Jan van IJken

Tag: micro-organisms

  • 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 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:

  • 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.