In Quintus Glerum's studio, there are no paint stains or debris on the floor, but rather cables, cables and more cables, along with screens and other electronics. In this studio on the NDSM site in Amsterdam Noord, Glerum is constructing an oeuvre of screen-based installations and self-learning robots.
He is currently working on a new series of works, the first four of which are now on display at Josilda da Conceição's gallery. These new works consist of both animations, often based on himself, and the inside of a screen, both visible simultaneously. With the interplay between cold electronics and colourful imagery, he aims to emphasise the clash between the mundanity of everyday life and childlike escapism.
In May, the new series will continue at Art Island (17-19 May in IJmuiden). He also hopes to present a new spatial installation at that fair. The gallery exhibition And we play all of our days away, featuring work by Silvia B and Quintus Glerum, is on display at Josilda da Conceição in Amsterdam until 27 April.
Where is your studio and how would you describe it?
My studio is part of Treehouse NDSM in Amsterdam Noord. It's located near the ferry to the city centre, so it's easily accessible from my apartment. Treehouse is like a small village on the NDSM site, with a collection of self-built studios used by various designers, artists and musicians. I share my studio with a close friend, Polina Shuvalova. You can easily tell which part is used by Polina and which part by me. Her section is cosy and carefully decorated with pictures and small, meticulously built installations, while my area is filled with cables, screens and other electronic gadgets – with an emphasis on loose cables.
You create ‘screen-based installations’, not paintings, so natural daylight is not a strict requirement for you. So, what makes the perfect studio for you?
Since my work mainly revolves around screens and electronics, sunlight isn't essential for my workspace. But that doesn't mean I don't appreciate it. When you spend a lot of time behind a screen, it's nice to still feel like you're occasionally stepping outside. I tend to make a mess, so I like to have a separate table for my drawings and another one for building my installations. My stuff usually ends up on the studio floor anyway.
What does a typical day in your studio look like? Do you spend hours animating behind a laptop or do you also engage in more physical activities like tinkering with a device or robot?
My work always involves both a physical and digital element. I alternate between the two throughout the day. Usually, I spend part of the day on my computer working on simulations and animations. Otherwise, I'm busy building the installations. This can sometimes be very meticulous work, like designing parts for moving machines or experimenting with screens and lights.
Since you animate part of your work, I can imagine you work quite methodically. Do you first come up with an idea for what you want to convey and then develop it or do you opt for a less structured approach without a set plan?
It's true that I usually don't work very intuitively. I always spend a lot of time writing texts and sketching before I start creating. My work is usually part of a larger narrative, so I spend a lot of time preparing storyboards and recurring visual elements. I've always been a bit jealous of artists who are able to work spontaneously.
Nevertheless, my way of working is very different from traditional animation production. I often use real-time video game software like the Unity engine for my videos. Within this environment, I can combine my visuals with code to make the work more dynamic and livelier. This also gives me more opportunities for spontaneity.
Once I have the first version of an installation finished, I can see how my visuals relate to the canvas. This is the point in the process where I work more intuitively. I experiment with the physical and digital elements of the installation until I achieve the image I have in mind. This often results in the final video being very different from the first version. With my latest work, the relationship between the physical and digital elements was very important, which led me to adapt many of the videos and installations during the creation process.
In the first solo exhibition at Josilda da Conceição's gallery, your work was about personal experiences. What are the four works currently on display about?
This new series started as a reaction to the previous series of video works, the first of which were shown at Josilda's gallery. These videos were about the experience of romanticising mundane reality into a TV series. I was often asked why I always use cartoons to tell this story instead of film. This brought me back to the question of where my odd fascination with animation and pop media actually comes from. With this work, I'm trying to revisit this question and address the longing for escapism that accompanies it. I'm experimenting with the screens themselves to make the electronics that enable the image as visible as the content. I hope that the clash between mundane reality and childlike escapism is reinforced by the interplay of cold electronics with colourful imagery. Similar to the videos of Don't Add Grapefruit videos, this series again features a main narrative that serves as a sort of theme throughout the different works. While the previous series focused on a personification of my own ‘anxiety’, the new character ‘kiki’ is a more grounded representation of myself. That's why I used a 3D scan of my own body for his design. This character appears in various works and serves as a bridge between the viewer and the different virtual worlds. You might view it as a character that can look through the so-called ‘fourth wall’.
If I were to give you carte blanche, what project would you start working on?
That's a really good question. I have countless small projects that never get further than the sketch phase. Once I have more time and space, I hope to prepare an exhibition for the new and final season of the Don't Add Grapefruit series. This is intended as a spatial installation that brings the underlying story of the series to conclusion, allowing me to distance myself from it. But mostly, I would like to create more work on location. Since my work requires so much preparation, I rarely get the chance to create installations for a specific space. The only time I really got to do this was for the art space Brutus in Rotterdam. I would love to do more projects like that.
What are you currently working on?
At the moment, I'm working on the next works in the same series as the work currently on display at Josilda's gallery. These will be shown in May at Art Island in IJmuiden. I can't promise anything yet, but I also hope to have a new spatial installation ready by then. I've also started a new video game-related project with Christos Mavrodis. He is a talented artist and good friend who experiments a lot with his unique visual language and fragmented forms of storytelling. We've been talking about using different media to tell an interactive story for a while now. The work will feature a combination of his drawings contrasting with various digital media forms. Finally, I'm designing an interactive installation with my studio mate Polina Shuvalova. Polina uses her work to reflect on the feeling of 'belonging somewhere' contrasted with the here and now. We share a fascination for reflecting on the past and are trying to express this together in an interactive installation. This new work will be part of a new exhibition opening on 30 May at Treehouse NDSM.