BIOGRAPHY
Heleen Blanken is a visual artist who lives and works in Amsterdam. Her work levitates across the fields of cinematography, installation art, new media, scenography, and sculpture.
Influenced by the complex exchange between humanity and the natural environment, her artistic practice explores the different layers of our aesthetic perception of the natural world while defining traditional artistic dichotomies such as the organic versus the artificial and the analog versus the digital. In her work, she raises questions on how we contemplate ideas of nature.
Heleen’s work has been shown internationally in curated shows at institutes including Nxt Museum, Stedelijk Museum, Sonar Istanbul, Kunstmuseum Flevoland, Gropius Bau Berlin, La Gaîté Lyrique, Gallery Ron Mandos, Musée d’art Contemporain, and Ars Electronica. She has collaborated with various institutes; Naturalis, Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, and the Institute for Geosciences.
WORK DESCRIPTION
HELIOTROPE is a kinetic installation inspired by the concept of plants aligning their leaves and rows of flowers towards the sun. The idea is crafted around energy, tropism, the atomic movement of living organisms and the pulsating motion found everywhere in the natural world.
This idea is translated into a mirrored installation. The mechanically engineered installation moves its blades, diffusing light beams, and reflecting its surroundings in a chaotic and refracted image. It explores parallels between manufactured and organic movements and tries to liquefy the barriers. The work alternates from day into night, suggesting a perpetual motion.
HELIOTROPE was originally created for The Chapel at Draaimolen festival in 2019.
Heliotrope by Heleen Blanken Engineering: Daniël de Bruin Light design: Jorick.tv Photography: Dammes Kieft Commissioned by Draaimolen Festival
