10 Questions with Jeanine Verloop

Jannetje Jeanine Verloop (Korendijk, The Netherlands, 1994) makes kinetic sculptures and multimedia work in which she combines her love for craft with a fascination for technology. During her Illustration education (2018) at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam (The Netherlands), she was already interested in the technique of old printing and typewriters. Verloop delved into their mechanisms and biological principles of movement and made this the starting point for a number of kinetic printing installations.

Gradually, the machines themselves became more important than the prints they reproduced. During exhibitions, Verloop experienced the fragility of her machinery. To emphasize and exaggerate that fragility Verloop independently started practicing Scientific Glassblowing. In 2020 she received the grant for Emerging Artists from the Mondriaan Fund and a start fund from Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industries Netherlands.

Her most recent work, Symbiote, is almost completely constructed out of Borosilicate glass and has been presented for the first time during Prospects, Art Rotterdam, May 2022. The work is a machine that seems to destroy itself. The glass gears and glass chain threaten to get stuck in twisted shapes, and this process releases ink. Verloop sees the work as a deconstructive performance, in which she herself has assumed the role of assistant.

jannetjejeanine.nl | @jannetje.jeanine

Jeanine Verloop - Portrait at Atelier Schieblock Rotterdam, December 2021 | Photo by Marieke Den Ouden

Symbiote | Project Description

In a world in which technology is increasingly driven by invisible algorithms and the devices that surround us all have the same tablet shape, Verloop is looking for a counterpart. She wants to create machines that look radically different, with an appearance that astonishes, brings back the magic, and makes people wonder about the machine's purpose.

As in the Dutch classical still lifes of the 16th and 17th centuries, Symbiote can be seen as a symbolic artwork showing the beauty of technological contraptions and their imminent deconstruction. With this, Verloop wants to emphasize the ephemeral and fragile quality of technology.

Fleeting thoughts is a poem written by Jeanine Verloop from the perspective of Symbiote, who ponders its changing existence, relationships, and environment.

Imagine humanity through the eyes of aliens. Wouldn’t we look magical from space? From afar, humans seem to generate light and frequency. On closer inspection, you would see that they actually have frail bodies, and they dominate their habitat through the use of tools.

Over time perhaps you could see the shift—the dawn of an industrialized civilisation. For a time, humankind flourished in their mass-produced utopia. Great tools were built, on a scale easily visible from space. These creatures became enslaved to automatisation. With no need for thinking, their brains grew weaker, and the magic of their tools got lost in utility.

How will they re-insert themselves and reconnect with their tools? Let us take a step back in time and space to obsolete technologies. Is there anything to be gained from resurrecting lost techniques?

INTERVIEW

First of all, let's talk about yourself and your background. How did you develop into the artist you are today?

In 2018 I graduated from the Willem de Kooning academy in Rotterdam (The Netherlands) with an illustration degree. Here I found a fascination for making printing devices rather than prints themselves. During my graduation time, I developed my first big kinetic work called 'Reawaken'. Although the work produced an abstract print on paper, it primarily visualizes my quest for imagination and beauty surrounding technology.
In 2019 I spent two months as Artist in Residence at Hangar_org, where I developed and presented my next work, Cognizant. This residency was made possible by V2_ Lab For The Unstable Media as part of their Summer Sessions program. As of 2018, I've been showing my work quite a bit. Through these exhibitions, I realized there is a performative potential when the machine breaks and I have to fix it. I have come to see vulnerability as inherent in my work. To explore the performative qualities, even more, I decided to research an even more fragile material; glass.
In 2020 I received the grant for Emerging Artists by the Mondriaan Fund and the Starters Grant for my 'Research Scientific Glassblowing' by the Creative Industries Fund. These fundings gave me the opportunity to invest time in my practice and purchase tools and materials. Since 2020 I have been independently studying scientific glassblowing. To learn some of the basics, I mapped out a learning path based on several books and videos of glassworkers at work. Then, with the help and equipment of Iris Roskam, who herself worked as a glass blower, I took my first steps behind the burner. In November 2020, I finally felt confident enough to set up my own workplace. So, I let go of the books and began to rely on my own observations. I filmed these exercises with my phone to see what I could improve afterward.
Invited by Highlight Delft, I stayed in the Student Hotel in Delft in June 2021 to further develop my skills in glass. I temporarily moved my glass workplace to the Student Hotel for my residency. Highlight Delft continued to support my work and creation of Symbiote.
As an artist, I am happiest practicing and developing my skills. For me, that process will probably never be finished. There is always something to improve and learn that will take my work to the next level. At the moment, I have started to study 'Raspberry Pi Programming' at the NHA (Nederlandse Handels Academie) because I want to explore how I can manipulate the input for the control of my machines in different ways.

Did you always know you wanted to be an artist? Or is it something you discovered along with your personal development?

When I look back on a young Jeanine, I see that making things and researching materials have always been a part of me. I started sewing and building things at a young age. I don't necessarily think I've always had the ambition to be an artist. I just felt the urgency to create. But the moment I learned that creating can be a profession, I wanted to do it.

Symbiote, Borosilicate glass, wooden frame, metal nuts and bolts, copper reinforced polylactic acid (PLA), NEMA 23 Stepper Motor, TB6600 Stepper Driver, Arduino Uno, paper, ink, 90x90x190 cm, 2022 © Jeanine Verloop

You work with kinetic sculptures and multimedia works; how did you choose these mediums? And what do they represent for you? Are they related in any way to your practice?

My fascination with printing devices started during my Illustration study. I was looking for a way to reanimate the dull repetition of production. One of my first devices, 'Printer 1.0' is an analog printing machine that could produce an endless pattern. A homage to tactile devices. Producing a print was the main goal. Since then, the machine has moved to the foreground. The print is no longer the intended goal but confirms the machine's existence.
The mediums I work with come from a fascination with a technique or movement. I am inspired by mechanical and biological principles of movement. For example, I collect obsolete printers and various other electronic devices. I take the devices apart to study different parts, and with these 'autopsies' I increase my knowledge and get inspired. One of my findings is that opening these devices shows how history isn't linear, it hasn't 'been'. Old technologies lie beneath the surface and serve as building blocks for modern developments.
My most recent work, Symbiote, is constructed almost entirely from borosilicate glass because I wanted to emphasize and exaggerate the fragility of machines. The work is driven by a single stepper motor. Because of the movement, the glass gears and glass chain threaten to get stuck in twisted shapes. If the work is completely broken, ink is released during this process and is collected on the wooden round plate on which the glass frame stands. This 'imprint' of the deconstruction, in contrast to the glass mechanism, will be permanent. In that sense, it is still a printing device. The print confirms the machine that once existed.
I enjoy that as an artist, I don't have to limit myself to a certain medium or form. As a multidisciplinary maker, I have the freedom to combine the precision of the tools of digital fabrication with the tactility of traditional tools. For me, the blurred space between craft, art, and technology is an exciting field of work filled with crossovers that create hybrid forms and new possibilities. My research comfortably places' motion sensor' and 'laser cutting' next to 'burner' and 'annealing furnace'. Common terms for contemporary craft.

Let's focus on your latest project, Symbiote. As you mention in your statement, the project "can be seen as a symbolic artwork showing the beauty of technological contraptions and their imminent deconstruction" to "emphasize the ephemeral and fragile quality of technology." This sounds like a rather poignant observation of our times; what inspired you to develop this project?

The message behind my work is one of critical optimism. I really would like to change the way we look at our environment and the way we relate to technology. Technology is part of us and has always been part of us in every historical timeline. As we determine what technology will become, technology will determine how we will be human and how we see the world.
I see humans and technology not as two separate entities but as two parts of a whole. Humans and technology would neither exist in their current forms without the other. I want to show a glimpse of what our environment could be when we embrace technology as more than something useful and efficient. Not only a tool but a goal on its own, constantly evolving and just as vulnerable to us as we are to it.
Exchange and co-evolving are very much part of my work because it only functions in a close relationship with an assistant, a role I usually fill. It would not function without me. Every time the work breaks, I have to adjust and mend it. In doing so, the work is constantly evolving, as am I.

Symbiote (detail), 2022 © Jeanine Verloop

Symbiote is ultimately a machine, but it is made out of glass, and its shape is almost baroque, with its intricate appendixes. What is the reason behind this striking combination? And what messages do you want to convey?

Before I create my machine, I set a number of artistic criteria that it must meet. An example of such criteria is that I want everything to be visible. It has to be an open and transparent structure that doesn't hide any mistakes or components. Very much in contrast to many of the devices we surround ourselves with. It must be radically different from all the devices that do not challenge us to think because they are designed that way or because we are already so used to them. It should excite you and make you wonder why it exists.
I sketch my machines by hand, and I measure some things more accurately if needed. I use a vector-based program like Illustrator or a 3D modeling software like Blender. But overall, I am a very intuitive maker. During the transition from idea to reality, many choices arise based on the physical limitations of materials. The intricate tangled lines on the frame of Symbiote are a good example, and they were created to give the framework some structural integrity while still remaining open. None of the lines were thought out or drawn accurately in advance. By repeatedly refining, you could almost say they grew organically. Many of the line shapes are created by carefully working with the right amount of heat to make the line flow more or less due to gravity. When glass is heated, it flows like honey, so the most important tool to master is gravity.

Why did you choose glass in the first place? Does it have anything to do with the glass of our screens? Or is it a medium you particularly like?

I chose glass specifically for the fragile qualities of the material. My previous works, Reawaken and Cognizant, are made of plexiglass and proved to be very vulnerable during exhibitions. In 2018 I performed live repairs on a few servo motors at Manifestations during the Dutch Design Week. This made me think about my presence and the resulting actions that are needed to make the work function. Turning the work on will cause some elements or gears to jump. The machine cannot fix these vulnerabilities on its own. In itself, it is helpless.
I find my work's raw material and shape a beautiful poetic contrast. While my work in its current shape is temporary, glass itself is an eternal material. Every time you heat it, it will flow again and can be reworked into something new.

In the abstract for Reawaken, you imagine aliens looking down on Earth at human beings. You question whether we should revert to a much simpler time and say, "Let us take a step back in time and space to obsolete technologies. Is there anything to be gained from resurrecting lost techniques?" Is there anything we should ditch, or should we learn how to balance the old world with new technologies?

The most important thing we should take with us from obsolete technologies is the realization that they, too, were once radical and new. They, too, sparked fears in their timelines, such as a loss of autonomy. But we overcame those fears, just as we will overcome our current fears. I find it interesting that we are and have been afraid of losing our autonomy. I think it is an illusion to think that we humans exist as autonomous beings. Embracing the fact that we don't make choices as autonomous beings, but are actively influenced by our technological environment and timeline, should make us look critically at what we do with technology. It's good to be critical, precisely because technology is an essential part of what makes us human.
For me, the balance between the old world and new technology starts with realizing where we come from and how much technology is part of us. We need to get rid of our habit of using devices on autopilot. It is necessary to be stimulated and sometimes overstimulated. We have to be careful not to surround ourselves with too many closed systems devices, making you as a user a passive participant. Instead, we should actively take responsibility for our technological environment through hacking and a do-it-yourself mentality.

You recently exhibited Symbiote during Art Rotterdam (May 2022). What was the public reception? Tell us more about your experience at the fair?

It was really nice to test my work with a large audience. The anticipation of the visitor is intrinsically linked to my work. Because I learn a lot from showing my work, I am often present. I like to sit with a sketchbook and observe from a distance how people approach the work. I find it interesting to see how visitors approach the work when there is no one to explain it. Because in the absence of a narrator, they have to figure out for themselves what it is and what it does, seeking meaning or a function. Often there are a lot of hand gestures involved. It also happens quite often that people can't help but touch the work. It almost seems as if they are seeking confirmation of their assumptions. There are even moments when a visitor does not hesitate to find the switch and turns the work on. Adults become inquisitive children again.
In my conversations with visitors, some expressed amazement and even resistance to making something that contains both beauty and inevitable deconstruction. Eventually, the work did break several times. In different ways than I envisioned it. The drive shaft, which also consists of glass, had a hard time and had to be fixed several times. Most of the cracks in the frame are not noticeable to the visitor, a matter of hiding in plain sight. These insights are helping me to develop my work.
It is nice to show my work connected to an art fair. At this point in my career, I have been more focused on showing my work rather than selling it. My kinetic work is quite experimental and needs a lot of attention and maintenance, so that raises the question of how you would sell a work with an 'expiration date'. At the moment, I prefer to focus on further development. Currently, I am discussing options with various organizations to fund me in creating new work.

Symbiote - PROSPECTS, Rotterdam Art Week in the Van Nelle Factory - Rotterdam, The Netherlands © Jeanine Verloop | Photo by Rosanne van Batenburg

Do you plan to bring the project anywhere else? Do you have any upcoming exhibitions or events where our readers can see your work?

I hope to show Symbiote in October at Living The Glass Age - Connected, Through Glass, To the Future in the Eemklooster in Amersfoort (the Netherlands), and in February at Highlight Delft in Delft (The Netherlands). I am really looking forward to showing my work at Highlight Delft, because they have been supporting my work. Symbiote was developed with their support and would have been on display in Delft in November 2022 if there had not been a lockdown.
In September 2022, I will show my work at ARS Electronica as an alumni of the Summer Sessions program of V2_Lab for the Unstable Media, during which I developed Cognizant at Hangar_org in Barcelona.

And finally, where do you see yourself and your work five years from now?

As I said, I am happiest when I can practice and expand my skills as an artist. I hope to continue to do so in the future. I feel like I've only seen the tip of the iceberg of what's possible with glass. That makes me happy because it means there is still a lot to learn in the years ahead. I am thinking about outsourcing parts of my work and establishing more collaborations. For example, I have been designing custom bolts and various spaces for all types of machine parts. To take them to the next level, I am talking to a goldsmith to create custom pieces to replace my 3D prints.
Over the past few years, I've slowly grown out of all my workplaces. As a young artist in Rotterdam, I depend on anti-squat for a workplace. I hope to find a more permanent place for me and my peers, and create a place for artists where traditional, new, and digital techniques coexist and work together to create. I am finding more and more artists that exist in in-between spaces of disciplines, as I do.
Ultimately, everything I do serves this goal: to find time to spend in the studio, working on a new, seemingly unrealistic work. I hope in 5 years I don't look back and think: Yes, now I am exactly where I saw myself. A general direction is nice, but a fixed destination would be boring.

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