audiovisueel - community - digitale technologie - film - fotografie - geluid - installatie - internet - media - natuur - riso-print - schrijven - video - zine
Eli Hooper (b. 2000) is a New Zealand born, Rotterdam based maker graduated in Photography at WdKA in 2023, and is currently exploring the cross-pollination between media, mass popular culture and the digitisation of nostalgia. Working primarily in photography, his work branches out into a whole range of other media, from audio-visual experiments to sculptural endeavors. Largely founded on image and sound-based research, Eli is using both practical and non-conventional methods to challenge the way we consider both the image pool and greater mass-archiving and consumption of media around us. Eli DJs and produces music under the name 10 sleep, WY and is an active participant in Rotterdam nightlife.
(working title) new work - In my experimentation towards a new work, I aim to explore how the contemporary digital landscape colors and changes our notions of home and belonging. An extension from my previous work, Arcadia, FL, I aim to research and conduct experiments in bitmaps, various methods of image compression, and AI generation to research the influence of current technology in the construction of nostalgia.
(working title) new work - In my experimentation towards a new work, I aim to explore how the contemporary digital landscape colors and changes our notions of home and belonging. An extension from my previous work, Arcadia, FL, I aim to research and conduct experiments in bitmaps, various methods of image compression, and AI generation to research the influence of current technology in the construction of nostalgia.
Arcadia, FL - Finding the red thread in one’s personal life throughout the chaos of the world is, to put it simply, a difficult task; in a system that is so sporadic and surreal, ever shifting at the hands of political, societal, and personal change, it seems like any remaining strand of coherency is, in effect, “lost to the void.” Yet, the necessity to find and follow this thread has occurred more and more often throughout my life and practice, and arcadia, FL is my own attempt to tune in and harness the hidden frequencies of order.
Arcadia, FL was shown during the WdKA graduation show in 2023.
experiment with Arcadia, FL - Finding the red thread in one’s personal life throughout the chaos of the world is, to put it simply, a difficult task; in a system that is so sporadic and surreal, ever shifting at the hands of political, societal, and personal change, it seems like any remaining strand of coherency is, in effect, “lost to the void.” Yet, the necessity to find and follow this thread has occurred more and more often throughout my life and practice, and arcadia, FL is my own attempt to tune in and harness the hidden frequencies of order. Arcadia, FL was shown during the WdKA graduation show in 2023.
A Borrowed Home: Reflections on Roots - A result of a four-year body of work, a borrowed home: reflections on roots is my attempt to tackle notions of alienation and estrangement from one's birthplace and family, and a portrayal of my own personal struggle in doing so.
Each copy is hand-bound and delicately made in order to complement the detached and isolate nature of the content within, taking approx. Two hours per copy. With reflections on roots, I invite you to reflect on stories of your own and weave your own notions of home, love, grief, and everything in between.
a borrowed home: reflections on roots
first edition, september 2022
18x26cm, 105 pages + 7 inserts
edition of 30 + 1 AP
hand-bound and printed in rotterdam, the netherlands
page from a borrowed home: reflections on roots - A result of a four-year body of work, a borrowed home: reflections on roots is my attempt to tackle notions of alienation and estrangement from one's birthplace and family, and a portrayal of my own personal struggle in doing so. Each copy is hand-bound and delicately made in order to complement the detached and isolate nature of the content within, taking approx. Two hours per copy. With reflections on roots, I invite you to reflect on stories of your own and weave your own notions of home, love, grief, and everything in between. a borrowed home: reflections on roots first edition, September 2022 18x26cm, 105 pages + 7 inserts edition of 30 + 1 AP hand-bound and printed in rotterdam, the netherlands
Rebuilding a Borrowed Home - The body of work titled Rebuilding a Borrowed Home was created for the exhibition Se Retrouver at the Huis van de Fotografie in collaboration with eleven other colleagues. The work itself was made in response to the “failure” of the previous project I worked on (Burning Down a Borrowed Home) in communicating meaning and aimed to serve as a reflection of uncertainty and failure in representation as well as my position in the greater project (simply A Borrowed Home). The work was a combination of a diptych video and assorted cyanotypes containing writings and reflections on the project and failure of the one previous, images from my birthplace of New Zealand and ones here in Rotterdam, and the two worked together in order to create a chronicle of where I was at in the project, yet also a standalone poetic piece that represented the greater concept of struggle and belonging in the creative process.
artwork from Rebuilding a Borrowed Home - The body of work titled Rebuilding a Borrowed Home was created for the exhibition Se Retrouver at the Huis van de Fotografie in collaboration with eleven other colleagues. The work itself was made in response to the “failure” of the previous project I worked on (Burning Down a Borrowed Home) in communicating meaning and aimed to serve as a reflection of uncertainty and failure in representation as well as my position in the greater project (simply A Borrowed Home). The work was a combination of a diptych video and assorted cyanotypes containing writings and reflections on the project and failure of the one previous, images from my birthplace of New Zealand and ones here in Rotterdam, and the two worked together in order to create a chronicle of where I was at in the project, yet also a standalone poetic piece that represented the greater concept of struggle and belonging in the creative process.
Burning Down A Borrowed Home - Upon my return to Rotterdam from a few weeks seeing family in New Zealand, I was invited by the Post-post collective, a group of artists creating autonomous work in De Hillevliet, to participate in their open call for holding an exhibition in Foundation B.A.D., and I found this the perfect opportunity to close up A Borrowed Home whilst simultaneously exhibiting it to the public. I created the work Burning Down a Borrowed Home, a series of riso-printed and black-and-white photographs representing my frustration at the work and the fact that I wanted to “burn it down” in order to move on.
Burning Down A Borrowed Home - Upon my return to Rotterdam from a few weeks seeing family in New Zealand, I was invited by the Post-post collective, a group of artists creating autonomous work in De Hillevliet, to participate in their open call for holding an exhibition in Foundation B.A.D., and I found this the perfect opportunity to close up A Borrowed Home whilst simultaneously exhibiting it to the public. I created the work Burning Down a Borrowed Home, a series of riso-printed and black-and-white photographs representing my frustration at the work and the fact that I wanted to “burn it down” in order to move on.
