ANIMA
Within Without
Eefje de Visser
Iris van Herpen
Resonance Room
Between Mind and Matter
SKYLINE II
AETHER
ESPER
Maarten Vos
SKYLINE
POLARIS
IMAGINARY LIMIT
APERTURE
BJÖRK
AURORA
Lowlands
AETHER II
Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Popul
AURA
Liquid Logic
about

Nick Verstand is a contemporary artist researching human perception through spatial audiovisual compositions. His autonomous installations and live performances investigate the frontier between the material and the immaterial, and are created through collaborative design processes aimed at breaking down social boundaries. The resulting intuitive experiences, co-creations of artist and audience, generate a hypnotizing environment for the subconscious mind.

Nick has exhibited and performed at Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, The Shed (NYC), Rewire Festival (NL), Museum of Contemporary Art (Shanghai, CHN), National Opera & Ballet (NL), STRP Festival, Design Society (CHN), Paris Couture Week (FR), SXSW (USA), Dekmantel Festival, Art Central Hong Kong, MTV VMAs (NYC), Design Museum Gent (BE), Le Guess Who (NL), Iceland Airwaves (IS), Dutch Design Week and collaborated with artists such as Iris van Herpen, Björk, Caterina Barbieri, Lykke Li, Sarah Davachi, Eefje de Visser, Charlotte Adigéry, Doja Cat, Kara-Lis Coverdale, Fatima Yamaha and Suzanne Ciani. Dezeen selected his project AURA as one of the top 10 art installations of 2017, alongside Olafur Eliasson, Ai Weiwei and Anish Kapoor.

selected exhibitions & live performances

Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (NL)

The Shed (NYC)

Rewire Ferstival (NL)

Paris Couture Week (Paris, FR)

Dekmantel Festival (NL)

SXSW (Austin, USA)

Barbican (London, UK)

Art Central Hong Kong (CHN)

MTV VMAs (NYC)

Design Museum Gent (BE)

Lowlands Festival (NL)

Dutch Design Week (NL)

Design Society (Shenzhen, CHN)

Le Guess Who (NL)

Iceland Airwaves (Reykjavik, ISL)

MIRA Festival (Barcelona, ES)

STRP (NL)

Nuit Blanche (Paris, FR)

EYE Film Museum (NL)

De School (NL)

Nieuw Dakota Gallery (NL)

Concertgebouw (NL)

FRAME Lab (NL)

Sandberg Institute (NL)

Lehrter Siebzehn Gallery (Berlin, DE)

FORMS (Toronto, CAN)

De Nieuwe Kerk (NL)

TEDx (NL)

Van Gogh Museum (NL)

Gabriel Rolt Gallery (NL)

Amsterdam Dance Event (NL)

REC Festival (NL)

Trouw (NL)

Bimhuis (NL)

 

selected awards

Dutch Design Award - finalist

Elisabeth van Thüringenprijs - winner

Lumen Prize - category 3D/Sculpture - finalist

HKU Award Entrepreneurship - winner

 

strategy and website design

Agency Agency

 

selected collaborations

Iris van Herpen

Björk

Caterina Barieri

Charlotte Adigéry

Kara-Lis Coverdale

Sarah Davachi

Lykke Li

Eefje de Visser

Suzanne Ciani

Doja Cat

Fatima Yamaha

 

selected publications

Dezeen

Victoria & Albert Museum

FRAME Magazine

Resident Advisor

Elephant

Design Society

Mister Motley

BBC Radio

NRC

Volkskrant

3voor12

The Chicago Tribune

Creators Project

Engadget

Trendtablet

National Post

 

selected presentations

SXSW  - Linking Art & Science Through Technology

Netherlands Film Festival - Visualising Beyond The Mind

TENT Rotterdam - Collaborative Art Practices

Fiber Festival - EEG Interfaces In Contemporary Art

MTA Beijing - Discovering Interfaces Between Art, Technology and Sound

MU Artspace - Materialising The Internet

FORMS Toronto - AI In Art Is Metaphor

RTL Late Night - Muziek Maken Met Je Emoties 

HKU - Realising Multidisciplinary Art Projects

Blink YoungBlood Award - head of jury

Amsterdam Dance Event - Sound Lab

Pakhuis de Zwijger

Fluid, shimmering patterns flow on the surface of a luminescent orb suspended in space, tones oscillating, encompassing the room. ANIMA (2014) is an immersive installation that investigates the emotional relationship between humans and artificial entities, through the use of movement, texture, light and sound.

The spherical imagery, which emanates from inside the object, is achieved by use of a single projector coupled with a hemispherical lens. Both image and sound are generated in real-time, based on the entity's contingent perception of our presence.

ANIMA interprets our behaviour and portrays its character by responding to the viewer with an array of audiovisual expressions. Through this behavioural process, the installation creates the illusion of being a sensory autonomous entity, thereby challenging us to reflect upon our position in relation to artificially created intelligence. ANIMA creates the context which allows us to investigate the extent to which an object can feel, acquire agency, or even possess a soul.

 

medium
projector, hemispherical lens, speakers, aluminum frame, pvc screen, air motor, pressure sensor, infrared sensors, custom software

by
Nick Verstand - concept & design
Salvador Breed - spatial sound composition
onformative - software design
Pufferfish - spherical projection

supported by
Creative Industries Fund NL
Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunst

year
2014

dimensions
2 meters diameter