Rob Bothof

Rob Bothof (1977) works as a software/game developer, animator, sound engineer and technical problem solver. His artistic work extends the thin line between art and science in the disciplines of interaction, animation, autonomous systems and procedural generation. Bothof experiments with chance through computer generated randomness, experimentation, improvisation and the unpredictability that emerges from direct communication of a work with its viewers. Returning themes in his artistic works are chance and context.

‘Relief’ is an installation based on the principle of echolocation by means of ultrasound. Mounted on a wall, this sculpture is not primarily designed to be gazed at, but to be listened to. The work examines the process of hearing, decomposing reflections of the space that inform orientation, emphasising the relationship between source and receiver. RELIEF is therefore not a sound sculpture, but an echo sculpture. As architect Juhani Pallasmaa wrote in ‘The Eyes of the Skin’:

“Sight isolates, whereas sound incorporates; vision is directional, sound is omni-directional. The sense of sight implies exteriority, whereas sound creates an experience of interiority. I regard an object, but sound approaches me; the eye reaches, but the ear receives. Buildings do not react to our gaze, but they do return our sound back to our ears.”

Relief was created in collaboration with artist Mike Rijnierse. Relief is realised with the kind support of TodaysArt and Stroom Den Haag.