LA Film Forum Logo

Joost Rekveld: Light Matters

Joost Rekveld: Light Matters

film #5

Los Angeles Filmforum and REDCAT present

Joost Rekveld: Light Matters

With the artist in person!

At REDCAT, 631 West 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Los Angeles Filmforum is thrilled to welcome one of the world’s contemporary masters of alchemical abstraction, Joost Rekveld, in a rare visit from Amsterdam.    

Since the early 1990s, visionary artist Joost Rekveld has been exploring the inner depths and outer reaches of optical expression at the nexus of technology and natural phenomena, producing a body of astonishing works of mesmerizing abstraction.  Rekveld's films combine a remarkable ingenuity and facility with the image-making capabilities of various machines (many of his own design) with his radically inventive theories and approaches to form, motion, and perception.  The result has been a startlingly diverse, ever-expanding body of work marked by formal rigor, breathtaking imagery, and a rich, expressive audiovisual poetry.

In a body of mesmerizing abstract films made since the early 1990s, visionary Dutch artist Joost Rekveld has explored the inner depths and outer reaches of optical expression at the nexus of technology and natural phenomena. Rekveld’s films combine a startling ingenuity and facility with the image-making capabilities of various machines (many of his own design) with his radically inventive theories on and approaches to form, motion and perception. The program this evening features Rekveld’s rigorously created, visually ecstatic 35mm anamorphic masterpieces, #11, Marey <-> Moiré (1999, 21 min.) and #37 (2009, 31 min.). 

Joost Rekveld (b. 1970) is an artist who is motivated by the question of what we can learn from a dialogue with machines. In his work, he explores the sensory consequences of systems of his own design, often inspired by forgotten corners in the history of science and technology.

His abstract films have been shown world-wide in a wide range of festivals and venues for experimental film, animation or other kinds of moving image. Most of his recent films had their premieres at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and he has had retrospectives at the Barbican in London and the Ann Arbor film festival amongst others. Individual films have been screened at hundreds of venues, including the ICA and the Tate Modern in London, The Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Moderna Museet in Stockholm. His film #11, Marey <-> Moire was the first Dutch film to be ever shown at the Sundance Film Festival.

He has realized several installations and was involved in many collaborative projects involving composers, music ensembles, theatre companies, dance companies and artist’s labs. These included dance company Emio Greco | PC (Amsterdam / Marseille), music theatre ensemble De Veenfabriek (Leiden), contemporary music ensembles such as ASKO / Schonberg (Amsterdam) and ensemble Intercontemporain (Paris), Opera North (Leeds) and The Royal Opera (London) and electronic art and music laboratories such as IRCAM (Paris), STEIM (Amsterdam) and the V2 Institute for Unstable Media (Rotterdam).

Since February 2017, Joost has been affiliated to the School of Arts, University College Ghent as an artistic researcher.   (adapted bio courtesy of the artist)

---------------------------

This program is supported by the Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts; the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission; the Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles; and Bloomberg Philanthropies. We also depend on our members, ticket buyers, and individual donors.

marey2 smaller

#11, Marey <-> Moiré

#11, Marey <-> Moiré

(1999, 21 min.)

film37p4big smaller

#37

(2009, 31 min.)