Exhibition “Unlimited Light” – Nicky Assmann, Daan Johan, Matthijs Munnik, Eric Parren, Joris Strijbos (Macular Collective)
Artists: Nicky Assmann, Daan Johan, Matthijs Munnik, Eric Parren, Joris Strijbos
(Macular Collective)
Curators: Selena Yang, Ji Ran
Exhibition Period: June 8, 2018 to August 10, 2018
Organizer: OCT Boxes Art Museum
Co-organizers: Oooit Art, Shanghai DuoXi Culture
Support: Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
Coordinator: Oil Painting Department Curatorial Group of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts
Advisers: Art and Culture Innovation Research and Development Center of Sun Yat-sen University, Institute of abstract art and creative design
Special thanks to: OCT Shunde
Five of the impressive installation works are selected in this exhibition and light is playing a role of medium. Macular artists try to create generative compositions in light, movement, music and sound, and further to challenge different sensory experience of the audience. This is the research about light visual limitation and the process that happen at the microscopic level and the cosmic scale. These works create the atmosphere also like beautiful dazzle aurora with mysterious immersion.
Macular is an initiative of a group of artists who share a collective interest in art, science, technology, and perception. The members of the collective collaborate on the creation and production of multi-sensorial artworks that are presented at media arts festivals, galleries, and other arts institutions around the world. An important part of the initiative is that the collective functions as a nomadic lab in which the members do research and develop the technology and theory that’s needed in order to create their works.
One of the ongoing research topics is the creation and manipulation of emergent systems and the possibilities for composition that arise from them. Besides showing these systems as installations, they can also be seen as instruments for live performance, where the performer and/or the audience becomes part of the system. Another field of interest is the notion of musical thinking and the way concepts of musical theory can be inserted into other media in order to create generative compositions in movement, light, and sound.
In doing so, the artists aim to create their own abstract language that is mostly based on rule-sets within self-built systems. This development happens through constant interaction between the works and the creators. The pieces are shaped and transformed throughout the process. With this in mind, Macular aims for a minimalistic aesthetic through a continuous exploration of the basic characteristic properties of the media they use. Whether they are cultivated systems or natural phenomena, the medium gets stripped down to the essence of the medium itself, showing only what is necessary to perform the composition.
Artists background:
Joris Strijbos was born in 1981. He got Master degree of Music from Royal Academy of Art & Royal Conservatoire, the Hague, Interfaculty ArtScience (Image & Sound). He won the STRP Talent Pit Award in Eindhoven in 2010 and Rene Coelho Prize in Amsterdam in 2010.
Mattijs Munnik was born in 1989. He is graduated from KABK Den Haag, and finished one year residency in Rijksacademy Amsterdam in 2016. He won the Prix Cube Award in France in 2013, Rotterdam Design Award in 2012, and Designers & Artists 4 Genomics Award in 2010.
Nicky Assmann was born in 1980. She got her Master degree of Music & Fine Arts in Royal Conservatoire & KABK, The Hague. She was nominated for the 2017 & 2015 Prix de Rome and her work Solace gained an Honorary Mention in the 2011 StartPoint Prize.
Daan Johan was born in 1981, he got Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Music in Royal Academy of Art & Royal Conservatoire.
Eric Parren was born in 1983. Hot got his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interfaculty ArtScience in Royal Academy of Art & Royal Conservatory and Master of Fine Arts in Design Media Arts in University of California Los Angeles. He got Prix Russolo 2017 (nomination) International Competition, Most Discussed Film Award Short Movie Club in Minsk in 2017, and File Prix Lux (nomination) in Sao Paolo in 2010.
Works by Macular members have been shown worldwide at festivals and institutions such as: Boijmans van Beuningen (Rotterdam, NL), Van Gogh Museum (Amsterdam, NL), Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam, NL), Dutch Design Week (Eindhoven, NL), Saatchi Gallery (London, GB), AxS Festival (Pasadena, US), TodaysArt Festival (Tokyo, JP & The Hague, NL), Lucida Space NCCA (Moskow, RU), WRO International Media Art Biennale (Wroclaw, PL), Ars Electronica (Linz, AT), Exit Festival (Paris, FR), De Arte Digital (Sao Paulo, BR)