BIOGRAPHY of the Tropism Art & Science Collective (Foundation)
A tropism (from Greek τρόπος, tropos, 'a turning') is a biological phenomenon, indicating growth or turning movement of a biological organism in response to an environmental stimulus. The most common example of tropism is a plant growing in the direction of light, called phototropism. The Tropism collective was founded in 1986 by Alfred Marseille, Robin Noorda and Bob van Walderveen († 1996). Current members also include Margot van de Stolpe, Menno Schrap, Paul Godschalk and a range of guest Tropists. Taking their lead from the biological phenomenon, the Tropists are a Dutch collective of installation artists, visual artists, photographers, media artists, designers, cineasts, technologists and scientists. In their work they deal with phenomena occurring literally or figuratively at the edge of perception - events that are hardly noticed, but which lead to a reaction similar to the manner in which a plant responds to light. Tropism turns you on. The Tropists feel a great affinity with the natural world, and their works seek to depict natural phenomena in new and unusual ways.
A dozen years of exhibitions, films, performances and light installations
2009 Red-end and the Seemingly Symbiotic Society - stop-motion animation film, international film festival awards
2010 Shivering Beauty - Soundscape of Mongolia, directors cut of the broadcasted documentary film
2012 Feeding the Giant Burping Carnivorous Pitcher Plants - Museum-night Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam - performance and film
2012 Flora Sonora - Museum-night Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam - performances and film
2013 Photosynthesis - Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam - exhibition, installations, films
2014 Sneaky Serpents - Amsterdam Light Festival - light installation
2014 This Is It, be here now - Amsterdam Light Festival - light installation
2015 Red-end and the Factory Plant - stop-motion animation film, international filmfestival awards
2015 Photosynthesis - Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Scotland - exhibition, performance, installations, films
2015 Sneaky Serpents - Norrköping Light Festival, Sweden - light installation
2016 Sneaky Serpents - Noorderzon Festival Groningen - light installation
2016 You lookin' at me? - Amsterdam Light Festival - light installation
2017 Sneaky Serpents - Shenzhen Seaworld Cultural Festival, China - light installation
2017 You lookin' at me? - I light Marina Bay, Singapore light festival - light installation (800.000 visitors)
2017 You lookin' at me? - Vivid Sydney - light installation in the Royal Botanic Gardens of Sydney (1.2 million visitors)
2018 Tropism Lab - Flower Art Museum - permanent wing for the Photosynthesis exhibition
2018 Ultra Vanity - Grachten Galerie Utrecht, Masterly The Hague, Flower Art Museum - photography exhibitions
2019 Ultra Vanity - Schimmelpennik Gallery, ART The Hague, Sandvoort Gallery, Flower Art Museum - photography exhibitions
2019 Sonotrope - Cinedans in Eye Film Museum, VR music-sculpting-dance performance, work in progress
2019 Biomassive Clear-Cut - documentary film on deforestation for biomass (Dutch version went viral)
2019 Sonotrope - Overkill Festival, VR motion to music-sculpting performance with modular synthesizers, work in progress
2020 De miljoenenfraude van De Key - documentary film
2020 This is it, be here now - Battersea, London, Light Festival Knokke-Heist, Belgium - light installation
2021 Flora's Ark - climate awareness project for botanic gardens
2021 Flora Imago exhibition in the Tropism Lab at the Flower Art museum
2021 Open Studio's - 100 Years Loods 6, organisator and participant
2021 Premiere of the short art-house stop-motion animation film Rebirth of Venus at the Netherlands Film festival, 17 intern. awards
2022 Lights of Perception - exhibition of the projects Ultra Vanity, Flora Imago and Hyperama's at SBK gallery, Amsterdam
Awards and nominations
2009 - 2010 the film 'Red-end and the Seemingly Symbiotic Society': Utrecht, HAFF 09 opening film, Moviesquad Award, Espinho, Cinanima 09, Award for Best Short Film; Utrecht nomination 'Gouden Kalf' Netherlands Film Festival; Tallinn, Animated Dreams Festival - Brain-tap Award for Best Film; Angers, Premiers Plans - Audience Award Best European Short Film; Nijmegen, Go-short festival, nomination Best Dutch film; St. Petersburg; International Festival of Animation Art, special mention for unconventional look; Annecy International Animation Film Festival, nomination; Cartoon d'Or, nomination.
2015 - the exhibition 'Photosynthesis' in the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh shortlisted for the Fringe Sustainable Practice Award.
2016 - 'Red-end and the Factory Plant': in competition for the Dutch Film Award 'Golden Calf'; Award at the NCAIAF animation film festival in Sapporo, Japan; an Honourable Mention for the Devour! Golden Tine Award for Best Animation in Canada; nominated Clermont Ferrand International Short Film Festival.
2016 'You lookin' at me?' Awarded with the first prize by the children jury of the Amsterdam Light Festival.
2017 - Finalist for International Garden Photographer of the Year (IGPOTY) in the category Still life with the Ultra Vanity series.
2021 - Sneaky Serpents, winner for the MANA 2020 CITIC Press Lightening Selection in the Outdoor Works of Light category (China).
2021 - Rebirth of Venus, short art-house stop-motion animation film, Premiere Nederlands Film Festival, Berlin Underground Film Festival - Best Rhythm & Poetry, Short Encounters International Film Festival - Best Experimental, Golden Bridge Istanbul Short Film Festival - Best Animation, Mumbai International Film Awards - Best Content Award, Cooper Awards - Best Screenwriter, Milan Gold Awards - Silver Award Indie Short Film, Blastoff Los Angeles - Best Sound Design, New York Movie Awards - Best Production Design, Milan Gold Awards - Gold Award Production Design, European Cinematography Awards - Best Visual Effects, New York Istanbul Short Film Festival - Best Visual Effects, Golden Harvest Film Festival - Best Production & Best Experimental Film, Changing Face International Film Festival - finalist
Catalogue publication:
2015 Photosynthesis, shedding new lights on plants, printed catalogue and app version, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
2020 Tropism Catalogue, work in progress.
More publications click here.
Mission
Sustainability and awareness are areas of interest and are involved in most of the Tropistic works although the artists do not emphasize this. It is a message well wrapped to be revealed and experienced as a personal discovery and thus hopefully persist better in the mind of the spectator. A good example of that is our travelling exhibition Photosynthesis, consisting of 122 photographic works, 2 installations and 10 films targeted at shedding new light on plants. After visiting the exhibition the visitor has gained a persisting shifted and lifted perception of admiration for nature.
Top picture: You lookin' at me? at Vivid Sydney, light installation in the Royal Botanic Gardens of Sydney (1.2 million visitors).
Below: The interactive and underwater light installation Sneaky Serpents at the Noorderzon Festival in Groningen.
A tropism (from Greek τρόπος, tropos, 'a turning') is a biological phenomenon, indicating growth or turning movement of a biological organism in response to an environmental stimulus. The most common example of tropism is a plant growing in the direction of light, called phototropism. The Tropism collective was founded in 1986 by Alfred Marseille, Robin Noorda and Bob van Walderveen († 1996). Current members also include Margot van de Stolpe, Menno Schrap, Paul Godschalk and a range of guest Tropists. Taking their lead from the biological phenomenon, the Tropists are a Dutch collective of installation artists, visual artists, photographers, media artists, designers, cineasts, technologists and scientists. In their work they deal with phenomena occurring literally or figuratively at the edge of perception - events that are hardly noticed, but which lead to a reaction similar to the manner in which a plant responds to light. Tropism turns you on. The Tropists feel a great affinity with the natural world, and their works seek to depict natural phenomena in new and unusual ways.
A dozen years of exhibitions, films, performances and light installations
2009 Red-end and the Seemingly Symbiotic Society - stop-motion animation film, international film festival awards
2010 Shivering Beauty - Soundscape of Mongolia, directors cut of the broadcasted documentary film
2012 Feeding the Giant Burping Carnivorous Pitcher Plants - Museum-night Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam - performance and film
2012 Flora Sonora - Museum-night Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam - performances and film
2013 Photosynthesis - Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam - exhibition, installations, films
2014 Sneaky Serpents - Amsterdam Light Festival - light installation
2014 This Is It, be here now - Amsterdam Light Festival - light installation
2015 Red-end and the Factory Plant - stop-motion animation film, international filmfestival awards
2015 Photosynthesis - Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Scotland - exhibition, performance, installations, films
2015 Sneaky Serpents - Norrköping Light Festival, Sweden - light installation
2016 Sneaky Serpents - Noorderzon Festival Groningen - light installation
2016 You lookin' at me? - Amsterdam Light Festival - light installation
2017 Sneaky Serpents - Shenzhen Seaworld Cultural Festival, China - light installation
2017 You lookin' at me? - I light Marina Bay, Singapore light festival - light installation (800.000 visitors)
2017 You lookin' at me? - Vivid Sydney - light installation in the Royal Botanic Gardens of Sydney (1.2 million visitors)
2018 Tropism Lab - Flower Art Museum - permanent wing for the Photosynthesis exhibition
2018 Ultra Vanity - Grachten Galerie Utrecht, Masterly The Hague, Flower Art Museum - photography exhibitions
2019 Ultra Vanity - Schimmelpennik Gallery, ART The Hague, Sandvoort Gallery, Flower Art Museum - photography exhibitions
2019 Sonotrope - Cinedans in Eye Film Museum, VR music-sculpting-dance performance, work in progress
2019 Biomassive Clear-Cut - documentary film on deforestation for biomass (Dutch version went viral)
2019 Sonotrope - Overkill Festival, VR motion to music-sculpting performance with modular synthesizers, work in progress
2020 De miljoenenfraude van De Key - documentary film
2020 This is it, be here now - Battersea, London, Light Festival Knokke-Heist, Belgium - light installation
2021 Flora's Ark - climate awareness project for botanic gardens
2021 Flora Imago exhibition in the Tropism Lab at the Flower Art museum
2021 Open Studio's - 100 Years Loods 6, organisator and participant
2021 Premiere of the short art-house stop-motion animation film Rebirth of Venus at the Netherlands Film festival, 17 intern. awards
2022 Lights of Perception - exhibition of the projects Ultra Vanity, Flora Imago and Hyperama's at SBK gallery, Amsterdam
Awards and nominations
2009 - 2010 the film 'Red-end and the Seemingly Symbiotic Society': Utrecht, HAFF 09 opening film, Moviesquad Award, Espinho, Cinanima 09, Award for Best Short Film; Utrecht nomination 'Gouden Kalf' Netherlands Film Festival; Tallinn, Animated Dreams Festival - Brain-tap Award for Best Film; Angers, Premiers Plans - Audience Award Best European Short Film; Nijmegen, Go-short festival, nomination Best Dutch film; St. Petersburg; International Festival of Animation Art, special mention for unconventional look; Annecy International Animation Film Festival, nomination; Cartoon d'Or, nomination.
2015 - the exhibition 'Photosynthesis' in the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh shortlisted for the Fringe Sustainable Practice Award.
2016 - 'Red-end and the Factory Plant': in competition for the Dutch Film Award 'Golden Calf'; Award at the NCAIAF animation film festival in Sapporo, Japan; an Honourable Mention for the Devour! Golden Tine Award for Best Animation in Canada; nominated Clermont Ferrand International Short Film Festival.
2016 'You lookin' at me?' Awarded with the first prize by the children jury of the Amsterdam Light Festival.
2017 - Finalist for International Garden Photographer of the Year (IGPOTY) in the category Still life with the Ultra Vanity series.
2021 - Sneaky Serpents, winner for the MANA 2020 CITIC Press Lightening Selection in the Outdoor Works of Light category (China).
2021 - Rebirth of Venus, short art-house stop-motion animation film, Premiere Nederlands Film Festival, Berlin Underground Film Festival - Best Rhythm & Poetry, Short Encounters International Film Festival - Best Experimental, Golden Bridge Istanbul Short Film Festival - Best Animation, Mumbai International Film Awards - Best Content Award, Cooper Awards - Best Screenwriter, Milan Gold Awards - Silver Award Indie Short Film, Blastoff Los Angeles - Best Sound Design, New York Movie Awards - Best Production Design, Milan Gold Awards - Gold Award Production Design, European Cinematography Awards - Best Visual Effects, New York Istanbul Short Film Festival - Best Visual Effects, Golden Harvest Film Festival - Best Production & Best Experimental Film, Changing Face International Film Festival - finalist
Catalogue publication:
2015 Photosynthesis, shedding new lights on plants, printed catalogue and app version, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
2020 Tropism Catalogue, work in progress.
More publications click here.
Mission
Sustainability and awareness are areas of interest and are involved in most of the Tropistic works although the artists do not emphasize this. It is a message well wrapped to be revealed and experienced as a personal discovery and thus hopefully persist better in the mind of the spectator. A good example of that is our travelling exhibition Photosynthesis, consisting of 122 photographic works, 2 installations and 10 films targeted at shedding new light on plants. After visiting the exhibition the visitor has gained a persisting shifted and lifted perception of admiration for nature.
Top picture: You lookin' at me? at Vivid Sydney, light installation in the Royal Botanic Gardens of Sydney (1.2 million visitors).
Below: The interactive and underwater light installation Sneaky Serpents at the Noorderzon Festival in Groningen.
