RR haiku 096
i am sorry
won’t happen again
my apologies
The irony of efficiency
Someone finds a trick to simplify a task. This person finishes the task faster and has more time to relax.
Once everyone starts using the same trick, there is no time to relax any more. You have to use the trick. What used to be normal is now slow.
“Shifting Optics”, group exhibition at Upstream Amsterdam
Shifting Optics
Rafaël Rozendaal, Tabor Robak,
Shannon Finley, Travess Smalley,
Noor Nuyten, Jet Smits, Kareem Lotfy
Upstream Gallery, Amsterdam
6 September – 11 October
Texts from Spheres book (Random Thoughts)
This is a selection of texts from my Spheres book, in collaboration with Philippe Karrer.
When we stare at the ocean, we can’t see that far because of the curvature of the earth. Clouds are not that far away either. Stars can be very far away, but a lot of stars don’t even exist any more by the time their light hits our eyes. The further something is, the longer it takes before you see it.
People always emphasize it’s good to grow and innovate, but it’s also good to repeat and refine.
In the future, people will not carry around devices to access the internet. Instead, with a pocket knife, they will cut a rectangle out of thin air, right in front of them, and there the internet will be. Unfortunately, many people will leave pieces of sky on the floor which might be dangerous. (More…)
A life without objects
I cannot explain why, but one of my favorite activities in the world is throwing stuff away. After graduating, I started moving to different countries, so I had to. I could only take so much with me. Possessions restrict movement. I don’t need much.
I love the idea of empty spaces. I love visualizing an empty home with big windows in an empty landscape. I imagine windows opened on either side of the house, the wind blowing from miles away entering the house and leaving quickly, hardly obstructed.
Emptiness is very elegant. It is luxurious.
The reality is that I am never in an empty house in an empty landscape. I am always in very crowded places. I live in Chinatown New York which is dense with tourists and garbage. I travel in crowded airplanes and eat while my elbows touch the passenger next to me. I sleep in hotels packed with people and their luggage. I swim at crowded beaches and walk through crowded museums and sit in crowded subways.
Emptiness seems beautiful yet I hardly ever go there. I hardly make an effort. I could take a bus to the countryside and sit in an empty field for a few hours. I could but I don’t.
I like the idea of emptiness more than the reality of it.
Why I love making websites
it’s fun
it’s new
it’s light
it’s open
it’s cheap
it’s free
it’s everything
it’s always
it’s everywhere
no history
no stress
no boss
no budget
no deadlines
no hassle
Austin Lee interviews Rafaël Rozendaal for SFAQ magazine
Austin Lee interviews Rafaël Rozendaal for SFAQ magazine.
New York, February 2014.
AL: Your artwork has strong ties to both painting and animation. How do you think about time in both mediums and how does it function in your work?
RR: I’m interested in movement, and I’m interested in staring. That means I want to make moving images that don’t have a beginning or ending, no specific duration. The computer makes it possible to create images that run infinitely, always a bit different but also kind of the same. Think of a fountain: it’s in motion, it’s moving, but it’s not going anywhere.
Documentation of “External Memory” exhibition at Upstream Gallery, Amsterdam
External Memory, exhibition by Rafaël Rozendaal
at Upstream Gallery, Amsterdam. March 2014.
Photography by Gert Jan van Rooij.
“External Memory”, my solo show at Upstream Gallery Amsterdam, opens this Saturday
This Saturday, 17:00-20:00, my exhibition “External Memory” opens at Upstream Gallery in Amsterdam.
There will be lenticular paintings, projections of websites, and my first ever sculpture.
Hope to see you there!