| Both sides previous revisionPrevious revisionNext revision | Previous revision |
| start [2026/05/15 14:50] – [public presentations] joost | start [2026/07/09 12:53] (current) – [Systems that Matter] joost |
|---|
| ===== welcome ! ===== | ===== welcome ! ===== |
| |
| This is the public start page of my personal labyratoire: an online scrapbook that I will be using in the course of the research project 'Systems that Matter' that started mid-November 2024. It is the successor to the [[http://librarinth.joostrekveld.net|librarinth]], a similar scrapbook that I used in the project 'Dialogues With Machines' during the period 2017-2024.\\ | This is the public start page of my personal labyratoire: an online scrapbook that I am using in the course of the research project 'Systems that Matter' that started in November 2024. It is the successor to the [[http://librarinth.joostrekveld.net|librarinth]], a similar scrapbook that I used in the project 'Dialogues With Machines' during the period 2017-2024.\\ |
| I work on 'Systems that Matter' as a postdoctoral researcher in the 'Disobedient Practices' research cluster at [[https://schoolofartsgent.be|KASK & Conservatorium]], the school of arts of HoGent and Howest in Ghent. The project is financed by the HoGent Arts Research Fund. | I work on 'Systems that Matter' as a postdoctoral researcher in the 'Disobedient Practices' research cluster at [[https://schoolofartsgent.be|KASK & Conservatorium]], the school of arts of HoGent and Howest in Ghent. The project is financed by the HoGent Arts Research Fund. |
| |
| ===== Systems that Matter ===== | ===== Systems that Matter ===== |
| |
| An early (updated 020250110) description could be as follows: | An fairly recent description could run as follows: |
| |
| In this project I investigate the performativity of the physical materials that constitute our electronic and digital media. By combining media archaeology and speculation I attempt to pry these materials (and ourselves) loose from the problematic origins of their creation and use. The materials and components involved in the early history of the electronic image are taken as the central focus of this project.\\ | In this project I am investigating the performativity of the physical materials that constitute our electronic and digital media. By combining media-archaeology and speculation, I attempt to pry these materials (and ourselves) loose from their problematic origins. The materials and components involved in the early history of computing are taken as the central focus of this project.\\ |
| The research starts from the working assumption that all materials are artificial, and that calling material 'raw' only serves to make a distinction between visible and invisible labour. I will explore and show the 'formative drive' of materials through hands-on experimentation and the production of installations and films in collaboration with it. The aim is to develop procedures and devices that produce images, but which also stage a specific material presence. This practical activity will guide my investigations of the technical principles, social structures, and some of the concepts and narratives around the perceived and possible agency of the materials that are central to our current technologies. By developing speculative perspectives and technologies, I hope to reflect on some of the ways in which the human, the non-human and technology articulate each other. | The research starts from the working assumption that all materials are artificial, and that calling material 'raw' only serves to make a distinction between visible and invisible labour. The early 19th-century concept of the 'formative drive' of materials is mobilized to further question the divisions between visible versus invisible labour and human versus non-human activity. I am exploring the 'formative drive' of materials through hands-on experimentation and the production of installations and films in collaboration with it. This practical activity is guiding my investigations of the technical principles, social structures, and some of the concepts and narratives around the perceived and possible agency of the materials that are central to our current technologies. By developing speculative perspectives and technologies, I hope to reflect on some of the ways in which the human, the non-human and technology articulate each other. |
| |
| Practical work currently consists in starting on a number of new projects.\\ | Practical work currently consists in two larger projects and several smaller experiments.\\ |
| One of these is a continuation of the research in //Dialogues with Machines// and is inspired by the cybernetic experimental devices built by Gordon Pask and Stafford Beer and by more recent work on evolvable hardware. I will use evolutionary algorithms to evolve patches for the analogue computer that I built over the past years. The aim is to channel the specific anarchic potential of such hardware-based evolutionary methods towards the production of complex video images. The result will be a series of single-channel works and video installations that reflect on processes of collective evolution.\\ | In the first larger project I am exploring the sculptural and generative use of semiconducting materials other than silicon. A number of historical experiments that relate to precursors of our present-day solid-state electronic technology will be re-enacted, with the aim to develop new devices that speculate on how our technology could have been and can still be different. Currently I am working to re-enact the 'Salt Transistor' experiment by the early solid state physicist Robert Wichard Pohl from the late 1930s, and to follow through on some of the ideas it suggests. I am intrigued by the vision of a non-toxic, anti-fascist, fully transparent technology that is several orders of magnitude too slow to be of any obvious practical use, and which has a historical link with what seems to be an important example of technological refusal. I am working towards a lecture-performance in which I re-enact the public presentations of Pohl's experiment and address his views on science, transparency and the highly visual physics demonstrations for which he was famous. On the basis of my re-enactments I am developing an installation that hopes to actualise some of its speculative potential.\\ |
| A longer-running project will be to explore the sculptural and generative use of semiconducting materials other than silicon. A number of historical experiments that relate to precursors of our present-day solid-state electronic technology will be re-enacted, with the aim to develop new devices that speculate on how our technology could have been and can still be different. | The second larger project is inspired by the cybernetic experimental devices built by Gordon Pask and Stafford Beer and by more recent work on evolvable hardware. I will use evolutionary algorithms to evolve patches for the analogue computer that I built over the past years. This will be used as a platform to interface with different reconfigurable materials. The aim is to channel the specific anarchic potential of such hardware-based evolutionary methods towards the production of complex video images. I am especially interested in how such methods are able to circumvent human beliefs about the demarcation and limitations of systems. The result will be a series of single-channel works and video installations that reflect on processes of collective evolution. |
| |
| Theoretical investigations take Lambros Malafouris' material engagement theory and Karen Barad's agential realism as a starting point. Currently I am reading about the philosophical and cultural history of chemistry (Isabelle Stengers, Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent, Hélène Metzger, Esther Leslie) and about ways to apply Whiteheads concepts to thinking about technology (Anne Fairchild Pomeroy, Mark Hansen). | Theoretical investigations continue to build on my earlier engagement with the writings of Gilbert Simondon and Isabelle Stengers, attempting to articulate a vision of a technology that includes unpredictable material processes. Currently I am reading about the philosophical and cultural history of chemistry (Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent, Hélène Metzger, Esther Leslie, William R. Newman), about the possible intersection of material engagement theory and materialist ecological theories (Lambros Malafouris, Karen Barad, Val Plumwood, Ariel Salleh, Jason W. Moore, Baruch Gottlieb), and about ways to apply Whiteheads process metaphysics to thinking about technology (Anne Fairchild Pomeroy, Mark Hansen). |
| |
| ===== public presentations ===== | ===== public presentations ===== |
| * **Presentation** of the book "Liberate the Machines!", including **screening** of the film "Mechanisms Common to Disparate Phenomena; #59" and **discusssion** with Marloes de Valk, as part of the "Ground" series of events at Creative Coding, Utrecht (november 2025). | * **Presentation** of the book "Liberate the Machines!", including **screening** of the film "Mechanisms Common to Disparate Phenomena; #59" and **discusssion** with Marloes de Valk, as part of the "Ground" series of events at Creative Coding, Utrecht (november 2025). |
| * **Exhibition** of installation #71.1 in the group exhibition "Deep Fields" at the Centre Wallonie Bruxelles, Paris (february, march 2026). | * **Exhibition** of installation #71.1 in the group exhibition "Deep Fields" at the Centre Wallonie Bruxelles, Paris (february, march 2026). |
| * Try-out of **lecture-performance** "The Salt Transistor" at the KASK & Conservatorium Research Days, Gent (march 2026). | * Try-out of **lecture-performance** "The Salt Transistor" at the KASK & Conservatorium Research Days, Ghent (march 2026). |
| * Participation in **panel discussion** "Playing with Objects: Thinking, Making and Material Agency", together with Kate Fletcher and Lambros Malafouris, moderated by Anca Uşurelu, at the KASK & Conservatorium Research Days, Gent (march 2026). | * Participation in **panel discussion** "Playing with Objects: Thinking, Making and Material Agency", together with Kate Fletcher and Lambros Malafouris, moderated by Anca Uşurelu, at the KASK & Conservatorium Research Days, Ghent (march 2026). |
| * Two **screenings**, one a programme of six of my films spanning the period 1991-2013, the other a screening of "Mechanisms Common to Disparate Phenomena; #59" together with "#5", a triple projection piece from 1994. Organized by Mount Analogue Art+Cinema in collaboration with the SIFF film center and Mini Mart City Park Gallery, Seattle (april 2026). | * Two **screenings**, one a programme of six of my films spanning the period 1991-2013, the other a screening of "Mechanisms Common to Disparate Phenomena; #59" together with "#5", a triple projection piece from 1994. Organized by Mount Analogue Art+Cinema in collaboration with the SIFF film center and Mini Mart City Park Gallery, Seattle (april 2026). |
| * **Exhibition** of my film "Mechanisms Common to Disparate Phenomena; #59" in the group exhibition "Amateur Detection" at Various Artists Gallery, New York (april, may 2026). | * **Exhibition** of my film "Mechanisms Common to Disparate Phenomena; #59" in the group exhibition "Amateur Detection" at Various Artists Gallery, New York (april, may 2026). |
| * 'Liberate the Crystals!' **talk** and **roundtable** with Alanna Stuart, Marie Thompson, Gary Stewart and Femke Snelting, moderated by Elena Biserna, at Q-O2 as part of the Oscillation Festival, Brussels (may 2026). | * 'Liberate the Crystals!' **talk** and participation in **roundtable** with Alanna Stuart, Marie Thompson, Gary Stewart and Femke Snelting, moderated by Elena Biserna, at Q-O2 as part of the Oscillation Festival, Brussels (may 2026). |
| | * **Screening** of my film “Mechanisms Common to Disparate Phenomena; #59” in Disarm Cinema, Columbia, Missouri, US (may 2026). |
| | * **Screening** of "Mechanisms Common to Disparate Phenomena; #59" and informal book **presentation** at the IPEM Art and Science Interaction Lab, Ghent University (may 2026). |
| | |
| ===== this labyratoire ===== | ===== this labyratoire ===== |
| |
