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Rene Castelijn

samenwerking , fotografie , Experimenteel , cross-over , Conceptueel

I am Rene Castelijn, a dutch photographic artist. Although the autonomous projects shown here seem very distinct. They are experiments that always connect through me. I use photography as a way to slow down looking and to think through images rather than explain them. My work often exists between the physical and the symbolic, where meaning is the driving force of the work but still remains unstable and unresolved. By constructing situations instead of documenting reality, I explore themes of absence, vulnerability, and control. The images are deliberate but incomplete, allowing space for doubt, irony, playfulness and above all reflection. Rather than offering answers, the work invites attention — to time, material, and the experience of looking. Although my work is rhizomatic. Most energy flows into the investigation of present-day Western man.

Unassigned Human: The death of Cromagnon
Unassigned Human: The death of Cromagnon (2026) - Unassigned Human departs from the realisation that the primary force that once sustained human action appears to have been exhausted. Unassigned Human depicts a present human without the possibility to go back to prior states. The figures occupy uncomfortable, intermediate states: no longer assigned to a role, yet not liberated from it. Bored, nihilistic and waiting and surrounded by possibilities. Rhizomatic figures in a dried up world, but still...
Dead man tell no tales (001) - This series was made after the death of both our mothers. The work addresses a moment where language collapses and explanation becomes impossible. What remains are traces, gestures, and physical presence—forms of evidence without testimony. The project does not attempt to speak for the dead, but stays with what is left behind when care, voice, and narrative disappear.
Under the influence of words (2025)
Under the influence of words (2025) - Participants spent three minutes in front of the camera while listening to existential philosophical quotes. The experiment explored whether spoken thought could influence facial expression. Initial idea: a subtle yet undeniable shift in their concentration emerged. The portraits suggest a noticeable effect, while also pointing toward the need for deeper exploration.
Dead man tell no tales (002) - This series was made after the death of both our mothers. The work addresses a moment where language collapses and explanation becomes impossible. What remains are traces, gestures, and physical presence—forms of evidence without testimony. The project does not attempt to speak for the dead, but stays with what is left behind when care, voice, and narrative disappear.
Mein Angst (002) - The aquarium functions as a controlled environment for examining the psychological dimension of fear. Its residual red-tinted liquid introduce a sense of contamination, evoking the presence of an event that remains undefined. Rather than offering a literal subject, the piece frames fear as indeterminate and ambient, existing between the physical and the conceptual.
Mein Angst (001) - Removed from any metaphor and shown as flesh, it confronts the viewer with the bodily origins of fear: the place where emotion becomes physical. By presenting the heart plainly, it reveals fear as something that lives inside us long before we give it a name.
Komo Cromagnon - Cromagnon is a photographical investigation into the State of Being of Western Man. Cromagnon insists in creating images that focus on the very basics of Man, hence the Cromagnon. This KOMO series attempts to recreate the Western Cromagnon. Using materials found in any household—garbage bags, plastic, and other simple coverings. KOMO stages a contemporary survival image, a pre-christian energetic figure, an attempt to regain a lost condition within Western society through exercise. The whole series can be seen on www.castspace.nl
Cromagnon
Cromagnon - Cromagnon is a photographical investigation into the State of Being of Western Man. Cromagnon insists in creating images that focus on the very basics of Man, hence the Cromagnon. Cromagnon stages a contemporary survival image, a pre-christian energetic figure, an attempt to regain a lost condition within Western society through exercise.

De Aanschouw

Datum:
Locatie: Café Hensepeter, Nw Binnenweg 184b
In samenwerking met: Joke Olthaar

Presentatie van "Voorburgstraat" in de Aanschouw

https://www.aanschouw.nl/index.php?search=castelijn&item=rene-castelijn

GRAW - Groot Rotterdams Atelier Weekend 2021

Datum:
Locatie: Atelier Rene Castelijn

During GRAW 2021 I had another collaboration with Bulgarian Artist Violina Jeliazkova.
She showed photographs inspired by Japan. I showed my first steps in a cross media experiment.

GRAW - Groot Rotterdams Atelier Weekend 2020

Datum:
Locatie: Atelier Rene Castelijn

2020 GRAW - Atelier Exhibition
During my photo exhibition at GRAW 2020 I asked people to just sit in the glowing light of an old Philips infraphil lamp, while I filmed them in my studio. You can see the result on my website www.castspace.nl

http://www.castspace.nl

Yakushima Mon Amour - collaboration with Violina Jeliazkova - Kunstkamer PlanT Antwerpen

Datum:
Locatie: Kunstkamer PlanT
In samenwerking met: Violina Jeliazkova

Expo about Yakushima. an island in the Japanese archipel, filled with ancient trees.
The exposition was a collaboration with Dutch/Bulgarian Artist Violina Jeliazkova

Cromagnon KOMO series

Datum:
Locatie: Mediawall Rotterdam Schouwburg

programmed exhibition on the mediawall of the Rotterdamse Schouwburg.

Cromagnon is the collaboration of Rene Castelijn and Raymond de Vries. The work of Cromagnon is a photographical investigation into the State of Being of Western Man. In the Rotterdam Schouwburg Komo Cromagnon was projected on the media wall.

2013 Group Exhibition Cromagnon

Datum:
Locatie: Ne Studios Noordereiland

Cromagnon is the collaboration with The work of Cromagnon is a photographical investigation into the State of Being of Western Man. Cromagnon insists in creating images that focus on the very basics of Man, hence the Cromagnon.

2013 King for a day/PhotoSeries

Datum:
Locatie: Tante Nino/Noordereiland

Photoseries around the change of rule from Beatrix to Willem Alexander.
Ik asked people to pose as king and queen. The series were an assignment form the Deelgemeente Feyenoord. Large prints were shown at the artspace of Tante Nino.

KUKARO Kunstkamers Rotterdam/ Redefining the Aquarium

Datum:
Locatie: Kunstroute Noordereiland

In my youth my father, and all of his Friends, had an aquarium, it became the starting point for Kukaro.

2008 Nostalgia – Photo Exhibition Bulgaria

Datum:
Locatie: Wereldwaag

Around the start of the new millennium until 2008 I searched for a disappearing Bulgaria in analog black and white reportage images.

Dutch Punch festival / Russia

Datum:
Locatie: Dom Kino /St Petersburg
In samenwerking met: Andre Schreuders/Kultprom.org

Short series of images that evolves around the concept of fear.

Your Silent Face
Rene Castelijn Your Silent Face