Michiel van Bakel

video , photographs , D.I.Y , Digital technology , sculpting , Artistic research

"When I look around, I see a lot of technology that aims to constrain reality in predictability, by categorizing and automating. I want to use technology to evoke wonder and transcend reality and predictability. I like to visualize things that were previously unseen and in that sense enrich my experience of reality. That is for me the incentive to make use of experimental video and animation techniques. Devices such as cameras, scanners and image processing algorithms I see as an extension of my senses that are like anchors in time for me, but also images from my urban backyard: my 'condition urbaine'. In the same manner as a sculptor gives his/her material form through interventions in 3d space, I construct my videos in time are examining the limits of -human- perception, experiencing time, disorientation and instability ".

Panorama Chemours – River reflections
Panorama Chemours – River reflections - Short experimental film that had its world premiere at IFFR 2026. Despite this vibrant portrayal of the Merwede River alongside the Chemours chemical plant, the waterway's recent past is marred by contamination with 'forever chemicals'. The river's soundscape, derived from underwater recordings, evokes a sense of sentiment, with the water sighing, whispering, moaning, and even screaming. more info and Dutch version: https://www.michielvanbakel.nl/panorama-chemours-river-reflections/. Supported by Mondriaanfund and CBK Rotterdam
Panorama ENCI - A mosasaur view
Panorama ENCI - A mosasaur view - Our earth shows its innards at an open-pit mine. When we look into this enormous hole in the Earth, we also look back into deep geological times. This short film is a depiction of a mosasaur (extinct sea lizard) calmly looking around with a different-than-human vision; multispectral. | Our earth shows its bowels at an open-pit mine. Gazing down the huge hole in the earth we're also looking back in deep geological times. This short film is an imagining of a mosasaur quietly peeking around with an other-than-human vision; multispectral. More @ https://www.michielvanbakel.nl/panorama-enci-a-mosasaur-view/
Panorama Tata – a plumed serpent’s view - The blast furnaces of Tata Steel slowly turn into unsettling false colors. Wavelengths that human eyes cannot normally see, invoking an alien viewpoint: the world as seen through the eyes of the plumed serpent. Sound: Roel Meelkop Image: Michiel van Bakel More @ https://www.michielvanbakel.nl/panorama-tata
Glass Camera project 2024
Glass Camera project 2024 - Glass cameras that see everything but register nothing, so to speak, remember nothing. A slightly ironic sculptural commentary that refers to the timeless icon of our abundant visual culture. | Glass cameras that see everything but register nothing, so to speak, remember nothing. A slightly ironic sculptural commentary that refers to the timeless icon of our abundant visual culture. supported by MondriaanFund
BOGWATERS Short experimental film - Two canals in Dutch nature reserve De Peel run parallel to each other for miles. The camera moves across the surface of the water and accelerates to fly from one canal to the other. Imagining a totally different perception such as through the eyes of the dragonfly, which perceives different wavelengths and can 'see' many times faster -up to 200 images per second!!- than a human. More info: https://www.michielvanbakel.nl/bogwaters/
What Wide Web? - A forest of power pylons towers over soil and green at the surreal wasteland of Rotterdam Maasvlakte. For some years Wood Wide Web is the magic phrase to describe the web of roots, fungi and bacteria helping to connect trees and plants to one another. We can ask ourselves: are industry and nature evolving more into co-existence? more info: https://www.michielvanbakel.nl/what-wide-web/
Cyanotype Sanatorium Zonnestraal - 'Ultra slow' photographic images made with glass cameras, with a focus on modernist Dutch architecture. Exposure times up to 5 hours on paper cyanotype 'in camera'. The cyanotype emulsion is applied with Japanese haké brush on paper. More: www.michielvanbakel.nl/glass-camera-cyanotypes/
P-9830 - Short experimental film, made during COVID pandemic. 'Time is in the eye of the beholder' A short animated film around Port number 9830 where industry and nature meet -at the Maasvlakte, Rotterdam. Shot through a hand-blown lens filled with water from the harbour. Small contaminants from the water are thus indirectly recorded as pollution particles that float through the water lens, just like the strings that everyone can see floating in front of his or her eye. The Dutch water landscape is photographed through the water from the landscape in front of us. it had its world premiere at IFFR 2021 more info: https://www.michielvanbakel.nl/p-9830/
Walk-in Camera Obscura - Together with the glass blowers of the National Glass Museum, Van Bakel investigates the optical properties of glass. The result: glass cameras, a life-size walk-in camera obscura and various 'water lenses' that breathe new life into ancient techniques.
Blowing Glass Cameras - An experimental investigation into the optical possibilities of the traditional craft of glassblowing. Together with glass blowers Geir Nustad and Josja Caecilia Schepman and others at the Glaslab Leerdam. Supported by Mondriaan Fund, Stokroos foundation and National Glass Museum Leerdam. https://www.nationaalglasmuseum.nl/
Lusthof / Pleasure Garden - Video (2020, loop, 4', UHD, stereo) inspired by the painting David and Bathseba (David and Bathsheba) by Lucas Gassel (around 1538). Technique: Animation of composited point clouds from photographs. Read more at https://vimeo.com/405421562/2bff4c7fdc

Rommellaadjes van de geest

Date:
Location: all over
In association with: #CBKRDAMMAAKTMOGELIJK

“back to the source of making. How do I intuitively make my choice from the multitude of materials and stories that I have at my disposal?... In this project I completely let go of the image technology and algorithms that I normally work with. My rule of thumb is that I can use a sharp needle and knife, paper tape, light-sensitive paper and anything I find on the streets of Rotterdam. I use the waste as a pinhole camera with the field of view from the perspective of street litter."

Nederlands Film Festival

Date:
Location: NFF Utrecht
In association with: Li-Ma Living Media Art

Presentation with Q&A during the Netherlands Film Festival, program In conversation – Film essays. Panorama Tata: a plumed serpent's view, result of a collaboration with Rotterdam sound artist Roel Meelkop.

https://www.filmfestival.nl/film/panorama-tata-a-plumed-serpents-view

trick or tree

Date:
Location: Den Haag
In association with: West

Once again, LI-MA is teaming up with West, The Hague, in this collaborative series of exhibitions. Part Three of Many Parts: Trick or Tree! showcases a selection of video works, this time focused on video's ability to change and construct meaning: from image manipulation to worldbuilding. The exhibition features works by Michiel van Bakel, Robert Arnold, Marina Abramović, Manuel Saiz, Seoungho Cho and Ghita Skali.

https://li-ma.nl/article/part-three-of-many-parts-trick-or-tree/

Expositie Museum De Wieger

Date:
Location: Ateliers De Wieger Deurne
In association with: Mondriaanfonds

In the exhibition 'Objective Landscape. From Utopia to Peel' Michiel van Bakel takes the viewer on a journey through time through landscapes and media that have fascinated him in recent years and still do. In one of the rooms of the museum, work by father Gerrit van Bakel (1943-1984) and son Michiel come together.

https://dewieger.nl/tentoonstelling/objectief-landschap-van-utopia-tot-peel-in-de-ateliers-michiel-van-bakel/

Into The Great Wide Open

Date:
Location: ITGWO Vlieland

Site specific outdoor presentation of video on big screen in forest setting.

https://www.michielvanbakel.nl/bogwaters/

Transgression art + technology Pavilion

Date:
Location: online
In association with: 5th Edition of the Wrong Biennale

celebrating digital culture since 2o13, the wrong is a collaborative effort harnessing the potential of the internet, shaped as a decentralized global art biennale and tv channel, open to participation, happening both online and offline, awarded with sois cultura 2o19 and ehrenerwähnung at s+ t+arts 2o2o

“counting its viewership in the millions, the wrong just might be the world's largest art biennale — the digital world's answer to venice” - the new york times

https://www.transgression-art-technology.com.pt/copia-de-michiel-van-bakel2/

Lucas Gassel Revisited

Date:
Location: Cacaofabriek

Contemporary artists from home and abroad are inspired by the 16th-century landscape painter Lucas Gassel.

https://www.cacaofabriek.nl/expo
This artist has no awards yet.