Background
For over two decades, I developed and refined an image making procedure that combines photography, optics, light and chemistry. A visual technology that explores detailed visuals found in tiny configurations of liquid compounds. Over time, by observing and studying these complex behaviours, I am able to carefully control the outcome. These so called ‘configurations’ often appear to be found or collected, being (part of) an ancient artifact or relic or sometimes resembling the natural structure of organic materials.
They are in fact, entirely hand-made, conceived and constructed in the studio using analogue imaging techniques.
For over two decades, I developed and refined an image making procedure that combines photography, optics, light and chemistry. A visual technology that explores detailed visuals found in tiny configurations of liquid compounds. Over time, by observing and studying these complex behaviours, I am able to carefully control the outcome. These so called ‘configurations’ often appear to be found or collected, being (part of) an ancient artifact or relic or sometimes resembling the natural structure of organic materials.
They are in fact, entirely hand-made, conceived and constructed in the studio using analogue imaging techniques.
Scale; remote of near
From the microscopic, or cellular scale, to the macro- or cosmic, each series of works that comes out of this image making procedure manifests itself on different scales, oscillating between often paradoxical perspectives. Looking at the work, the viewer hovers either an inch, or a few hundred feet above the subject, continually moving through various scales and thus a multitude of narratives. This particular notion of scale, or loss of scale, is a fundamental component you’ll find in my work. A process of unmaking, where associations are disconnected, relayed and re-connected, being both curiously familiar and strangely remote.
From the microscopic, or cellular scale, to the macro- or cosmic, each series of works that comes out of this image making procedure manifests itself on different scales, oscillating between often paradoxical perspectives. Looking at the work, the viewer hovers either an inch, or a few hundred feet above the subject, continually moving through various scales and thus a multitude of narratives. This particular notion of scale, or loss of scale, is a fundamental component you’ll find in my work. A process of unmaking, where associations are disconnected, relayed and re-connected, being both curiously familiar and strangely remote.
Titles
Some of the titles are either directly taken from, or based on accounts encountered in novels, articles, songs or other narrative types. As such, these titles are all examples of ekphrasis (paintings that are about books, books that are about paintings, etc) The titles are inspired either on colour, the behaviour of chemicals and other physical phenomena, or by the associations that are conjured by structures and shapes in the works.
Some of the titles are either directly taken from, or based on accounts encountered in novels, articles, songs or other narrative types. As such, these titles are all examples of ekphrasis (paintings that are about books, books that are about paintings, etc) The titles are inspired either on colour, the behaviour of chemicals and other physical phenomena, or by the associations that are conjured by structures and shapes in the works.
3rd person biography
Michiel Pijpe is an interdisciplinary artist focusing on the vast and complex world of the small, almost inconceivable beauties of natural phenomena. The phenomenality of his material is closely akin to geomorphology and the study of geologic laws, echoing the birth of planets, landscapes or relicts of landform deposits. The exploration of these formations is an outgrowth of a visual technology that he developed over the past 20 years. A practice that, albeit in miniature, generates layers of geochemical sculpture that simulate tectonic shifts and seismic tremors. In his practice, the exchange between control and contingency is a fundamental aspect: what kind of reactions can happen spontaneously and what properties are composed?
Next to the production of photographic work, Michiel created several performances and theatrical installations between 2007 and 2014. Sometimes in collaboration with choreographers, actors or musicians. These performances or theatrical installations were showcased in a variety of venues in the Netherlands, including; WORM in Rotterdam, Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, Paradiso, Het Veem and Frascati in Amsterdam, Baltan Laboratories in Eindhoven, De NWE Vorst in Tilburg and Theater aan het Spui/ZAAL3 in Den Haag. International venues include The Greenroom in Manchester (UK), the Salone di Mobile, Milan (IT) and CTM in Berlin (DE). More info on these works can be found on the projects pages.
As a teacher and mentor he contributed to the ArtScience program from 2008 to 2021. The ArtScience program has an interdisciplinary focus that intersects the existing fields of music, visual and performative arts, media art, humanities and the natural sciences. As part of the interfaculty program he organized several site-specific projects, various courses and initiated the STAGELab platform; A laboratory for experiments in the field of performance arts.
Michiel holds a BA in fine Arts from the Interfaculty Image & Sound from The Hague Academy and Conservatory. He also earned a minor in narrative techniques and style-procedures in film and literature, from the faculty of Film and Literary studies at Leiden University in 2004.
Michiel Pijpe is an interdisciplinary artist focusing on the vast and complex world of the small, almost inconceivable beauties of natural phenomena. The phenomenality of his material is closely akin to geomorphology and the study of geologic laws, echoing the birth of planets, landscapes or relicts of landform deposits. The exploration of these formations is an outgrowth of a visual technology that he developed over the past 20 years. A practice that, albeit in miniature, generates layers of geochemical sculpture that simulate tectonic shifts and seismic tremors. In his practice, the exchange between control and contingency is a fundamental aspect: what kind of reactions can happen spontaneously and what properties are composed?
Next to the production of photographic work, Michiel created several performances and theatrical installations between 2007 and 2014. Sometimes in collaboration with choreographers, actors or musicians. These performances or theatrical installations were showcased in a variety of venues in the Netherlands, including; WORM in Rotterdam, Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, Paradiso, Het Veem and Frascati in Amsterdam, Baltan Laboratories in Eindhoven, De NWE Vorst in Tilburg and Theater aan het Spui/ZAAL3 in Den Haag. International venues include The Greenroom in Manchester (UK), the Salone di Mobile, Milan (IT) and CTM in Berlin (DE). More info on these works can be found on the projects pages.
As a teacher and mentor he contributed to the ArtScience program from 2008 to 2021. The ArtScience program has an interdisciplinary focus that intersects the existing fields of music, visual and performative arts, media art, humanities and the natural sciences. As part of the interfaculty program he organized several site-specific projects, various courses and initiated the STAGELab platform; A laboratory for experiments in the field of performance arts.
Michiel holds a BA in fine Arts from the Interfaculty Image & Sound from The Hague Academy and Conservatory. He also earned a minor in narrative techniques and style-procedures in film and literature, from the faculty of Film and Literary studies at Leiden University in 2004.