Upstream Gallery is dedicating an exhibition to artist Jan Robert Leegte. Since the 1990s, Leegte has focused on internet art, so he can be considered a pioneer and expert. Walking through this multi-sensory exhibition, Leegte enthusiastically talks about his brand new series "JPEG," "Rise and Fall," "Broken Images" and "Scrollbars". There are three core themes: software, the absence of content and contemplation. Paradoxically, Leegte uses digital tools - which provide us with an overload of impulses on a daily basis - to contemplate. Leegte: "If you observe my art closely and take your time, it becomes quiet around you and you see the wealth of details."
You've been dealing with the subject of digital art for 25 years. How did you consider the 1990s when the Internet was emerging?
Starting in the late '90s, I didn't see many people doing anything with internet art. On the one hand it was great to be in a vanguard spot, but on the other hand it was frustrating that no one wanted to see it and it was summarily labeled as 'media art.' Fortunately, the art form is now more accepted.
At the time, were you part of an artist community with fellow pioneers?
Yes. I hung out with JODI, Peter Luining, Martine Neddam, Debra Solomon and many others, making me part of a large international network. I've always seen this as a warm nest. It's good to support each other and keep an eye on each other. The latter literally - internet art has always been public, so you can check each other daily on a studio level.
In what ways does your work stand out from other digital artists?
Unlike many other artists, I consider digital media not as tools, but as subjects in their own right. What fascinates me is that digital media undeniably has the greatest impact on our society.
Speaking of the impact of social media, how do you capitalise on this phenomenon?
As an artist, I reflect on what is happening around us. It is intense to notice how people suffer under the unfiltered flow of social media, resulting in burnouts, for example. I think contemplation is important. In the exhibition this expresses itself as protest by taking software as the starting point instead of content.
We are now facing the "JPEG" works, a series whose colours and abstract composition evoke associations with Mark Rothko. Are we looking at influences from Abstract Expressionism here?
I try to evoke emotions with these works by challenging the materiality of the JPEG compressor. A JPEG compressor is a technique for reducing image files, especially photography. Everything you upload in images these days is compressed. I go just a step further than the abstract-expressionists like Rothko by not representing the emotions as an artist but letting the algorithm do that. So I take a step back as a maker so the system surprises and touches me.
Looking at it, your JPEG works almost have a meditative effect. Do you have a connection to mindfulness yourself?
Yes. I was severely overworked right after the pandemic, then I dived right in. And I found out that my work has a lot to do with it. For example, look at the sound installation Rise and Fall (2023) that I exhibit here. The wave symbolises the circle of birth and death, but also, for example, the coming and going of content. It is an audio simulation of a wave made of layers of white noise so basically non-information. The work does not repeat itself, it is "live" and different every time. So this experience is like reality.
In the next space, we face Broken Images (2023). What concept is behind this?
These are 2 NFTs from a series of 27. It is very hardcore, medium-specific art; for 99% an NFT is a metadata file that refers to a picture. This work goes a step further because in the metadata is the work itself. In fact, I've put in an entire website. So it refers to nothing except itself. That makes it unbreakable and a critique of the system.
So by breaking the link you preventively break it. Is it really provable that this artwork cannot be broken?
There is nothing to break because this is what it is. I made compositions of broken images with mathematical algorithms. That's why you see the wave movement in it, something very elementary. You get a lot of gifts while doing something very simple.
Do you want to play with the fact that something seems complex at first glance but those who look at it longer see the logic which gives a 'satisfying' effect?
That's that contemplative aspect once again, because if you observe my art carefully, and really take your time for it, you'll notice it becomes quiet around you and you'll see a wealth of details.
These NFTs now hang on screens in the gallery, in what form do collectors receive them?
I had a smart contract made for this myself. People send me a message. Through Twitter, I also receive purchase requests. After payment, you receive the NFT in your wallet. NFTs are actually comparatively quite cheap, for a few hundred euros you can already collect a unique work.
The fourth project you show is called "Scrollbars" (2023). On the ground are all sorts of stacked bars. What are scrollbars and why are they positioned this way?
Scrollbars are an interface element at the edge of a window that allows the page to be moved using a mouse. I had the scrollbars made myself, like a sculpture. The installation is made of some kind of plastic, a reference to the washing up of plastic from the oceans. It ties in with the sea sound of Rise and Fall. The scrollbars lie there like washed-up skeletons or fossils.
How do you think digital art is going to evolve in the next 10 years?
On the one hand, there is little to say about that because the nature of the beast is that we will be surprised. We all know that AI is knocking on the door, which can be terrifying. There is no imagining the impact that it is going to have on us humans. I am especially wary on a societal level about whether AI will be used in bad ways. Within art, I don't worry much about that - I don't think artists destroy anything, but rather show examples, ask questions and encourage people to look.
'No content: contemplations on software' is on view at Upstream Gallery through June 16
Need more background? On Saturday, June 3 (3 p.m.-16 p.m.) Upstream Gallery is hosting a free Artist Talk between Jan Robert Leegte & Auriea Harvey tussen kunstenaars Jan Robert Leegte & Auriea Harvey. Reserverve via [email protected]
In addition, Jan Robert Leegte's work will be on display at the 'MODERN' exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam until September 24.