Planktonium Live is a voyage of discovery to a secret universe, a live performance with the smallest organisms playing the leading role. For Shaping Bonds Dutch photographer and filmmaker Jan van IJken collaborates with composer and clarinetist Jaime Peña whose work explores the poetic potential of everyday sound. Together they create a total experience that immerses the audience in the images and sounds of an underwater world that goes beyond the natural boundaries of our senses.
Microscopic images of various species of plankton show an assortment of rotating, crawling, spinning and dancing objects, in all shapes and sizes. Are they molluscs emitting light signals, or are they spaceships, gemstones, human cells? Their beauty appears extraterrestrial, but they are vital to our planet: plankton produces half of all the oxygen on Earth, absorbs large quantities of CO2 and forms the beginning of the food chain. It is now threatened by rising temperatures and ocean acidification.
Hert Documentaire Paviljoen / De Spiegel, Vondelpark Amsterdam
Planktonium – Short film and photo series about the unseen world of living microscopic plankton
Developing egg of the tunicate Ciona
Photo Jan van IJken
Last night marked the opening of the magnificent BIRDS exhibition at the Mauritshuis in The Hague. The art of flying is projected onto a 10x3m screen behind the famous Goldfinch painting.
Many thanks to Martine Gosselink ,Suzan van den Berg, Adrienne Quarles van Ufford, Simon Schama, Mick van Dantzig, Petra Warrink all team members!
Birds – we can’t imagine life without them. To us, birds symbolise freedom, beauty and love. But birds are also pets, a source of food or hunting trophies. The exhibition BIRDS – Curated by The Goldfinch & Simon Schama delves into our enduring relationship with these creatures that we love, yet keep in cages. What does our relationship with birds tell us about how we treat the natural world?
Carel Fabritius’ 1654 painting The Goldfinch and British (art) historian Simon Schama bring birds from around the world to the Mauritshuis. We reflect on our relationship with birds through works by Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Tracey Emin, Iris van Herpen and many other artists.
Pole to Pole: 100 days, seven continents, the journey of a lifetime. Join Will Smith as he travels pole to pole with scientists conducting groundbreaking research at the edges of the world.
In 2023 I was invited by producer Nutopia TV to film Arctic microscopic plankton for the National Geographic and Disney+ series Pole to Pole. I joined presenter Will Smith, renowned scientist Dr Allison Fong, assistant Oliver Müller and the production team on Ponant’s one-of-a-kind luxury cruise icebreaker on a remarkable journey from Svalbard to the geographical North Pole.
My purpose was to film Arctic plankton for the final episode The North Pole of the series. After months of preparations, coordinated by Nutopia’s Marissa Chazan, it was so amazing to finally sail out to work on the luxury icebreaker Le Commandant Charcot. The ship was fully equipped with 2 labs onboard, with wonderful assistance by Ponant’s Science Officer Daniel Cron. Evident provided 2 fantastic Olympus microscopes for filming on the ship.
It was not easy to avoid the vibrations of the ships, caused by the breaking of the ice, despite the anti-vibration table installed. But with help of Allison and Oliver, I was able to take plankton samples on the North Pole! The plankton was really different from the species I normally find the Netherlands: pteropods, huge copepods with red antennae, etc.
Working with the amazing production team, doing the thing I love most – filming, photographing, working with plankton – and also working with scientists and getting all the help needed; this epic Arctic journey was a dream come true!
Huge thanks to: Nutopia, National Geographic, Ponant, Will Smith, Allison Fong, Oliver Müller, Marissa Chazan, Daniel Cron and all other production and film crew members.
Pole to Pole with Will Smith premieres January 17 2026 on @NatGeoTV. Streaming on DisneyPlus and hulu
In deze lezing vertelt fotograaf en filmmaker Jan van IJken over het vastleggen van de geheimen en verborgen werelden in de natuur. Zijn recente projecten komen aan bod, waaronder de choreografie van spreeuwenzwermen (The art of flying), het ontstaan van leven in een salamanderei (Becoming) en de schoonheid van microscopisch plankton (Planktonium). Tijdens de lezing worden zijn nieuwste films en fotoseries vertoond en krijg je een kijkje achter de schermen. Welke technieken – zoals microscopie, time-lapse en focus stacking – zijn nodig om de wonderlijke details van het kleine vast te leggen? Deze lezing is mede mogelijk gemaakt in samenwerking met Stichting Oog op de Natuur, fonds voor beeld met impact.
Cameranu Rotterdam Zaterdag 10 januari | 10:00 – 12:00
Cameranu Utrecht Zondag 18 januari | 13:00 – 15:00
De lezingen zijn gratis toegankelijk, alleen even aanmelden via onderstaande link. Graag tot dan!
I had the great pleasure to be invited to the Muestra de Cine de Lanzarote to present my film Planktonium in the Trasfoco section of the festival with this year’s theme AGUA (water).
The festival is known for the careful selection of films and real attention for the work and filmmakers. The long Q&A was lead by festival director Javier Fuentes Feo, who is keen to have a sharp and interesting in-depth debate with the filmmakers and (local) audience after the films.
Planktonium Live is a journey to a hidden universe, a live performance in which the smallest organisms play the leading role.
Filmmaker Jan van IJken adapted his enchanting film Planktonium (with a lot of new footage) into a live version, together with artist/musician John van Oostrum (de Veenfabriek / Touki Delphine). They subtly bring the small but oh so crucial underwater ecosystem of plankton to life.
We will do 2 shows: Friday 14th March 2025 20:15 – 21:00 and 21:45 – 22:30 Cinema Lux 7, Nijmegen
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
I am very happy that my photo won the 1st prize in the 2024 Microscopy Today Micrograph Awards competition. Another picture ended as Finalist.
The premise of the micrograph competition is that scientific images can be interesting and have significant visual impact. This year, submissions came from 21 countries and 17 US states.
Open Category 1st Prize. Colonial diatoms. Phytoplankton Licmophora flabellata are colonial diatoms. Phytoplankton produces around 50% of all oxygen on earth by photosynthesis, and plankton play an essential role in the global carbon cycle (light microscopy). Image by Jan van IJken, Leiden, Netherlands.
Open Category, Finalist Water flea Chydorus sphaericus carrying an egg. Light microscopy. Image by Jan van IJken, Leiden, Netherlands
Planktonium Live is a voyage of discovery to a secret universe, a live performance with the smallest organisms playing the leading role. Dutch photographer and filmmaker Jan van IJken and Norwegian audio artist Jana Winderen work at the interface of science and art, creating a total experience that immerses the audience in the images and sounds of an underwater world that goes beyond the natural boundaries of our senses.
Microscopic images of various species of plankton show an assortment of rotating, crawling, spinning and dancing objects, in all shapes and sizes. Are they molluscs emitting light signals, or are they spaceships, gemstones, human cells? Their beauty appears extraterrestrial, but they are vital to our planet: plankton produces half of all the oxygen on Earth, absorbs large quantities of CO2 and forms the beginning of the food chain. It is now threatened by rising temperatures and ocean acidification.
The images are presented within an immersive soundscape, composed live using underwater recordings capturing the sounds of icebergs, waves and aquatic organisms.
During the Art Route 2024, live performances by visual artist Jan van IJken and musician/installation maker John van Oostrum (Veenfabriek, ToukiDelphine) will take place in Museum De Lakenhal in Leiden.
The microscopic images of plankton (with lots of new footage) will be projected live by Van IJken and accompanied by sounds from the installation ‘Glass, water, light’ by Van Oostrum, who will also play guitar.
The performances will take place in the auditorium of the museum on Saturday 21 September and Sunday 22 September at 3:30 PM. Admission is free and reservations are not required, but full is full, so be on time. The performance lasts more than half an hour.
A short 1 minute sequence of my plankton footage has been screened in the Ocean episode of BBC Planet Earth III. The series is narrated by Sir David Attenborough and I feel very thankful and honoured to be part of this groundbreaking series! Many thanks to producer / director Will Ridgeon and his team.
Our home – thrilling, mind-blowing, and full of hope. David Attenborough shares amazing stories of the wonders of the planet. There’s always more to discover.
The ocean covers two thirds of the planet and is home to 80% of all animal life, yet much of it remains unexplored. In this episode, we join David Attenborough on a journey through the vast and changing ocean to reveal the extraordinary behaviours and remarkable adaptations required for life to survive here.
For life beneath the surface, the ocean can be a battlefield. In the shallow seas of the tropics a lionfish is fatally ensnared by a shrimp-like lure, seductively dangled from the head of a cunning clown frogfish. In the giant kelp forests off North America, a young horn shark is ambushed and swallowed whole by an angel shark – which may have bitten off more than it can chew – and out in the empty big blue, flying fish search for floating seaweed to lay their eggs but end up attracting the attention of hungry blue sharks.
Today, islands of seaweed are being replaced by plastic – every year 12 million tons of it ends up in the ocean. It is lethal to many (and the crew had to rescue many entangled turtles while filming), but Columbus crabs are making a home on these unnatural rafts. The crabs, however, are poor swimmers, so to find a mate, they must hitch a lift. Passing turtles can help and in fact provide a permanent home for a pair of crabs – in return the crabs provide an onboard grooming service. The relationship that works so well, these turtles are often joined by a pair of crabs. Finding a partner in the ocean is not always this easy. In the Sea of Cortez, mobula rays perform astounding, acrobatic leaps that appear to attract other rays – but the performance also attracts a family of specialist ray-hunting orca that have a unique hunting strategy.
The least known parts of the ocean are its great depths, which can only be reached using specialised submersibles. As we descend and sunlight fades, alien-like creatures appear, including a massive siphonophore – the longest animal on planet earth; and a gulper eel with huge jaws that can engulf prey larger than its own body.
Two miles below the surface, we reach the ocean floor where the pressure is crushing and the temperature is freezing cold . A mother octopus heads to a special place where warm water escaping from the seabed creates a thermal spa. Here she joins twenty thousand female octopus, all here to raise their eggs – the largest known gathering of octopus on planet earth.* It will take two years for their eggs to develop and in that time these devoted mothers will not even leave them to feed. An extreme effort after which they will die, but meaning their young are the most developed of any octopus – vital in the demanding world of the deep.
In today’s ocean, animals are having to compete with humans. But some are learning to take advantage. Off the coast of Chile, thousands of South American sea lions raid fishermen’s nets – but it comes with a huge risk. As the net is drawn in, the sea lions must get out quickly or risk being crushed and drowned.
Animals have evolved in remarkable ways to the demands of life in the ocean. But can they now adapt to the new challenge… living alongside us?
Sowohl in den Meeren als auch in Süßgewässern tummeln sich Tausende von Tier- und Pflanzenarten, die man normalerweise nicht zu Gesicht bekommt – weil diese Wesen schlicht zu winzig sind, um sie mit bloßem Auge zu erkennen. Plankton ist die Sammelbezeichnung dieser Organismen, die im freien Wasser leben und dort mit den Strömungen umhertreiben. Für das Gesamtökosystem Erde ist das Plankton von immenser Bedeutung. Nicht zuletzt deshalb lohnt es, sich näher mit ihm zu befassen.
Der niederländische Fotograf und Filmemacher Jan van IJken zeigt in diesem opulenten Bildband die Schönheit dieser mikroskopisch kleinen Tiere und Pflanzen in grandiosen Nahaufnahmen. Wasserflöhe, Rädertierchen, grazile Medusen und filigrane Algen erscheinen unter dem Mikroskop wie Wesen aus einer anderen Welt. Durch die Anwendung der Dunkelfeldtechnik erscheinen die Kreaturen klar und durchscheinend vor dunklem Hintergrund und entfalten dabei eine besondere Ästhetik. In einem ausführlichen Interview am Ende des Buches gibt Jan van IJken auch Einblicke in seine Arbeitsweise und seine Methoden, die Tiere in dieser besonderen Weise in Szene zu setzen.
Der Autor und Fotograf Jan van IJken ist ein Filmemacher und Fotograf aus Leiden in den Niederlanden, der an der Schnittstelle von Kunst und Wissenschaft arbeitet. In seinen neuesten Arbeiten enthüllt er Geheimnisse der Natur, wie das Schwarmverhalten der Stare, die Entstehung des Lebens und die unsichtbare Welt des mikroskopischen Planktons. Sein Interesse gilt der Mikroskopie, der Natur, der Biologie, der Evolution und der Embryologie. In früheren Jahren veröffentlichte er drei Fotobücher zu sozial-dokumentarischen Themen wie der Religiosität in Osteuropa und der Beziehung zwischen Mensch und Tier.
An audiovisual spectacle about the magical underwater world
During VIDEODROOM, singer-songwriter Naima Joris will play an improvisational set to images of microscopic plankton by Dutch filmmaker-photographer Jan van IJken.
Van IJken filmed plankton through a number of microscopes, revealing the beauty of these tiny organisms. Phytoplankton are both the main processor of greenhouse gases and the largest primary oxygen producer on Earth. However, these floating microorganisms, on which we thus depend, are threatened by ocean acidification and global warming.
Guided by Van IJken’s wondrous images and Naima’s fascination with both breathing and water, Naima will play a magical improvisational set. The futuristic guitar lines of Vitja Pauwels and the tuneful sounds of Niels Van Heertum‘s euphonium will accompany her.
The performance has been aptly named “O,” referring to the circle of life – because without plankton, no life is possible – and to “eau,” the French word for water. Be amazed by nature and music!
The mathematization of the world has long since taken hold of art as well — a development that looks back on a long history. More than 1000 years ago, the Arab-Islamic Renaissance (800–1200), also known as the Islamic Golden Age, had already produced amazing (musical) devices and robot-like automatons, amongst other things.
The Italian Renaissance (15th to early 17th centuries) initiated immense civilizational innovations with the invention of perspective, the measurement of space, and the construction of complex mechanical machines. The basis of the 3rd Renaissance is that artists and scientists use comparable tools in the digital age. In addition to the current politicization of art, there is also a tendency towards its scientification. This becomes visible in the exhibition.
A common »pool of tools«
For a long time, art and science diverged. Art was primarily oriented toward things that could be perceived by the human eye. It remained within the horizon of natural perception. Science begins beyond natural perception. It has been observing the world with instruments since the 16th century. In this way it advanced to the hitherto inaccessible »res invisibiles« of the microcosm and the macrocosm.
With the rise of technical media, a turning point had come: artists began to take an interest in the use of “scientific” tools. Today, both disciplines increasingly work with the same tools, methods, and programs. This common »pool of tools« points to the beginning of a new renaissance, similarly realized by the Italian Renaissance. Leonardo da Vinci discussed in his »Trattato della Pittura« (around 1500): “Se la pittura è scienza o no” and came to the conclusion: painting is a science.
The Dawn of a New Renaissance
The exhibition presents contemporary approaches of artists who, on the one hand, continue the lines of research of the preceding renaissances and, on the other, open up new fields of research. It also features convincing parallel research or elective affinities between science and art. The focus is on a new culture of tools. On the basis of 45 media art positions, it provides insights into artistic laboratory situations and artistic-scientific collaborations that open up a shared multidisciplinary “Wissensfeld” (base of knowledge) for the 21st century — from biochemistry to genetic engineering and information design to neuroscience and unconventional computing.
With an extensive physical and digital outreach program, »Renaissance 3.0« offers spaces to discuss current technologies and findings and explore fields of knowledge within the alliance of media art and science.
One year after the release of the short film, I am very happy to announce the release of my photobook Planktonium, beautifully published by Terra Lannoo Publishers.
Planktonium is a photo and short-film project by Dutch artist Jan van IJken about the unseen world of living microscopic plankton. These extraordinary, 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 are essential for our very existence.
Van IJken, an award-winning film-maker and photographer, captured images of the plankton through his microscopes, revealing the exceptional beauty and delicate structures of the minute organisms in the finest detail. In this book, he takes you on a voyage into a secret universe, inhabited by alien-like creatures.
In the book, 95 photos are published, some of which is new footage. Will Ridgeon (BBC producer and director of Blue Planet II) wrote the introduction. Marianne Wootton (senior plankton analyst in the UK) wrote an essay about the importance of plankton for all life on earth and Pauline Terreehorst (author and film critic) wrote an essay about the intersection of art and science. In an interview, Jan explains how he captured the tiny creatures.
6 photos from the Planktonium photo series are nominated for a Wildscreen Panda Award 2022, in the category Photo Story.
The globally acclaimed Panda Awards, the ‘Green Oscars’ of the international wildlife film and TV industry, have sat at the heart of the Wildscreen Festival since 1982. They celebrate the very best in the natural world storytelling craft, and remain the highest honour in the industry.
I am very happy with the 11 page photo essay on Planktonium in National Geographic Magazine, Dutch Edition! Many thanks to Robbert Vermue and Samantha Simon. This is the openingsspread of the article.
ENGLISH EDITION BY TERRA LANNOO – INTERNATIONAL ORDERSGERMAN 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:
Diatom Coscinodiscus
Water flea – Chydorus sphaericus carrying egg
Phantom midge larva
Gloeotrichia – Cyanobacteria
Obelia
Colonial diatoms: Licmophora flabellata
Planktonium – Short film and photo series about the unseen world of living microscopic plankton
Tunica larva (Oikopleuridae)
Diatoms
Pleurosigma
Diatoms from the mud of the Dutch Wadden Sea
Heliozoean
Ctenophore (comb jellie)
Water flea – Diaphanosoma brachyurum carrying eggs
Water flea Polyphemus pediculus carrying embryos
Rotifer
Diatom Ditylum brightwelli
Tube dwelling diatoms
Diatoms Coscinodiscus
Radiolaria
Testate amoeba
Planktonic trochophore stage of the larva of a polychaete worm
Copepod carrying diatoms
Eggs
Tunicate egg
Echinoderm larva
Colonial diatoma, attached on marine red algae
Cyanobacteria – Merismopedia elegans
Water flea – Daphnia carrying embryos and peritrichs
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.
Planktonium – Short film
about the unseen world of microscopic plankton
Planktonium – Photobook
Available in English and German
Becoming
Short film about the miraculous genesis of animal life
The art of flying
Film about starling murmurations
Nevermore
Film about the process of action painting
Facing Animals
Film about man and animal
Precious Animals
Photo project about the relationship between man and animal
New Neighbours
Photo project about twin cities in Netherlands and Eastern Europe
The art of flying will be screened at the ‘Dieren Film Festival’. Also there will be a pop-up museum with a selection of my ‘Precious Animals’ project.
The festival takes place at 3 october in Filmhuis Den Haag.
Short film and photo series 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.
Short film and photo series 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.
Short film and photo series 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.
Photoseries 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.
Some animals are “manufactured” as food, while others are pampered as pets — it’s an uncomfortable contradiction that most people prefer to ignore, but the conflicting realities are examined directly with this photo project commissioned in the Netherlands.
