A glance into the world of Freerk Wilbers (Q&A)

Freerk Wilbers has a background in mechanical engineering and robotics. After some time, he made the choice to further explore his interest in art and his artistic practice at the Royal Academy in The Hague. There, he graduated in 2017 with a BA in Fine Art. Freerk explores the concept of chance and creates kinetic artworks and light installations from experimental research into materials, movement and mechanics.
The new gallery location will open with a solo exhibition by Freerk.

“The work I make is the result of following up on another result, instead of following up on a plan.”

When did you begin to think of becoming an artist?

To be honest, I never really thought about that growing up. I've always liked doing things with my hands. As a child, I liked to be creative and I drew a lot. Also, I always considered art to be a super nice subject in high school, but I had never really done anything serious with it before, until I realized that it was something I would still love to do. At that moment the idea arose that I would like to go to an art academy. I didn't think so much ‘I want to be an artist’. With a portfolio full of paintings I got an admission at the KABK in The Hague. At the time I was still working as an engineer, and I went to the academy four times a week in the evenings. I have experienced that as a fantastic time. You have a lot of resources at your disposal and stimulation to make great things. It is a very nice place and atmosphere, with very enthusiastic, practical, applied people who are all creating. It also smells nice there, like paint and oil and sawdust. Yeah, about halfway through the training you start to think, what happens if I finish this degree? Then apparently you are an artist. However, what that means exactly, being an artist, I am only now starting to discover. Becoming an artist is not something I thought of from the beginning. Rather, I became more and more enthusiastic that this was my path. I really wanted to continue making things that I envisioned. Working with my hands. From there arose the desire to do that more and more.

Art means different things to different people. What does art mean to you?

For me art is freedom to follow your own path and to create. To work with your hands and to be surrounded by those things and the smell of the materials you work with and to discover something new in them every time. This brings me to findings and discoveries that I never thought I would get to. During my process I keep finding something new and for me that is the essence of what I do. What I am trying to achieve in my work is not necessarily intellectual. It is not tied to any particular story or message. It is more of a sensory experience that I am trying to convey. A calm feeling that something is happening that repeats itself, but that is never the same. Something that has a certain element of renewal, a kind of unpredictability. Not wild or terrifying, but rather calming. Something cosmic? That is not a word that I often use, but perhaps a word that I often think of myself. How galaxies move around each other, how planets move around each other or how particles move around each other within an atom. There's a kind of reassuring repetition and precision to it. Kind of a cosmic model of how things work. An underlying machine of the world that is constantly on and moving. I like it when I can evoke that feeling.

What do you consider key elements in your work?

What I think is important in my work is that it keeps going, whether there is a spectator or not. Just like with planets that keep moving, whether someone is looking at them or not. An element that I often use is the idea of a circular movement. Not only literally, there are many circular shapes in my work and things also move in circular paths, but also figuratively. There is no beginning or end to my work. That refers to nature, as well. Days, seasons, tides, they repeat themselves, but never in exactly the same way. I am looking for rhythms, in images, but also in sound. In time and in space.

What is also important is that the movements you see and the dynamics between the different elements in my work are not controlled. I only use a motor and electronics to give the works a kind of push. The movement in the works arise from the proportions and the masses, the lengths and the thicknesses that I try to germinate in a mechanical way. If you make a swing longer or shorter, it will also move differently. In that way I also influence how my works move, but I do not control it with software. The works are not programmed. It is something that follows automatically from the interactions between the laws of physics that operate on all parts. Something unpredictable to some extent, never the same. I don’t always know in advance what it will do, but I try to design the conditions and then I put it in motion and then I have to wait. In fact, the movements are so complicated that you can no longer calculate them, you can only try them out. That element that you do not know exactly what is going to happen, that I find very exciting. Moreover, I like to make things for a place, a location, certain light or for a time. A work that works well in one place may not work at all in another. Working at that moment and in that specific place I also consider to be very valuable.

What is the coolest project you have done so far?

The coolest project is the big solo exhibition that I will be doing at the new pristine location of Root. It is a location that offers many possibilities, but is also quite challenging due to the size, height and the conditions of the light.

What was also very important to me was the project for a gallery in Guangzhou, in the south of China. Last year I had a solo exhibition there, followed by a three-month residency for which I received support from CBK Rotterdam. I went there with an idea, but not with anything concrete yet. During those three months I was able to do so much and create so much because of all the possibilities that were there. Also, a certain concentration and the pressure that there had to be results after three months really pushed me. I experienced that as a very fruitful and successful period, which ultimately formed the basis for what I still do.

Do you have another dream that you want to realize with an eye to the future?

As touched upon before, I really like to work from the process and from the space where the work will eventually be shown. The inspiration for my next step stems from the work that came before. The work I make is the result of following up on another result, instead of following up on a plan. So I don't have a clear picture of specific places I want to be in three years, it also depends on the opportunities that are offered. More generally, I would very much like to show the works that I now make on a larger scale in public spaces. For example in a hospital lobby, in a train station or in an airport. A large space in which many people move and in which you can make a major intervention that allows you to create an experience. That is something I would really like to do in the future. To realize such a thing would be an amazing challenge. On a practical level, but also to appeal to a large audience that is actually very busy with something else. There's competition with all the other things that are going on there. To grab the attention of the audience in a certain way, even if only for a moment, seems like a very nice challenge to me.

A glance into the world of Freerk Wilbers - Q&A