tropisme
HistoryTropism emerged in the 1980's as a collaboration between an artist who wanted minimal music to accompany his paintings (Bob van Walderveen), a philosopher who wanted to create text, image and music (Alfred Marseille) and an animation filmmaker who had installations in mind (Robin Noorda). The three of them shared the opinion that a certain degree of humour in art provides the necessary perspective. They met in 1981 in a studio for experimental electronic music (CEM). The first pre-Tropistic events took place mainly in audiovisual and poetronic spheres. This was also the time that the first four-dimensional paintings were created. The collaboration culminated in a bizarre party in the overgrown garden of the burnt down house of WWII criminal Pieter Menten, located opposite the ancestral home of Robin Noorda. In 1986 the Tropist Manifest was released and the Tropism Foundation was established. Two highlights from the first exhibition: 'Tropism around the Axis', a 12-channel piece of music, whereby on entering, the visitor will switch on one of the 12 audio channels, and on leaving will switch one off. The 'Plant Project', consisting of a simple houseplant on a Greek pedestal, connected to an EEG device and responding to the touch of the visitors. The installation 'The Mess-age', realized for the 'Hermit' festival in Plasy, Czech Republic, consisted of 3 camera obscura projectors with mechanical animations and 3 floating audio parabolas. Other TropistsFounder Bob van Walderveen died suddenly in 1995. With his death, Tropism, after 10 years, seemed to dissolve. Paul Godschalk was involved in Tropism until just before the first exhibition in 1987 and has recently become active again. Sam Samshuizen was a Tropist from 1987 to 1994, Bo Andrea and Marian Schoettle (USA) were active in 1993 and 1994. Exhibitions and performances1987 Art house De Vonk, Bussum 1987 Provadja theatre, Alkmaar 1987 Spiegeltent, Ede 1988 Art house De Vonk, Bussum 1991 'Zwaar licht' (Heavy Light) De Fabriek, Eindhoven 1992 Theatre Zeebelt, Den Haag 1993 Time Based Arts, Amsterdam 1994 Manifestation 'Beek in Beeld', Groningen * group exhibition 1994 Interazioni festival, Sardegna, Italy * group exhibition 1994 Hermit festival, Plasy, Czech Republic * group exhibition 1994 'Het raadsel in de Oude Kerk' (The Riddle of the Old Church), Oude Kerk, Amsterdam 2012 Museum night, Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam 2013 'Photosynthesis' - summer exhibition, Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam 2014 'Sneaky Serpents' and 'This is it, be here now', Amsterdam Light Festival 2015 'Photosynthesis', Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 2015 'Sneaky Serpents', Norrköping Light Festival 2016 'Sneaky Serpents', Noorderzon Festival, Groningen 2016 'Sneaky Serpents', Shenzhen, China 2016 'You lookin at me?', Amsterdam Light Festival 2017 'You lookin at me?', I Light Marina Bay, Singapore 2017 'You lookin at me?', Vivid, Sydney Amsterdam museum night 2012(November 3) in the Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam Feeding the Giant Carnivorous Burping Pitcher Plants ( 8 minutes ) Flora Sonora
( 10 minutes )
or watch it bigger or else watch it on YouTube or the Dutch version on YouTube Art movement Tropism provided the Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam during the 2012 museumnight a 'feeding the carnivorous plants' act & film. By Robin Noorda, Bethany de Forest, Paul Godschalk, Alex van Zanten, Menno Schrap, Margot van de Stolpe, Alfred Marseille. Camera: Erik Schut.
or else watch it on YouTube
Flora Sonora Or the singing plant, or rather the whining shrub is a performance by Susanne Ohmann based on an installation by Robin Noorda. Small current variations on the skin of the leaves, caused by interaction, are being sensed and amplified by an E.E.G. module which controls a synthesizer. Camera: Erik Schut. Robin Noorda made this Tropistic installation 25 years ago, using the same modular Synton synthesizer, by now a vintage apparatus. The performance was created specially for the Amsterdam museum night 2012 as part of the Tropism Art program. |