Johannes Langkamp

video ,Experimental , D.I.Y , crossover , sculpting , Audiovisual , Artistic research , Archives

I am Johannes Langkamp (1985), a German artist based in Rotterdam. My work begins with wonder where the limits of the imagination occur. In a playful way, unexpected things arise (finds or failures) that lead to material that I process into presentations. In my work I collect processes and theme developments. These arise from experimenting with means, material, and situations. There I look for the possibilities to materialize my thoughts. The guiding principle for the past ten years has been my fascinations around frames, scopes, traces of actions with different media, showing the invisible (perspectives and/or movements) and the creation of unusual perception mechanisms within everyday life. As a result, my work is a constant search for ways to break viewing habits, and thus broaden the view.

**Outward Spreading Lines |** - Eighteen folded paper strips meet at an eccentrically driven point and spread outward through a circular frame. As the mechanism turns, it pushes and pulls each line in a different direction, creating eighteen distinct movements despite their identical form. Mounted on the wall, the structure behaves like a moving frame in which the lines continuously rearrange themselves.

The Pace of Yellow Lines And Blue Surfaces (2024) — **The Pace of Yellow Lines And Blue Surfaces 2024** - In response to the raw state of the museum building, which is currently closed for renovation, Langkamp created a site-specific installation that spans two spaces. "The Pace of Yellow Lines and Blue Surfaces" comprises mechanically driven installations connected by movement, rhythm and light. The raw state of the building forms a stark contrast with the materials, which slowly move through the space like a sketch in the air. This work was presented as part of Snakken naar Boijmans (2024), a temporary art tour in which artists responded to the transition period of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. Photo: Lotte Stekelenburg

Open Archives — **Open Archive 2010–2024** - A video installation featuring a digital archive of 633 video fragments, played in random order, representing over 14 years of ongoing experimentation. Previously exhibited at Kunstenlab, Deventer (2022). Photo: Aalt van de Glind.

**Black Square 2020** - With two diagonal tubes in a wooden frame, Johannes Langkamp forms a square from two triangles that becomes increasingly larger and then smaller. Unlike an illusion, you can see exactly how he does it; the corners of the fabric are pulled up by wires that are driven around the frame by pulleys and a reduction motor. You can marvel at the illusion or imagine the pleasure of making and discovering the artist who conceived and assembled all the different parts and details of the sculptural animation.

**Wall Piece 2020** - Site specific installation (Wall structure and mechanical components - 240x300x60cm) A continuously rotating plate whose spatial movement creates a new silhouette.

**Composition of Movement 2019** - Kinetic installation (Paper, motor, gears & other industrial components) An installation in which a huge sheet of paper bent over itself transforms into a wave-like moving sculpture.

**De Beweging van Ruimte / The Movement of Space 2019** - Mechanically operated kinetic sculpture (Metal, motor and various components - 300x140x280cm) Within a square iron construction, two surfaces of black fabric move, causing the space between these surfaces to change scale.

**Analog Sun Tracking 2018** - A triptych of time-lapse video loops (3x57 seconds) following the 24-hour path of the sun; the recording locations differ by 20 degrees of latitude, so each angle varies (Shanghai 31°, Rotterdam 51°, Kjølleford 71°).

**Conversation with Mechanical Dimension 2019** - Video installation (Digital film, Laptop, revolving lamp)

**2018_05_19 2018** - Intervention in an empty hospital: an ultra-short stop-motion film of the creation of a tape drawing. The camera rotates with each placed strip of tape.

**Round & Big 2018** - Wall-based installation at Collection de Groen, Arnhem. A floor wiper is used as a compass for a drawing across two walls.

**Falling Frames 2015** - HD digital film (1'09") A film in which wooden frames fall into the frame at fixed intervals.

**Videosketches: Search for the Frame 2011-2016** - HD digital film, stereo (3'45") Compilation of sixteen video sketches in which frames are examined.

Archief van kaders

Date: 19-11-2022 t/m 15-02-2023

Location: Kunstenlab

In association with: Stuk, Leuven

The question that Johannes Langkamp asked himself 'why is a sketch not actually a work of art?' was the reason for presenting his video archive. The archive covers more than ten years of his artistic practice and has recently been housed in a huge digital database. By opening up his archive completely, Langkamp wants to break through the supposed hierarchy between sketch and artwork.

This artist has no awards yet.