Simone Hooymans : An Introduction to My Work and Process

Simone Hooymans : An Introduction to My Work and Process
Landscape is the first born of creation.
It was here long before we were ever dreamed.
It was here without us. It watched us arrive.
How strange we must have seemed.
John O' Donohue
Drawings and Animations
I draw in order to understand myself and my natural surroundings.
I make drawings and animations of astronauts, animals and landscapes with charcoal and ink
on paper. Drawing has always been a very important process for me.
The development in my work as an artist has gone through different stages. I was always
interested in a mix of video, animation and drawing, because I could manipulate reality and
turn it to see what is beneath the surface of life.
I graduated in Fine Art from HKA Arnhem and Post st. Joost Breda, two art academies in
the Netherlands. While I was studying at the HKA Arnhem, I observed the way
psychological codes in society and the mind effect what role we play in life.
When I studied the exchangeability of identity, I did performances to experience this myself.
Sometimes I involved my parents and my friends in my work to make my research more
personal. All the results of my research came together in my graduation work at Arnhem,
the HKA in 2002, with the videofilm, Colour .
In 2005 I graduated from the postgraduate academy, Breda, with a short film called:
Saljoetsilo. This video was about dreaming to be an astronaut. It showed how a young girl’s
dream became true and how her parents reacted to this. It was a mix of video and animation
and was shown at film festivals in many countries around the world.
After my graduation the astronaut developed as an autonomous figure in my work. The
astronaut lives in a Not-World, a world that is silent and beyond. Parts of an old world, like
animals, swarms and frog jelly join him on his endless journey. Most animals are immersed in
a self-absorbed state, are in a profound sleep, unconscious, wounded or dead. I use these
organic forms to connect the earthly with the unearthly. With this new metaphor I started to
work on drawings and animations in charcoal and ink.

I intend that my drawings speak directly to the observer.
Each of my drawings contain a simile or a metaphor. I have created an astronaut figure who
possesses a intrinsic inner power, which is beyond his own control, but does not reduce him
to involuntary servitude. He is an autonomous, wandering figure. There is no suggestion of
movement or spontaneous expression, just an intensely concentrated figure which seems to
be eternal.
When I am making animations, I connect a series of drawings. In this way I can express
things a single image could never convey. I try to capture the images that come to me while
I work. Later all these images are integrated into a whole, the animation itself. In my
animations time becomes important. Slow transformations take place as if one moment is
spread out in to eternity.
Animations
The landscapes of my video installation, Worlds in Itself, are places that undergo
transformation. They are self absorbed landscapes. They are timeless and refer to
uncontrolled, existing nature. The landscapes are drawn from the same source as the
astronaut. They are emotional landscapes.
Fluidity is important in my animations; an unclear view. I want nothing to prevent the viewer
from delving into a world of fantasy and fable.....by the time the view is clear, it’s gone.
My journeys to Norway, Mongolia and Switzerland and my experience with pure nature,
which I find astonishing, inspires me to make these works.
I also want to play with the size of the animation. I have made these animation especially for
small portable DVD players, so that the landscape becomes more intimate with the observer.
The observer must actively look to see what is happening in this tiny world. (see image 6
jpeg on the cd-rom).
Broken Horizon is about my interest in the way nature is changing in the world, and the
overwhelming force of this change. Change is appearing everywhere which effects the
pressure of daily life, the economy and the whole of humanity.
Landscapes are being transformed by humans and a new, completely synthetic environment
is being created with the disappearance of nature.
Broken Horizon was selected for the Dutch Film festival in Utrecht, the Ars Eectronica in
Austria in 2009 and has been shown in other major video festivals around the world.

In making Planisphere I completed an assignment for the large videowall of the city theater in
Utrecht, the Netherlands. This videowall was 9 meters wide and 2 meters high and had a 4-
channel projection system. That is why the film has these dimensions and no sound. It was
originally made for public space.
I wanted to create a panoramic view of a strange landscape where unpredictable things were
happening as we, the observer, flew by. The observer takes actively part by walking up and
down the videowall.
In Planisphere, an astronauts wanders aimlessly through an ever changing landscape, with a
fox lying in his arms. Parts of an old world, with animals, swarms and frog jelly join him on
his endless journey as he finds himself being slowly absorbed into the universe.
Are we like the astronaut wandering around with no direction or plan while the earth is
falling apart around us. Can we can do nothing, just watch or escape into a dreamworld?
After Office Hours
For Kabuso I made a new animation called After Office Hours.
After seeing several natural disasters on the news I was shocked and at the same time
inspired by the idea that we could be swept away in one big movement. It’s this
overwhelming force that really fascinates me. It is not only transforming everything on it’s
path, it tells also a lot about how people use the earth and most of the time not realising
how vulnerable we are.
Nature is, ofcourse, not our enemy, but is it our friend? I am fascinated to see the struggle
we have with our planet playing saviors and distroyers at the same time.
www.simonehooymans.com
Prosjektet er støtta av Norsk kulturråd.