Johan Rijpma

From all directions gravity pulls on the shards of a breaking dinner plate. After stretching to their outer limits, elastic strings help the pieces move back towards their starting point. The pieces collectively form a self-reflecting structure, while at the same time expressing their individual qualities through movement, position and sound.

A line is being extrapolated through a grid. When the line surpasses the boundaries of the grid, the process spreads to and reflects on its surroundings. Beyond each boundary the extrapolation of movement is causing deformation in a systematic but speculative way.

A line is being extrapolated through a grid. When the line surpasses the boundaries of the grid, the process spreads to and reflects on its surroundings. Beyond each boundary the extrapolation of movement is causing deformation in a systematic but speculative way.

A line is being extrapolated through a grid. When the line surpasses the boundaries of the grid, the process spreads to and reflects on its surroundings. Beyond each boundary the extrapolation of movement is causing deformation in a systematic but speculative way.

A line is being extrapolated through a grid. When the line surpasses the boundaries of the grid, the process spreads to and reflects on its surroundings. Beyond each boundary the extrapolation of movement is causing deformation in a systematic but speculative way.

A cylinder shaped cup falls and breaks into pieces. Every frame of this recorded movement is then manually translated into a ceramic layer that is made of the original remains of the cup. All the layers are then arranged vertically and glued together, forming a new object that visualizes the destructive moment. As this new form emerges gravity starts to shift pulling the new object into destruction as well. This cycle repeatedly keeps breaking the old to create the new, by translating destructive moments into higher dimensional forms.

Water is spilled on a stone pavement leaving a small stain. As time passes the stain dries up, shrinks and changes shape. Just before the water is completely evaporated the process is put on hold. The new shape of the stain is then being enlarged and recreated with new water. This process repeats and with these interventions the ‘life’ of the stain is artificially refreshed and extended to an unnatural length. Which allows new shapes to evolve that otherwise could never have existed.

A piece of paper is divided by hand into an even number of pieces and then reassembled. A photograph of this finished composition is then printed and divided again. This makes the impossible possible, tearing the now included empty spaces that make up the tears in the paper. This feedback division process is repeated while the number of imprecise manual divisions gradually increase. Everything is created by division.

Primary colored dots are expanding into tiny complex structures as a reaction to increasing pressure. When different colors overlap, new colors emerge that consist of two or more primary layers and therefore have more strength to resist the high pressure. The process continues to produce rich structures and compositions from small imperfections and the mixing of colors until the pressure gets too high.

Large groups of tape rolls go through a long process of development and degeneration. The extremely slow paced life of these objects is being revealed within an isolated space where everything starts from a symmetric composition. From this orderly state deviations and differences in behaviour slowly become visible through the force of gravity. Resulting in unpredictable shapes and movements that somehow feel familiar.

A variety of people spend one hour alone in a room. In here, they only find a simple task which they can fulfill in their own way. The participants can't bring bags, mobile phones or other items into the room. A film by Yuri Keukens, Johan Rijpma & Tom Schrooten.

In spite of its apparent simplicity, Groeien (Grow) is a thought-provoking reflection on the theme of genetics and the effects that human intervention can have on the natural world. The natural growing movement of the plants are progressively accentuated until they become highly unnatural. Eventually they transform into ”living”, moving paper organisms, as though heralding a genetic alteration of these same plants.

Tiles is an animation made of a large photographic collection of street tiles. By viewing this collection of photographs as a sequence, different movements and processes become visible within the frame of the tiles. Both music and animation are trying to find a balance between a thought-out arrangement and an arrangement of ‘chance’ deriving directly from the tiles.