Author Archive

A few good things are going on!

Working with Bram Vreven on his new work called: SPIN.

Working with Fedde ten Berge & Luc van Weelden on: Turntable Performance System (TPS).

Low budget solution for automated opening & closing curtains on a Trumpf rail system.

Custombuilt, variable speeds starting from zero movement, easy mounting on Trumpf rail systems.

System displayed below toured flawlessly for 30+ plays of De City by Veenfabriek.

Scherp by Jessica de Boer.

Details of scenery for theatreplay Kokoschka.

image

New address: langebrug 56 2311TM LEIDEN.

I developed a tool for Letman last year, the Rainbowgun, allowing the user to paint with 7 spray-cans simultaneously.

Check it out in this remarkable performance, made for: If you could collaborate ‘09.

For theatregroup Nieuw West, I made a Light-installation. A mercurygas-light, rotates once every hour, with a circle-radius of 3,5 meters. The driving-mechanism functions as a counterweight to balance the construction.

Sucking air in and blowing it out again, yes, breathing is what it’s called. Pretty basic concept for some new variety in tones on the musical sirens: Instead of a continuous airstream, this “adjustable airpump”, sucks and pressurizes in a frequency, adjusted by the musician.

Check out a patchwork of different sounds I made with it.

With this audio-player: 

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

An article about ReneBakker.com, In the November issue of monthly magazine: “Metaal & Techniek”. It contains a description of the carcrash-project and an outline of the services offered by -workshop- ReneBakker.com.


Beste Metaal & Techniek lezer,
dit is de engelstalige weblog bedrijf ReneBakker.com. In chronologische volgorde vindt u hieronder weblog-berichten over reeds voltooide projecten in de afgelopen 2 jaar. Heeft u vragen of opmerkingen? Neem gerust contact op door een mailtje te sturen.

I did some prototyping for Jelle Hamers, wood-craftsman in the yachtbuilding industry. He was asked to make a physical sculpture of the Epifanes yachtpaints logo. The teak-wooden wings are mounted onto a stainless-steel-frame with magnets. So the whole thing can be taken apart, fitted in a briefcase and fly to the next expo.

Interesting option for company’s to pimp their logo with a chique 3D version right? Contact me.

I have been prototyping, building and testing a new piece of art by Germaine Kruip: 24 Hours A Room

First display of the work in Hiroshima MOCA, Japan.

As part of the exposition SILENT, starting november 3rd.

The work is based upon a lightsource, rotating once per 24 hours..

The siren-orchestra venued on Festival Key of Life: Premiering a new composition by Wouter Snoei: Hysteresis.

And the NS try-out festival in Leiden. More or less on top of the railway-station!

Upcoming gigs:

November Music, november 15th, Den Bosch.

Kunstenfestival S5 @ Scheltema, november 28th, Leiden.

Dag in de branding @ Korzo5hoog, december 12, Den Haag.

GOOD NEWS: I’ve started a renovating & innovating the siren-instruments, commissioned by the Veenfabriek.

After 5 days of deforming and moaning bodywork, these German baby’s were pretty much airborne!

Looking back on this sensational project gives me a very satisfied and warm feeling. Thanks, Jonathan, Amelia and Carl!

Check out the last pictures made by Jonathan S. here.

Bovenbeste vriend of bekende,

sinds deze zomer werk ik zelfstandig, onder de naam RenéBakker.com.  Bijzondere projecten van en voor bijzondere kunstenaars. Op de valreep nodig ik u uit voor een bijzonder kunstwerk dat ik geplaatst heb met Jonathan Schipper (NY, USA). Een slowmotion botsing van twee benzineslurpers. Nieuwsgierig? Kom kijken tussen 25 en 29 september tijdens het TodaysArt festival in het stadhuis van Den Haag. Of kijk eens rond op mijn weblog RenéBakker.com

Tot ziens @ TodaysArt of ‘n andere keer.

{ENGLISH}

New York based artist Jonathan Schipper is showing a selection of his work at the Todaysart festival in The Hague. For Jonathan and Todaysart, I’m working on the installation “slow inevitable death of amercan muscle”. This installation can be described as a “slowmotion carcrash”. The crash is in action from friday the 24th untill tuesday the 29th of september. The crash takes place, right in front of the main entrance of the Cityhal, The Hague.During TodaysArt (24 & 25 september) installations of Jonathan Schipper can be seen at cityhall and <TAG>.Check out the picture-blog of the project right here.

I constructed an installation for the shoot of a videoclip. It’s releasing pretty soon. Check for a link in this post in a few days..

For Germaine Kruip, I developed and built a sculpture: “Sunray”.

It is part of the international exhibition Stardust, situated in baroque forest De Oude Warande in Tilburg, NL.

A mirror follows the path of the sun during daytime.

A construction is suspended to a tree; 11 meters above ground.

The mirror makes one rotation from east to west every day.

Reflecting a path of sunlight onto the soil around the tree.

With respect to the ever changing times of sunrise and sunset.

Picasa photo album

A new compositon for The Siren orchestra at the Holland Festival ‘09. A Beautiful outdoor concert-series, while floating in a circle-shaped pond. Theme of the concerts was the work of Edgar Varese, composer.

Picasa photo-album

Youtube impression

Siren orchestra in Holland Festival Journal

Together with Roel Wouters, Erik Borra and Vincent Lindeboom, I designed and built a physical installation, wich behold the website for W 139: The WEX machine.

Quote Xelor:

“The WEX Machine has two different faces: a physical installation within W139 itself, and virtually on the web. These two faces are intertwined. Installation The installation consists of a table with a touch screen or projection, a silver ball, a paper notebook and a printer. A digital camera is suspended over the table taking pictures of the installation at regular intervals.”

The whole idea is based on the memex, which was seen decades later as a pioneering concept for the World Wide Web.

The website’s background will always show the most recent picture taken. On the projection site at the installation the website will feature the archive

The WEX Machine is a project by Roel Wouters & Erik Borra, a Vincent Lindeboom production, developed together with the staff members of W139 and Rene Bakker.

The WEX machine is permanently installed in W139: An exhibition and production house for contemporary art @ Warmoesstraat 139, Amsterdam. Open whole day, every day..

Take a look at the most recent picture! W139.NL

More info: xelor

Picasa photo album

For Studio Xelor I built an installation:

Quote Xelor: 

“A silver sphere on an endless checkerboard floor is the default for many 3D modelling applications. It can be seen as an icon for a sterile, makeable world. Reality is dirty and unpredictable. By recreating this icon in reality, the beauty of imperfection gets emphasized.”

The installation is used in the making of a trailer for the first edition of International Film Festival Breda, from 25 - 29 march 2009. The trailer will circulate through the cinema’s in Holland to promote the festival.


Could a combination of letters, spraycans and mechanism make grafitti art?

I built a tool for Letman, so he can get busy with this question.

Check the first expiriments on the pic.. 


Today, I helped Manuel Boutreur in building a prototype. An elegant pump for an elegant goal; pumping freshwater from a well. Waterlevels can be as low as 8 meters below ground level. Standard PVC parts and a very basic design make a handdriven membrane-pump. The discharge-head in our test is 8m. The pump works axially, with a stroke varying from approximately 10 to 50 centimeters. Click here and scroll down, to watch video in two parts. Enjoy!

I built a neat little gyrostat, to experience the fascinating effects that take place when spinning the gyrostat.
Wikipedia quote on a Gyrostat:

A gyrostat is a variant of the gyroscope. The first gyrostat was designed by Lord Kelvin to illustrate the more complicated state of motion of a spinning body when free to wander about on a horizontal plane, like a top spun on the pavement, or a hoop or bicycle on the road. It consists of a massive flywheel concealed in a solid casing. Its behaviour on a table, or with various modes of suspension or support, serves to illustrate the curious reversal of the ordinary laws of static equilibrium due to the gyrostatic behaviour of the interior invisible flywheel when rotated rapidly.

At the moment it’s more or less a fascinating toy. Nonetheless, the gyrostatic behaviour is widely used, varying from positioning satelites to the functioning of a Nintendo Wii-controller.

Gyrostat_1

Gyrostat_2

Dutch talkshow gave us a few minutes of their valuable time to present the Siren-orchestra!

We have started studying the siren-instruments last week. All very curious what musical potential these intruments have to offer..

Below you get an impression of the “Intona Rumori”. Reconstructions of Luigi Russolo’s Intona Rumori.

These instruments are part of the siren orchestra and are built by Wessel Westerveld.

Assembly of the parts. Are my drawings correct? Should I have spent more time checking them?

So far everything takes time and precaution, but seems to fit. Thanks to extra steady hands.

No more doubts. This machine works!

René Bakker 2008