Jeroen Bocken

The Celebrated Remedy for the Cure of Disorder

[ EPF 2017 – YOUNG TALENT AWARD / FUJIFILM RUNNER UP ]

With his interest in the glorifying and influential nature of photographs and images, Jeroen Bocken investigates the increasingly prominent role of hyper-idealised aesthetics in today’s world. Bocken is fascinated by natural science, human criteria and calculations and the limitations of the camera. He combines a variety of digital processes with natural patterns and algorithms. This experimental and associative process results in illogically constructed images. The photographer alternates these with classic documentary images, often iconic and familiar, to create an ambiguous context.

The mathematic imperfection in the objective evokes a photographic error called ‘Chromatic Aberration’. By enlarging this error, the camera wrongly translates the photographed subject to something else.

A Fluorescent Mineral lit by a short wave ultra violet fluorescent lamp. This process illuminates the mineral’s natural color.(Agrelitepink, Thoritegreen)

Rock formation in the northern coast of Northern Ireland. A natural phenomenon caused around 50 to 60 milion years ago. Antrim was subject to intense volcanic activity, when highly fluid molten basalt intruded through chalk beds to form an extensive lava plateau. As the lava cooled, contraction occured.

Inspired by a commercial digital technique to combine multiple lightning exposures into one idealised representation.

The interplay between real and constructed images requires vigilance. By playing these extreme methods off against each other, Bocken reminds us that an image never really shows the ultimate reality but is only capable of representing it. The image is a documentation, a snapshot and a notion of reality. It has the unequivocal power to steer our interpretation and perception in one direction.

3D-rendered image of a linden tree. Spread out by a Space Colonization Algorithm, cloned from a single photographed leaf with simulated physical elements.

New digital advances, such as 3D renders, mean that hyper-constructed images are being unleashed on the world at a dizzying rate. These immaculate, aesthetic and fabricated renderings are increasingly wrong-footing us and impacting on our perceptions. It is only with effort that we can distinguish the “picture perfect” from reality. Bocken is very intrigued by this ironic and surrealistic fact. By twisting and distorting the technical processing of his own images, and embracing the faults, Bocken explores the boundaries of our sense of reality.

Written by: Eléa De Winter

Operation to replace the biological lens with an artificial lens. With the aim to cure cataract.

Short Bio

Jeroen Bocken (Heusden-Zolder, Belgium, 1994) lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium. Recently he graduated as a Master at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. (2016-2017). In April 2017, he was selected with the project ‘Changing Perspective: A multi-Camera Experience’ for the ‘Braakland’ project organized by the Foto Museum in Antwerp (FoMu). After his graduation show in the ‘Extra City’ (Antwerp, Belgium), his master project was published by Sjoerd Knibbeler on the website of the German contemporary photography magazine ‘Der-Greif’. His work is also on display in the ‘Van Der Mieden Gallery’ (Antwerp, Belgium) and ‘Kunst In Huis’ (Gent, Belgium). Thanks to his selection for the .tiff-magazine of the FoMu he got the opportunity to talk and show his master project in the FoMu and in ‘De Brakke Grond’ (Amsterdam, The Netherlands). As the biggest focus for the future, Jeroen received an invitation from the BredaPhoto festival to create a solo exposition for ‘BredaPhoto 2018’.

Related Links

jeroenbocken.com

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The Emerging Photographer Fund is supported by generous donors to the Magnum Foundation