Kinetic is a short film based on several kinetic objects by the visual artist Mark Bischof, objects in which rolling glass marbles play an important role. These apparati are not designed for any practical purpose, but as expressions of movement and rhythm.
The film consists of four studies of glass marbles in motion, how they roll and whirl. Four brief chapters, whose film images occasionally put one in mind of early abstract films, mechanical ballets of elements that turn, move and rush around, or of films that concern themselves, not with recording actions that take place before the camera, but with the rhythm and movement of the images themselves.
© Jan Wouter van Reijen-2004
music performed by: ROMEO KWARTET
no dialogue
25 minutes
dvd-technique: Thomas van der Linde
layout design: Guusje Thorbecke
The film is sponsored by ThuisKopie Fonds and the Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst
This film is available on DVD for the price of €13. For further information, contact Jan Wouter van Reijen
Mark Bischof's musical career gave him the discipline and exercise in imagination to make concrete, in 1989, his early love for wood-working, and indulge his fascination for inventing trick mechanisms.
After years of experimentation in working wood and developing a varied range of art objects, Mark has found his preference is creating machines that work solely on the basis of gravitation and must be set in motion by hand. Transparency of construction is an important characteristic of these kinetic works, and an essential part of their attraction. One can always follow in detail what's happening and the delightful ways in which they move.
"I have deliberately challenged myself not to create my latest and more complex machines only to be functional, but also aesthetic," says Mark proudly, with a smile. "They must stimulate my fantasy, as well as the fantasy of those who observe them. "To accomplish this elusive task using concrete materials, I find I must follow my original idea at all times, using trial and error as I proceed, rather than work from sketches. This approach has, as a bonus, unexpected discoveries which occur from time to time. These keep the creative process alive in me. This is absolutely vital because it sustains me during projects which can demand years of work."