Jan Bokma and Arnaud Dijkhuis at CINNNAMON

Artists: Jan Bokma and Arnaud Dijkhuis

Exhibition title: Cocoon

Venue: CINNNAMON, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Date: June 4 – July 9, 2016

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and CINNNAMON, Rotterdam

The strange object appears suddenly in the factory and has a purple-ish, wrinkly, a slightly reﬂective shell, with one big crack on the side that allows us to get a peek inside its hollow cavity, but nevertheless has an undeniable organic quality that, in combination with its movement, makes it appear alive.

Nevertheless, we do not know precisely where we are, we do not know exactly what we are seeing, we only hear a rhythmic, metallic sound that suggest the industrial character of the environment in which we familiarize ourselves with a strange object that vibrates on the conveyor belt.

We follow the relentless journey of the object through the warehouse, which appears to be set by industrial rationality in a ﬁxed mechanical process that doesn’t allow any kind of emotional sentiment to leak out or to interrupt its implacable movement.

The video created by Jan Bokma and Arnaud Dijkhuis presents a strong dichotomy between the rational/mechanical and the organic/human processes. It can be found in the lack of focus at the beginning of the video, which stresses the repetitive, automated movements and sounds of the machines; but also in the indiﬀerence of the rational system for the organic presence of the Cocoon on the conveyor belt, which is only seen as yet another object that has to be classiﬁed and processed; and in the apathy of the factory workers, who, deeply absorbed in the mechanization.

We are the only witnesses to the brief existence of the thing and its slow descent into darkness. We capture small glimpses of its skin and organic structure in between the blackness that surrounds it more and more, and when we cannot see it anymore, we are le with a cold, ampliﬁed sound in the background.

Jan Bokma (the Netherlands, 1980, lives and works in Rotterdam) studied at Academie Minerva, Groningen (NL) and Frank Mohr Institute, Groningen (NL, MFA). Solo exhibitions include: GEM museum of contemporary art, The Hague, Nest, The Hague; P/////AKT, Amsterdam.

Arnaud Dijkhuis (the Netherlands, 1981), studied documentary film at AKV/St. Joost (Breda). He lives and works in The Hague.