Art Lovers #10: the moving work of Johannes Langkamp

On 9 December, artist Johannes Langkamp will be visiting The Hague University of Applied Sciences. The artist will be showing his kinetic artwork Raumtaster.

Raumtaster is a moving sculpture in which a column, consisting of blinds, is constantly being pulled up and pushed down. Once in motion, a special drawing is created on the surface.
The work looks a bit like a column of a Greek or Roman temple that is constantly being deformed.

Johannes Langkamp (1985) is fascinated by movement and change. At everyday moments, he asks himself: What happens if I drop a sheet of paper from a building? Let a spray can roll across the floor? Or if I make a wooden bench with a thousand yellow wheels as a seat? The first question leads to a second question, in which all sorts of unexpected things can happen.
Langkamp makes kinetic models and sculptures. The idea can come about in a flash, but the realisation naturally takes much more time. Movement and playfulness are the starting point. In the Depot of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, visitors could try out his wheeled bench and slide over it as if on a conveyor belt. In Museum Voorlinden, a large sheet of blue paper miraculously floated against the wall. How it works is not visible, which is why his work often has something mysterious about it.

Raumtaster was made at the invitation of gallery De Spelonk in The Hague.
Photos © Aad Hoogendoorn.

Art Lovers is a program of The Lighthouse.