Jan van IJken

Tag: laboratory

  • Becoming Bird

    Becoming Bird is a short film about the miraculous embryonic development of a chicken inside its egg, from fertilized egg cell to hatching. In the film, we observe the developing embryo in remarkable detail: the appearance of veins carrying streaming blood and a beating heart, the development of the brain, eyes and other organs, the embryo’s first movements, the emergence of feathers, and finally the hatching of the chick. It is an emotional journey, filmed by Jan van IJken with extraordinary precision and detail.

    Eggs and chickens are consumed all over the world, yet few people have witnessed the miracle of life unfolding inside an ordinary egg. The embryonic development normally takes 21 days, but in the film this process is condensed to nine minutes through the use of time-lapse photography and filming.

    Stay tuned for more news about the release of the film.

    Becoming Bird (2026, 4K, color, 09:20)

    Filmed, directed and produced by Jan van IJken
    Edited by Jan van IJken and Metje Postma
    Music by Sytze Pruiksma
    Audio Mix by Harry Zwerver
    With the generous support of HatchTech Group and Hatchery Beunder

  • 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 Live at IDFA Shaping Bonds, Amsterdam 21th March 2026

    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

    21th March 2026            19:30-20:15

    Tickets

    Planktonium – Short film and photo series about the unseen world of living microscopic plankton Developing egg of the tunicate Ciona Photo Jan van IJken

  • 1st Prize Microscopy Today Micrograph Awards competition 2024

    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

    https://academic.oup.com/mt/article/32/5/14/7774337



  • 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

  • Online release of Planktonium on VOD

    Online release of Planktonium on VOD

    The full 15 min version of Planktonium is available on Vimeo on Demand for streaming (€3) or downloading (€4)

  • 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

  • News

  • Planktonium photobook

    ENGLISH EDITION BY TERRA LANNOO – INTERNATIONAL 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:

  • Becoming

    SYNOPSIS

    Becoming is short film by Jan van IJken about the embryology of a salamander. In this film we witness the ‘making of’ a salamander in its transparent egg from fertilization to hatching, filmed in great microscopic detail.

    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 miraculous genesis of animal 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

    SCREENINGS AND AWARDS

    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, the Visual Science Award at Imagine Science Abu Dhabi 2019 and a honorary mention at Academia Film, Olomouc, CZ. The film was awarded Vimeo Staff Pick of the Month and was nominated for Vimeo Best of 2019 (top 10 experimental films).

    In 2019 the film went ‘viral’ on internet and has been watched by millions of people. It was published on the website of National Geographic (13 million views and counting), Aeon, Colossal, Live Science, IFLScience and numerous others. The Dutch TV show De Wereld Draait Door screened the film, including an interview.

    FULL LIST OF SCREENINGS AND AWARDS BECOMING

    Acknowledgements; Many thanks to:
    Alex Kenter salamander breeder with endless patience in providing eggs.
    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 
    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.

  • CONTACT

    Jan van IJken Photography & Film

    Leiden, Netherlands

    Email:  info@janvanijken.com

    Photo © Ron Vink

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