AGASI
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WEERLICHT
The lights of the skyline, ignited by humans, are reflected in the water, distorted by the ripples of the wind. Unintended art on the water finds a stage on land.
‘Weerlicht’ showcases water reflections created by the city's skyline in a theatrical landscape of fluid light lines. They echo our presence. The light streaks, shown live and realtime, are influenced by both the weather and human actions. Rain turns the light into almost digital noise, while wind distorts the lines with small waves. Car headlights, boats and swimming ducks alter and disrupt the reflections. The water surface is constantly in motion.
The large installation plays with the blurring of boundaries between analog and digital, raising questions about human impact on the natural landscape. The light streaks, arising from human activity, can be seen as light pollution, but they also reveal beauty.
'Weerlicht' is created with Noortje van den Eijnde. It premiered at light art festival Alluminous 2024.
Teaser — Festival page
MOED
Scenography for the theatrical performance MOED, a PS|theater production. Direction: Pepijn Smit. I designed a suspended ceiling with operable hatches and lighting possibilities. The ceiling also formed the canvas for video projections, offering actor Mahfoud Mokaddem and the audience a powerful visual context for a very urgent performance about problems in the Dutch education system. The space changes from a classroom with a dull rigid systematic ceiling to a more open space for dialogue and encounter.
Trailer
THE CLOUD
and the smallest elements,
we try to find a reflection of ourselves. ’
Many months of collaboration with wonderful people culminated in a magnificent unveiling. The Cloud, brimming with self-reflection, now graces the Gorlaeus Building of the Faculty of Science. I extend my gratitude to Leiden University for the commission and congratulate them on their role as patrons for new art. About the design of the artwork, about the people, and about the number 23, you can learn more through this link.
TULIP FEVER
For the first time in the Netherlands: ‘Tulip Fever’! It can be seen at the BLOOM exhibition at Museum Paleis het Loo. This piece portrays the tale of Tulip Mania in the 17th century. Dutch traders paid a fortune for a single tulip bulb. This trade burst like a soap bubble after a few years. Also on display is the historic Tulip Book by P. Cos, from the collection of WUR Library, one of the sources upon which Tulip Fever is based. The exquisite music is by Martin Fondse and Margriet Sjoerdsma.
Tulpenkoorts is ook te zien in de aflevering over BLOOM van Nu te zien.
VLOED
New artworks created together with Julia July van Duijn and a lecture about my relationship with the sea. See @jos_agasi for more information. VLOED is an initiative of Anika van de Wijngaard. On November 1, 2023, at 17:10 — the moment of spring tide + high water + sunset — VLOED was launched. VLOED is the new project that aims to spark reflection and inspire action to improve our relationship with nature, by starting art projects.
Website
CHARACTER
Character is a sound and image installation about language, made together with Anika van de Wijngaard.
The University Library is a repository for literature, manuscripts, intellectual and creative ideas. It is a place that stores texts in many languages. Language can be visual: a script. Language is also an auditory sensation: sounds form words and meaning. With Character writer Anika van de Wijngaard and visual artist Jos Agasi explore what language means to them. Jos develops a language of images, shaping his emotions and his view of the world. As a writer Anika uses language as an instrument to create her work, but she sometimes experiences the limits of what can be put into words. In the library they both went in search of stories and sources about language and writing.
At nightfall, the audiovisual installation Character takes you into an ancient forest, full of sounds and meaningful characters. You can discover old, existing and new signs in language and listen to a mix of storytelling and sound art.
More information and transcripts of the audio you can find here.
SEIN
As the child of a sailing grandfather and father, I became familiar with the seas at an early age. Navigation, in my younger years still in the classical way, fascinated me. With compass and radio, lightships, transmission towers and lighthouses were located – beacons, each with its own light signal and a clear place in space, on the map and in my consciousness. Google Maps for the sea didn't exist yet, finding one's position took time and required experience, precision and a sense of place.
With SEIN, I return the light to the extinguished 'white lady' of Schiermonnikoog, the Zuidertoren. Big brother, the red lighthouse a little further on, regularly puts his arm around her in the evening. Lights from near and far come to the rescue. The lighthouses of Ameland and Borkum cast their light on her. And those of Campen and Stavoren, of distant Lindesnes and Þrídrangaviti. Connected to the great north, we can see the Zuidertoren in a new light.
A video registration of SEIN you can find here. The soundscape for this artwork was made by Renske Marike van Dijk. You can listen to it here.
SEIN is part of Hi-Lo Art Manifestation.
BLOK
A little white cabin in a beatiful forest turned in to a visual experience. ‘BLOK’ was my contribution to the Caprera Light Festival, showing 13 great light artworks.
ALLES
My language is often without words. I prefer to work with images, often abstract, with room for interpretation. In the interactive installation ALLES I do use words, but I do not choose these myself. I invite the audience to not only be a spectator, but to write the words in the installation itself interactively, so the space alters. ALLES was presented at
Grasnapolsky Festival.
Under the Skin
Coincidence and time are the main aspects of the installation ‘Under the Skin’, that I made for the exhibition ‘Imagine Intuition’. I juxtapose different sides of my experience. On one side you can see my calm inner mind, on the other the turmoil caused by external influences. They meet in the middle, on a sculpturally shaped biocanvas, that I grew myself.
In response to my installation I made an animated short with the same title. You can see the trailer here.
Metropolis M, Dec 13th 2022:
'De installatie Under the skin van Jos Agasi gaat gepaard met een bonkende hartslag. Organisch ogende vellen dienen als kleine tv-schermen: er wordt een schouwspel van krioelende lijnen en dansende stippen op geprojecteerd. Achteraf lees ik dat de canvasvellen uit cellulose bestaan, gevormd tijdens fermentatie van thee en suiker met behulp van bacteriën, gekweekt door de kunstenaar zelf. Even fantaseer ik of dit de toekomst van videokunst is: bioscopen vol zelfgekweekte ondergronden met asynchrone projecties erop. Ik kijk ernaar uit.'
Imagine Intuition
Museum De Lakenhal has commissioned seven contemporary artists to create a new work for this exhibition about intuition, the unique knowledge that plays an intriguing role in both art and science. The work I created for the exhibition is called 'Under the skin'. Coincidence and time are the main aspects of the installation. I juxtapose different sides of my life experience. On one side you can see and hear my calm inner side, on the other the turmoil caused by external influences. They meet in the middle, on a sculpturally shaped biocanvas I grew during the past months.
More information here.
Zeemoed
Scenography, video and audio design for a short theatrical performance for Schemerstad Festival, together with writer Anika van de Wijngaard and actor Karlijn Hamer.
Mirror House
In my installation 'Mirror House' you encounter yourself and your mirrored doppelganger. Your mirror image becomes part of the symmetrical architecture of the ‘Regulateurshuis’ of the former gas factory.
A video we made in front of Mirror House can be seen here.
Part of 'Through the Looking Glass 2022', Leiden Art Hub, Jan-Feb 2022.
Framework – Old glass. New Light.
Old glass windows found in the historical gas factory in Leiden are exposed to new lights. They transform and simultaneously the glass alters the light. This interaction between light and glass can incite our curiosity about the impact of light and the canvas it reflects on.
As a child, I was fascinated by the light that presented itself through the windows in my room. Whether it was the warm light of the sun during the day or that from the cold moon at night, it sparked my imagination and it gave me the feeling that the light was looking back at me. With Framework, I want to experience this again and share the feeling with others. I never lost my fascination for light. On the contrary, my work now revolves around light and how it can alter spaces.
I would like to thank the municipality of Leiden, culture department, for making this artwork and the 'Mirror House' possible.
Part of 'Through the Looking Glass 2022', Leiden Art Hub, Jan-Feb 2022.
Book now!
With my art installation ‘Book now!’ I question the behavior of travellers. When we go around the Mediterranean with our suitcases, do we also think about the people who have to cross the same sea to get themselves to safety? I would like to encourage you and myself to make better choices. The artwork was supposed to be on display at the ‘Nacht van Ontdekkingen’ in the Hooglandse Kerk in Leiden, November 2021. Covid measurements sadly prevented the event from happening.
Open Studio 2021 - Kunstroute Leiden
Presenting two new video installations, made with light, air and a type case.
Panacea. The cure for all ailments.
An abstract animated short, made for project Through the Looking Glass, curated by EST Art Foundation, 2021. A recording of the movie in the space it was created for can be seen here.
Black. Hack. The Wall.
Two video sculptures in gallery MS10. 2020. Watch the video.
OP TOUW
Audiovisual installation in Gallery Old School in Leiden, 2020. See the video.
'Very evocative and soothing to experience!'
'Fascinating – almost magical.'
'We witnessed crackling beauty.'
PUNT.
Audiovisual space intervention in Gallery Old School in Leiden, 2019.
'No gravity for a while, woohoo!'
'Dazzling.'
'We all need a space like this at home.'
Overvloed / Abundance
The surf on the black beach of Reynisdrangar, Iceland on Thursday May 16th 2019, between 10:47 and 10:56. Suds.
Video installation in collaboration with Old School (Gideon Roggeveen & Roos-Marijn Kinkel), 2019. Tip: watch until the end.
ABOUT
As a visual designer and scenographer I create multidisciplinary art installations and sculptures, transforming spaces. These artworks leave a lot of room for interpretation. My subjects are mainly based on my own experiences and observations and how they manifest themselves as images in my head, like dreaming with eyes open. Intuitively I set the images in motion, adding a time component. The artworks are spatial interventions offering (audio)visual experiences. I investigate how light changes the materials it lands on, but also how the material determines how the light is displayed.
On instagram you can find more recent images of my work. Also check blauweuur.nl, the former artist collective I was part of. Blauwe Uur pioneered in creating video mapping projects, interactive light art installations and immersive space transformations.
Apart from being a visual artist I worked as a graphic designer for over 25 years and as a motion designer for over 15 years. You can call me for concepts, ideas and art creation. Motion design, video art and graphic design are among his skills I have. I create images. A lot. Sometimes one at a time. For you. Other times I make 30 images or more. Per second. And I direct them to move. I work together with professionals in the field of art, design, video mapping, music creation, theatre, among others, to realize small and bigger projects and experiences. Let's meet and have good coffee:
jos [at] agasi.nl or +31 6 4480 2324.
INSTAGRAM
