Tag Archives: video-art

Planktonium Live Performance at MU Hybrid Art House, Eindhoven, NL with John van Oostrum 2025

Why should we really only wish each other well in January? It can’t hurt to do that a bit more often, throughout the year. That’s why on 6 February we like to look ahead hopefully to the year that has just begun with everyone curious about what MU has to offer in 2025.

Once again firmly supported by the Ministry of OCW, Culture Eindhoven and the Province of Noord-Brabant, we would like to delve a little deeper into our plans for the next four years and raise a glass together to all the art and artists who deserve space, get space and make space, in MU and beyond.

We will close the meeting with a live performance linked to the exhibition Sensing Otherness / Navigating the more-than-human world.

For this, filmmaker Jan van IJken reworks his enchanting film Planktonium into a live version, assisted by artist/musician John van Oostrum. Together, they subtly bring to life the small but oh-so crucial undersea ecosystem of plankton. Van Oostrum, whom we remember from Touki Delphine’s TRANSMISSION that was shown at MU last summer, once again brings an extraordinary home-made instrument for light and sound to make the tiny organisms dance on.

Program
17:00 – Doors open with a drink and a bite
18:00 – Sneak peak into MU’s 2025 program
19:00 – Live Performance Planktonium by Jan van IJken and John van Oostrum

Note: Make sure to reserve your ticket on time.

TICKETS

More info

Performance ‘O’ with Naima Joris at Int. Film Festival Rotterdam

Naima Joris and Vitja Pauwels symbiotically merge their sound with Jan van IJken’s live edited microscopic images of plankton, to offer a glimpse into the underwater world as you’ve never seen it before. The title O is a reference to the circle of life of which plankton is an integral part, and a play on ‘eau’, the French word for water. The result is a thrilling improvised spectacle with an enchanting effect and an urgent message.

More info:
https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2024/films/naima-joris-o

Species List Planktonium

Species List Planktonium (both full and short version)

full 15 min version:

00:14 Coscinodiscus – Diatoms

00:22 Coscinodiscus – Diatoms

00:30 Coscinodiscus – Diatoms

00:38 Coscinodiscus – Diatom

00:46 Actinosphaerium (heliozoan)

01:03 Bacillaria Paxillifer – Diatoms

01:18 Bacillaria Paxillifer – Diatoms

01:44 Heliozoea

01:59 Medusa stage of Obelia

02:15 Testate amoeba

02:28 Developing egg of unknown species

02:42 Noctiluca scintillans (sea sparkle)

02:55 Noctiluca scintillans (sea sparkle)

03:07 Testate amoeba

03:21 Heliozoean releasing a ciliate

03:49 Dinoflagellates

04:09 Volvox

04:28 Euglena

04:44 Micrasterias (desmid)

04:45 Tube dwelling diatoms

05:05 Tube dwelling diatoms

05:18 Tube dwelling diatoms

05:34 Dinoflagellates

05:48 Colonial Peritrich – Ciliates

06:00 Colonial Peritrich – Ciliates

06:11 Conochilus – Colonial rotifers

06:19 Conochilus – Colonial rotifers

06:28 Rotifers

06:41 Asplanchna – Rotifers

06:52 Rotifer

07:00 Rotifers

07:12 Brachionus – Rotifers

07:25 Kellicottia – Rotifers

07:36 Echinoderm larva

07:50 Echinoderm larva

08:08 Ciliates

08:22 Ciliate

08:31 Nassula – Ciliate

08:49 Lithodesmium intricatum (diatom)

09:02 Ditylum brightwelli (diatom)

09:11 Larva of a tube-dwelling worm

09:20 Larva of a tube-dwelling worm

09:27 Eleutheria dichotoma (hydroid)

09:40 Hydra

09:59 Chaoborus (phantom midge larva)

10:06 Chaoborus (phantom midge larva)

10:12 Polyphemus pediculus – Water flea (giving birth)

10:56 Cyclops (copepod with diatoms attached)

11:12 Daphnia pulex – Water flea carrying eggs

11:21 Diaphanosoma – water flea carrying embryos

11:27 Diaphanosoma – water flea carrying embryos

11:36 Ilyocryptus (water flea)

11:46 Sea star larva

11:56 Tunica larva (Oikopleuridae)

12:11 Crab larva

12:19 Veliger larva

12:26 Planktonic trochophore stage of the larva of a polychaete worm

12:42 Mnemiopsis leidyi (comb jelly)

13:06 Radiolaria

13:19 Stentor amethystinus

13:37 Stentor amethystinus

Planktonium – 3 min version:

00:01 Coscinodiscus – Diatoms

00:08 Coscinodiscus – Diatoms

00:16 Coscinodiscus – Diatom

00:24 Bacillaria Paxillifer – Diatoms

00:39 Heliozoean

00:56 Nassula – Ciliate

01:14 Dinoflagellates

01:28 Larva of a tube-dwelling worm

01:43 Eleutheria dichotoma (hydroid)

01:57 Diaphanosoma brachyurum – water flea carrying embryos

02:04 Diaphanosoma brachyurum – water flea carrying embryos

02:12 Echinoderm larva

02:24 Veliger larva

02:32 Planktonic trochophore stage of the larva of a polychaete worm

Limited Edition Collectors Box Planktonium – SOLD OUT

To celebrate the release of my film Planktonium, I decided to produce a Limited Edition Collectors Box (35 copies only!) of the project.

This numbered (35/35) Box is containing:

3 signed and numbered inkjetprints on Hahnemühle Photo Rag baryta (315 gsm) A4 size paper, printed by Hans Bol
Full version of the short film Planktonium (15:23) + extra footage (02:00) in 4K and HD format on USB stick
An essay on plankton by Jelle Reumer, text design by Karin van der Meer
Handmade Box by Liesbeth Visser, including an extra photo on the front

The price is € 295,00 including 9% VAT, excluding cost of shipment.

Produced with generous financial support of Nederlands Filmfonds, Gemeente Leiden and Stichting Oog op de Natuur

Planktonium

Stream or download Planktonium (full version) on Vimeo On Demand

Planktonium is a short film about the unseen world of living microscopic plankton. It is a voyage into a secret universe, inhabited by alien-like creatures. These stunningly beautiful, very diverse and numerous organisms are unknown to most of us because they are invisible to the naked eye. However, they are wandering beneath the surface of all waters around us and they are of vital importance for all life on earth.

Jan van IJken filmed the plankton through his microscopes, revealing the beauty and delicate structures of the minute organisms in the finest detail. The film is without any voice-over or explanation.

Renowned Norwegian artist Jana Winderen made a sound composition for the film. She is recording audio environments and creatures which are hard for humans to access, both physically and aurally – deep under water, inside ice or in frequency ranges inaudible to the human ear.

Phytoplankton (small plant-like cells) are producing half of all oxygen on earth by photosynthesis, like plants and trees do on land. Zooplankton (animal-like critters) are eating the phytoplankton, and are on the menu of larger animals in the water. So plankton is forming the base of the food chain of aquatic life. Plankton are also playing an important part in the global carbon cycle. The plankton are threatened by climate change, global warming and acidification of the oceans.

Filmed, directed and produced by Jan van IJken
Sound composition by Jana Winderen
Edited by Jan van IJken and Metje Postma

Produced with generous financial support of Gemeente Leiden, Stichting Oog op de Natuur and The Netherlands Film Fund.

Museum De Lakenhal in Leiden the Netherlands acquired one copy of the film for the museum collection.
Planktonium has been part of the Leiden European City of Science program in 2022.

2021, 4K, color, 15:23 min

Screenings and Awards

Director Statement

Publications

Planktonium in the Auditorium of Museum De Lakenhal in Leiden, NL (2022)

Planktonium photobook

ENGLISH EDITION BY TERRA LANNOO – INTERNATIONAL ORDERS
ENGLISH EDITION BY TERRA LANNOO – DUTCH ORDERS
GERMAN EDITION
BY TECKLENBORG VERLAG

Planktonium is a short film and photo project by Jan van IJken about the unseen world of living microscopic plankton. It is a voyage into a secret universe, inhabited by alien-like creatures. These stunningly beautiful, very diverse and numerous organisms are unknown to most of us because they are invisible to the naked eye. However, they are wandering beneath the surface of all waters around us and they are of vital importance for all life on earth.

Jan van IJken photographed the plankton through his microscopes, revealing the beauty and delicate structures of the minute organisms in the finest detail.

Phytoplankton (small plant-like cells) are producing half of all oxygen on earth by photosynthesis, like plants and trees do on land. Zooplankton (animal-like critters) are eating the phytoplankton, and are on the menu of larger animals in the water. So plankton is forming the base of the food chain of aquatic life. Plankton are also playing an important part in the global carbon cycle. The plankton are threatened by climate change, global warming and acidification of the oceans.

Produced with generous financial support of Gemeente Leiden and Stichting Oog op de Natuur.

Preview of some selected photos:

The art of flying

Short film about “murmurations”: the mysterious flights of the Common Starling. It is still unknown how the thousands of birds are able to fly in such dense swarms without colliding. Every night the starlings gather at dusk to perform their stunning air show.

Because of the relatively warm winter of 2014/2015, the starlings stayed in the Netherlands instead of migrating southwards. This gave filmmaker Jan van IJken the opportunity to film one of the most spectacular and amazing natural phenomena on earth.

2015, HD Video, black&white, 06:52

The film has been screened at more than 50 international film festivals, art galleries, museums, etc. It was awarded “Best art film” at Pärnu Int. Documentary Film Festival, Estonia. The short 2 min version of the film was published online by National Geographic’s Short Film Showcase and was selected as a Vimeo Staff Pick.

List of screenings & awards THE ART OF FLYING

Link to the photoseries The art of flying:
https://www.janvanijken.com/the-art-of-flying/

Becoming

BECOMING is a short film about the miraculous genesis of animal life. In great microscopic detail, we see the ‘making of’ a salamander in its transparant egg from fertilization to hatching.

The first stages of embryonic development are roughly the same for all animals, including humans. In the film, we can observe a universal process which normally is invisible: the very beginning of an animal’s life. A single cell is transformed into a complete, complex living organism with a beating heart and running bloodstream.

The salamander embryo (an Ichthyosaura Alpestris) was followed very closely in a combination of timelapse and film. All stages of embryogenesis can be seen in this film: cleavage, gastrulation, neurulation and organogenesis. Time was condensed from about 3 weeks to 6 minutes.

2018, HD video, color, 06:15

Becoming has been screened at more than 25 international film festivals and received  the Award for best short documentary at the Innsbruck nature film festival 2018 and the Vision Science Award at Imagine Science Abu Dhabi 2019.

In 2019 the film went ‘viral’ on internet and has been watched by a few million people. It was published on the website of National Geographic, Aeon, Colossal, Live Science, IFLScience and numerous others. A Vimeo Staff Pick of the month was awarded to the film and the Dutch TV show De Wereld Draait Door screened the film, including an interview.

LIST OF SCREENINGS AND AWARDS BECOMING

Acknowledgements; Many thanks to:
Ben Geutskens for sharing his knowledge about the biology and life cycles of salamanders: http://www.semperinmotus.nl/
My friends at the Dutch microscopy club NGVM: http://www.ngvm.nl 
Alex Kenter salamander breeder with endless patience in providing eggs.
Huibert Boon for the audimix and foley http://www.boonbooy.nl/

Jan van IJken

Jan van IJken is a filmmaker and photographer from the Netherlands, working at the interface of art and science.
His work is about the secrets of nature, microscopy, embryology and human-animal relationships.

Nevermore

Film about the fast and almost instinctive creative process of action painting by dribbling, splashing, scratching and smearing paint on a huge canvas. The work is based on the poem ‘The Raven’ by Edgar Allan Poe: an almost abstract chaos of words and sounds.

Jan van IJken filmed Dutch artist Theo Zwinderman painting ‘The Raven’ and edited the film on the rhythm of a reading of the poem by George Snow.

2013, HD Video, 03:37 min

Screenings & Awards:

2015 ArtMuc, München, Germany
2013 Jihlava International Documentary Film Festial, Czech Republic
2013 Micro Film Festival at What the Festival, USA
2013 Pärnu International Documentary and Anthropology Film Festival, Estonia
2013 Huesca International Film Festival, Spain: Documentary Short Film Contest (World Premiere)

FILMS

PHOTOGRAPHY