What I saw there, was really great. Naima, Vitja & Niels improvised on footage of plankton, which Jan had captured under a microscope, a real discovery! The premiere of this project took place at Kunstencentrum VIERNULVIER on October 15 during Film Fest Gent. The theatre filled up, programmer Wouter Vanhaelemeesch announced the project and the performance started. The sensations I experienced at the premiere are unforgettable! Those who were there can definitely agree."

Stefanie is not the only one who was totally impressed by the project, as this weekend, Vitja & Jan are presenting 'O' at the International Film Festival Rotterdam - IFFR.

📸: Michelle Geerardyn
📍: Kunstencentrum VIERNULVIER, Ghent

15/01/2024

I am very happy to announce the Dutch premiere of the Performance 'O' with Naima Joris at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2024!

Naima Joris and Vitja Pauwels symbiotically merge their sound with Jan van IJken's live edited microscopic images of plankton, to offer a glimpse into the underwater world as you've never seen it before. The title O is a reference to the circle of life of which plankton is an integral part, and a play on 'eau', the French word for water. The result is a thrilling improvised spectacle with an enchanting effect and an urgent message.

The show is part of a combined program with Jan Kulka from Prague, who will show his latest work Paterny.

International Film Festival Rotterdam - IFFR
Date: Sunday 28 January, 21:00
Location: Worm Central Station, Boomgaardsstraat 71, 3012 XA, Rotterdam

The premiere of this performance was during Videodroom, a collaboration between Kunstencentrum VIERNULVIER and Film Fest Gent in Gent BE, October 2023. The concert is organized by Inside Jazz

More info and tickets:
https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2024/films/naima-joris-o

13/01/2024

10/01/2024

Onderwaterleven | Vanaf deze week weer te zien in het Auditorium van Museum De Lakenhal: Planktonium van de Leidse kunstenaar Jan van IJken. In deze korte, abstracte film ontdek je het geheime leven van plankton. Deze organismen zijn zo klein dat je ze met het blote oog niet kunt zien, maar dat maakt ze niet minder schitterend. In zijn kunstfilm neemt Van IJken je mee naar een onbekend universum, bewoond door wonderschone wezens die hij uit Nederlandse wateren haalde. De bijzondere geluidscompositie werd gemaakt door de Noorse kunstenaar Jana Winderen. Bekijk alvast een voorproefje op lakenhal.nl/planktonium.

18/12/2023

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5mkz46vC74JXyMq4F1rMsP7/plankton-an-unseen-universe

By Jan van IJken, videographer for Planet Earth III, Oceans

07/12/2023

Very much looking forward to the Dutch premiere of this live projection of plankton footage in a performance with Naima Joris and Vitja Pauwels during International Film Festival Rotterdam on 28 January 2024.

Many thanks to Wouter Vanhaelemeesch of Kunstencentrum VIERNULVIER Gent for initiating this during Film Fest Gent 2023, and Inside Jazz

De performance O versmelt de klanken van jazzmuzikanten Naima Joris en Vitja Pauwels op symbiotische wijze met microscopische beelden van plankton, live aangestuurd door filmmaker Jan van IJken. Deze geïmproviseerde ontdekkingsreis geeft je een wonderlijk kijkje in de onderwaterwereld zoals je die ...

25/11/2023

Screening of Planktonium at Rencontres Internationales Sciences et Cinémas (RISC) on 13 December in Marseille, France:

Création cinématographique et recherche scientifique

06/11/2023

Starling murmuration in the Netherlands
2023

27/10/2023

A short sequence of my plankton footage has been screened in the Ocean episode of BBC Planet Earth III. The series is narrated by Sir David Attenborough and I feel very thankful and honoured to be part of this groundbreaking series! Many thanks to producer / director Will Ridgeon and his team.

First broadcast: Sunday 29th October 2023, 18:20 (UK time) on BBC One.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001s09s

Jana WinderenMuseum De LakenhalNederlands Filmfonds EarthUitgeverij TerraTecklenborg Verlag

23/10/2023

24 oktober om 20u geef ik een lezing voor de KNNV in Nijmegen, voor meer info zie onderstaande link:

Wat is er leuker dan samen de natuur ontdekken? Bekijk onze activiteit KNNV Nijmegen | Lezing door Jan van IJken: Planktonium, de kunst van het onzichtbare en meld u aan.

21/10/2023

My short films Planktonium and Becoming will be screened at KIKK festival, Namur Belgium from 26-29 October:

"Planktonium" is a short film about the unseen world of living microscopic plankton, a voyage into a secret universe, inhabited by alien-like creatures.

17/10/2023

11/10/2023