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Sam Janssen

sculptuur , Objecten , Media , Licht , interactief , installatie , Experimenteel , Digitale technologie , Conceptueel , Audiovisueel

NL: Mijn werk duikt in het digitale rijk en transformeert het in sculpturen en installaties die de grens tussen de fysieke en virtuele werelden doen vervagen. Ik hermodelleer alledaagse objecten en daag percepties van de impact van technologie op ons leven uit. Mijn kunst stimuleert reflectie over onze evoluerende realiteit in een door technologie gedreven wereld. Uiteindelijk nodig ik toeschouwers uit om hun positie in een snel veranderend technologisch landschap te heroverwegen door middel van mijn werk.

ENG: My work delves into the digital realm, transforming it into sculptures and installations that blur the line between physical and virtual worlds. I reshape everyday objects, challenging perceptions of technology's impact on our lives. My art prompts reflection on our evolving reality in a tech-driven world, aiming to spark conversations about our relationship with technology and its influence on us. Ultimately, I invite viewers to reconsider their place in a rapidly evolving technological landscape through my art.

Battery
Battery - A flag, normally bound to wind, nationhood, and conflict, appears here as frozen simulation: still, yet tense. Its mirrored surface flows into the space. Twelve flag holders quietly reference anti-aircraft or missile batteries, suspending the work between diplomacy, power, and threat.
It knows where it is at all times, it knows this because it knows where it isn’t.
It knows where it is at all times, it knows this because it knows where it isn’t. - “It knows where it is at all times, it knows this because it knows where it isn’t. “ approaches technological behavior as a form of presence. A UAV, also known as a drone, is not deployed as an instrument but as a performative body that remains alert, searching, and responsive. The work scans the room and translates this encounter into a situation where observation, automation, and physical proximity converge. Through screens, fragmented text, humor, and unease, a poetic layer emerges in which personal memory is connected to broader developments in autonomous warfare technologies, surveillance, and the changing gaze of the drone.
Grinding my Teeth. 2025
Grinding my Teeth. 2025 - Shown at A Tale of a Tub, Rotterdam. Thanks to Volkskracht for providing the project support. This work explores the psychological and ethical impact of drone warfare. Composed of first-person footage from the war in Ukraine and Russia, the video is projected on a hologram fan. Each clip halts before impact, breaking into a glitch. This deliberate refusal to show destruction interrogates how war imagery circulates online consumed as spectacle while the trauma it produces remains unseen. The soundscape of the fan intensifies the sense of pursuit and menace. Soldiers and civilians alike describe developing “drone-phobia,” where the natural buzzing of bees or flies becomes unbearable, forever associated with the threat of attack. This transformation of the natural into the technological demonstrates how war colonizes perception itself. The loop resists catharsis, embodying the endless hovering presence of drones and the psychological toll of anticipation. The glitch becomes an ethical interruption: a refusal of spectacle that instead opens space for reflection on the weaponization of media and the haunting persistence of violence withheld. The work responds to the growing gamification of war. The Ukrainian military is reportedly testing a point-based system in which drone operators submit video evidence of strikes to earn rewards redeemable for better munitions and equipment. Violence thus becomes tactical, transactional, and incentivized. By reframing footage critically stripped of propaganda, interrupted rather than glorified the work resists such normalization.
Together, 2025.
Together, 2025. - 2 CCTV Cameras, NVR, Steppermotor, Arduino, slipring, alumnium, stainless steel hoses, stainless steel cable glants, monitor. Sizes variable. Made possible in 2024, CBK Rotterdam, I&V regeling. 10minute randomised spinning pattern. Forever loop. Every cycle is different.
Misumena, 2024.
Misumena, 2024. - Approx 60x40x30cm LCD screen manipulated, Rpi4, custom camera, resin, stainless steel.
Securitat - 130x105cm. 3 manipulated monitors, polarising filters, cctv-camera, resin, stainless steel, electronic roller screen. Rollerscreen can be moved into different positions. Made possible by CBK Rotterdam. The work features a live CCTV footage of the room and the spectators in front of the work. However, the screens, stripped of their polarising filters, initially obscure the view with an ethereal white glow when the roller screen ascends. Yet, as it descends through precise cut-outs, the filters come into play, revealing a live interplay of light and imagery that transforms the space before your eyes.
Feeder (2023) - Approx 60x40x100cm, Plastics from found monitor housings, alumnium extrusion profiles, acrylic, recycled maniupulated monitor, liquid cooling system, UV-Leds. Presented at WORM and Achterban's event Kazemat in the Hague.
I Bruise Like a Peach (2023) - Collaboration with Lisette Ros, (www.lisetteros.com) The work is a continuous process in which the work can always be adjusted by means of the fluids in the work. The work is a large installation in which Lisette can fully stand up and move freely. A large transparent plate is illuminated by a programmed light program based on the marks that occur during the performance. Video shot by Davids Danoss.
Sensitive surveillance occurs, (2022) - Approx 190x95cm, sculpture foam, epoxy, manipulated monitors, fluids, raspberry pi, human recognition software, cctv camera, live camera view, custom led program. The work changes color upon recognizing the different amount of people standing in front of the work due to a custom engineered machine learning program. Like the work is becoming vulnerable and affected by presence of crowds. Changing the perspective of the objects function from seeing to being seen. Part of my graduation work. Project made possible by the help of Fonds-kwadraat.
Sensitive surveillance occurs. (2022) - 2nd installment of my graduation work. Approx 160x105cm, sculpture foam, epoxy, manipulated monitors, fluids, raspberry pi, human recognition software, cctv camera, live camera view, custom led program. Made possible by Fonds Kwadraat.
Screenfreeze #2 (2022) - 60x40cm Manipulated glass sheet from LCD-monitor, 3d printed frame, epoxy, Led program. Screens frozen in time the moment they are failing to work. Resulting in an abstract image that reminds the viewer of a live like living organism inside the screens. Frame is a 3d model designed in 3d-software. By taking forms of the manufacturing process into the design of the frame the work evokes a machined or manufactured appearance.
“Spectrum” (2020) - Size: 75x50cm, Found monitor 24”, Raspberry Pi Zero videoloop, alumnium frame.
Patience (2019) - 4-hour performance, filmed with 2 camera’s. HD video. Speed up version, full video available on request.

Graduation Show Piet Zwart Institute

Datum:
Locatie: TENT
In samenwerking met: Tent Rotterdam, PZI Rotterdam.

TENT en de Piet Zwart Institute Master Fine Art nodigen je uit voor de afstudeertentoonstelling van de MFA-lichting 2026. Behoor tot de eersten die kennismaakt met de opkomende praktijken van deze kunstenaars. Hun werk krijgt vorm via een breed scala aan materialen, technieken en discoursen, en verkent thema’s als sociaal geconstrueerde ruimtes, de zeggingskracht van gemaakte en gevonden materialen, en de veelzijdige aspecten van identiteit.

https://tentrotterdam.nl/in/piet-zwart-institute-master-fine-art-presents-leisure-management-a-graduation-show-with/

NEBULA

Datum:
Locatie: Oostzeedijk 108, 3063 BG, Rotterdam
In samenwerking met: De Achtertuin

Nebula is a group show curated by Vladimir Radujkov.

INTERFACE Art Week Rotterdam 2026

Datum:
Locatie: Boomgaardsstraat 69, 3012 XA, Rotterdam
In samenwerking met: Art Rotterdam, Slash Gallery, Hannah van Der Elzen

Interface is a new programme strand within Rotterdam Art Week, focused on art that is not only viewed, but physically experienced. Rather than a conventional exhibition, it presents an immersive environment in which installations and objects continuously question the visitor’s position.

https://worm.org/production/rotterdam-art-week-interface-opening/

Hold Your Horses

Datum:
Locatie: Justus van Effenstraat 44, 3027 TK Rotterdam
In samenwerking met: A Tale of A Tub

A group exhibition organised with the Piet Zwart Institute Master Fine Art class 24/25 and curated by Danny Giles.

Hotspots

Datum:
Locatie: Jan Porcellisstraat 9
In samenwerking met: Vlak Projectspace

Hotspots Open call

https://www.simoneschuffelen.com/vlak

2025 Appreciation Show

Datum:
Locatie: Karel Doormanhof 45
In samenwerking met: Piet Zwart Institute, Art Rotterdam

This exhibition will house an astounding 90 artists from PZI MFA Fine Arts over the years!

https://www.artrotterdam.nl

Hushed Worlds, Rising Hums

Datum:
Locatie: SLASH gallery
In samenwerking met: WORM Rotterdam

Solo expositie van Sam Janssen

We’re not in Kansas Anymore

Datum:
Locatie: Winkelcentrum Amstelveen

Groepsexpositie met werk van:
Tunde Dawkins
Eleri
Silvia Gatti
Sam Janssen
Frederique Jonker
Felipe van Laar
Bert Mclean
Anne-marie van Meel
Thom van rijckevorsel
Eva Spierenburg
Robbert Weide
Sylvie Zijlmans

Everything is on the One, Arti Amicitae Amsterdam

Datum:
In samenwerking met: Arti amicitae

Groepsexpositie bij Arti Amicitae in Amsterdam

Groot Rotterdams Atelier Weekend

Datum:
Locatie: Hillevliet 90, lokatie Duivennest
In samenwerking met: Hillevliet, Duivennest

NL: Tijdens het Groot Rotterdams atelier weekend laat ik mijn atelier zien voor geïnteresseerden. Er is de mogelijkheid om het tussentijds proces te bekijken waar ik nu mee bezig ben.

ENG: During the Great Rotterdam Studio Weekend, I will show my studio to interested individuals. There is the opportunity to view the ongoing intern process that I am currently working on.

https://www.grootrotterdamsatelierweekend.nl/locaties/hillevliet-90/

'I Bruise Like A Peach' Collaboration with Lisette Ros, Groupshow at Cukry Praga, Warsaw, Poland

Datum:
Locatie: Cukry Praga
In samenwerking met: Lisette Ros, Davids Danoss,

Groepsexpositie waarbij Lisette Ros en Sam Janssen hun samenwerking gefilmd door Davids Danoss laten zien.

Kazemat Group exhibition WORM X ACHTERBAN

Datum:
Locatie: Waterkant Den Haag
In samenwerking met: Worm Rotterdam, Achterban

Fountain installation shown at group event.

Oneirophrenia, Group exhibition @ Beluga, Rotterdam.

Datum:
Locatie: Studio Beluga
In samenwerking met: Donatas Tretjakovas

Group exhibition curated by Sam Janssen and Donatas Tretjakovas featuring Frederique Jonker, Joseph Thabang Palframan, Savic Scharp, Zowie Smeets and Rowan van der Sterren.

Solo exhibition @ Time is the New Space

Datum:
Locatie: Time is the New Space
In samenwerking met: Lisette Ros

Solo expositie bij Time is the New Space in Rotterdam.
Lancering van samenwerking met Lisette Ros.

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