‘ The visitor is brought to a new universe, without guidance, which leaves space for individual experience. ’ — Leila Sauvage, UvA
Under the Skin
audiovisual installation, movie — 2022-ongoing
installation, video art
Coincidence and time are the main aspects of this installation. 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.
FROM THE EXHIBITION NEWSPAPER
When Jos Agasi tries to understand the world around him, images always present themselves. He perceives and assesses reality by mentally assigning a visual language of his own to it. In addition to a better understanding, the images also evoke feelings, ranging from emotion, surprise and wonder to consternation. New images also present themselves as he is forming his vision. It is this experience that lies at the basis of Under the Skin, a work which he hopes will still have the power to surprise him.
Serendipity and time are the two main aspects of this installation. In this work, Agasi juxtaposes different aspects of his experiential world: his calm inner state versus the unrest caused by outside influences. They meet each other half way.
To experience these two worlds, Agasi literally takes his time. He brings together images that repeat themselves, but are of different length. As a result, the work only passes the point where it first began after four days, four hours, 30 minutes and 2 seconds. If you also include the soundscape, which has yet another length, it takes almost seven years before the work has come full circle.
Agasi found the inspiration for the soundscape in his own body: his heartbeat as a highly personal feature, his breath as rhythm, where inside and outside meet. The special, sculpturally shaped canvas, too, refers in abstract form to the boundary between our inner world and the world outside. Thin, vulnerable and protective like our skin, it absorbs the converging projections. Agasi himself grew the canvas sheets. They consist of cellulose formed during the fermentation of tea and sugar using bacteria and yeast. Through drying, the cellulose obtains the qualities he was looking for to create this work: a transparent skin-like material that is formed naturally and also looks that way.
For a moment, I imagine whether this is the future of video art: cinemas full of home-grown substrates with asynchronous projections. I can't wait. — Metropolis M
Emma Wiersma, Metropolis M, 13 December 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.
Translation:
Jos Agasi's installation Under the Skin is accompanied by a pounding heartbeat. Organic-looking sheets serve as small television screens: a spectacle of writhing lines and dancing dots is projected onto them. Afterward, I read that the canvas sheets are made of cellulose, formed during the fermentation of tea and sugar with the help of bacteria cultivated by the artist himself. For a moment, I imagine whether this is the future of video art: cinemas full of home-grown substrates with asynchronous projections. I can't wait.
Various responses from exhibition visitors
Very inspiring installation. The visitor is brought to a new universe, without guidance, which leaves space for individual experience. — Leila Sauvage, UvA
Hoe een tentoonstelling over hedendaagse kunst zou moeten zijn. Coherent, zonder dat het er dik op ligt. Ik voel me geïnspireerd. Adem in, adem uit. — Sophia Blyden
Under the skin . . . . . betoverend! — Jo
Alle sluizen zijn open en mijn kernwaarden bevestigd. — Nanette van der Borcht
Prachtig. Die biovellen zal ik niet gauw vergeten. — Hayo
Under the skin (2022)
Concept, canvas growing, construction, audio, video, projections
Exhibition: 'Imagine Intuition', Museum De Lakenhal, 2022-2023
Curator: Nicole Roepers
Photography: Janet Vollebregt, Joep Jacobs, Jos Agasi
Videography: Jos Agasi
Audiovisual sculpture (3,50 x 3 x 9 m)
Two-channel video, asynchronous (video 1: 10:01 min. loop; video 2: 10:02 min. loop)
Four-channel audio, synchronous (audio: 10 min. loop)
Cellulose biofilm, dried
‘ Join us on a journey through fragments of the mind, where visual language is spoken ’
In response to my installation Under the skin I made an animated short with the same name (10:23 min). See the trailer below.
Under the skin (movie version, 2022)
Video with audio (10:23 min, 4K)
Premièred at Lakenhal Laat, 2022
For inquiries about showing this movie, please contact me.
‘ The visitor is brought to a new universe, without guidance, which leaves space for individual experience. ’ — Leila Sauvage, UvA
Under the Skin
audiovisual installation, movie — 2022-ongoing
installation, video art
Coincidence and time are the main aspects of this installation. 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.
FROM THE EXHIBITION NEWSPAPER
When Jos Agasi tries to understand the world around him, images always present themselves. He perceives and assesses reality by mentally assigning a visual language of his own to it. In addition to a better understanding, the images also evoke feelings, ranging from emotion, surprise and wonder to consternation. New images also present themselves as he is forming his vision. It is this experience that lies at the basis of Under the Skin, a work which he hopes will still have the power to surprise him.
Serendipity and time are the two main aspects of this installation. In this work, Agasi juxtaposes different aspects of his experiential world: his calm inner state versus the unrest caused by outside influences. They meet each other half way.
To experience these two worlds, Agasi literally takes his time. He brings together images that repeat themselves, but are of different length. As a result, the work only passes the point where it first began after four days, four hours, 30 minutes and 2 seconds. If you also include the soundscape, which has yet another length, it takes almost seven years before the work has come full circle.
Agasi found the inspiration for the soundscape in his own body: his heartbeat as a highly personal feature, his breath as rhythm, where inside and outside meet. The special, sculpturally shaped canvas, too, refers in abstract form to the boundary between our inner world and the world outside. Thin, vulnerable and protective like our skin, it absorbs the converging projections. Agasi himself grew the canvas sheets. They consist of cellulose formed during the fermentation of tea and sugar using bacteria and yeast. Through drying, the cellulose obtains the qualities he was looking for to create this work: a transparent skin-like material that is formed naturally and also looks that way.
For a moment, I imagine whether this is the future of video art: cinemas full of home-grown substrates with asynchronous projections. I can't wait. — Metropolis M
Emma Wiersma, Metropolis M, 13 December 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.
Translation:
Jos Agasi's installation Under the Skin is accompanied by a pounding heartbeat. Organic-looking sheets serve as small television screens: a spectacle of writhing lines and dancing dots is projected onto them. Afterward, I read that the canvas sheets are made of cellulose, formed during the fermentation of tea and sugar with the help of bacteria cultivated by the artist himself. For a moment, I imagine whether this is the future of video art: cinemas full of home-grown substrates with asynchronous projections. I can't wait.
Various responses from exhibition visitors
Very inspiring installation. The visitor is brought to a new universe, without guidance, which leaves space for individual experience. — Leila Sauvage, UvA
Hoe een tentoonstelling over hedendaagse kunst zou moeten zijn. Coherent, zonder dat het er dik op ligt. Ik voel me geïnspireerd. Adem in, adem uit. — Sophia Blyden
Under the skin . . . . . betoverend! — Jo
Alle sluizen zijn open en mijn kernwaarden bevestigd. — Nanette van der Borcht
Prachtig. Die biovellen zal ik niet gauw vergeten. — Hayo
Under the skin (2022)
Concept, canvas growing, construction, audio, video, projections
Exhibition: 'Imagine Intuition', Museum De Lakenhal, 2022-2023
Curator: Nicole Roepers
Photography: Janet Vollebregt, Joep Jacobs, Jos Agasi
Videography: Jos Agasi
Audiovisual sculpture (3,50 x 3 x 9 m)
Two-channel video, asynchronous (video 1: 10:01 min. loop; video 2: 10:02 min. loop)
Four-channel audio, synchronous (audio: 10 min. loop)
Cellulose biofilm, dried
‘ Join us on a journey through fragments of the mind, where visual language is spoken ’
In response to my installation Under the skin I made this animated short with the same name (10:23 min). See the trailer below.
Under the skin (movie version, 2022)
Video with audio (10:23 min, 4K)
Premièred at Lakenhal Laat, 2022
For inquiries about showing this movie, please contact me.
