SJOERD KNIBBELER
Ground Control
The exhibition Ground Control brings two related bodies of work together for the first time. In the dialogue between Paper Planes (2015) and Lunacy (2017). Knibbeler makes scale models of the jet fighters, bombers, drones, satellites, rockets, and landers that feature in his photographs. These machines represent a collective imagination for the artist, manifesting from an inner human drive for exploration, invention and (technological) progress. Simultaneously, these histories are rooted in geopolitical conflict, war, nationalism, and economic competition.
The focus of Paper Planes is on “failed” military aircraft that have never made it past the drawing board. The artist recreated the planes as origami paper models, basing them on historic design drawings he found online. Even if these machines have failed as physical aircraft, they still fly around the world as ideas – in the virtual form of data.
Our planet’s moon is the chosen destination in Lunacy. Subject of dreams, legends, films, literature, scientific research, the Space Race and venture capitalism alike, it has arguably been a place of exploration and exploitation for as long as humans watch the sky. For this series, the artist created scale models of space crafts from wood and photographed them by moonlight in an outdoor studio.
BIO
Sjoerd Knibbeler (Amsterdam, 1981) is a visual artist from the Netherlands.
His work was awarded the Grand Prix Photographie in Hyères (FR) in 2015, the same year he was selected as Foam Talent. He had solo exhibitions at Foam Museum (NL), Espace Images (CH) and Villa Noailles (F) i.a. In 2020 he presented an extensive overview titled In Elements in Museum Kunst der Westküste (D), accompanied by a monograph published by Hatje Cantz Verlag. Notable group exhibitions: Nederlands Fotomuseum (NL), Maan/Moon at FOMU Antwerp (BE), Kunst Haus Wien (AT). He was the 2019 winner of the Lucy Art Residency (GR) and the 2020 winner of the Majaoja Prize at Backlight Festival (FI).
His work is part of national and international collections (Maison Européenne Photographie, Kunst Haus Wien, Museum Voorlinden, the Nederlands Fotomuseum).
Knibbeler teaches at the Utrecht School of Arts and is represented by ROOF-A gallery in Rotterdam.