Rafaël Rozendaal

Rafaël Rozendaal’s vibrant, digitally generated animations invite us into a world where the computer is both playground and laboratory.

Born in 1980 into an artistic family, Rozendaal explored various mediums before discovering the boundless accessibility of internet art. His coded animations, often beginning as drawings, transform into autonomous websites with programmed algorithms that bring them to life.

There’s a captivating lightness to Rozendaal’s art, easily shared with a simple message, as his code fills screens with dynamic patterns. This weightlessness extends to his projections, re-animating gallery walls with his moving drawings. His work, which he began in 1999, delves into the subconscious, aiming to evoke energy and joy.

Rozendaal’s artistic journey is also marked by his ‘Bring Your Own Beamer (BYOB)’ project, a testament to his belief in creating a sense of possibility through his work. 

His generative animations, often created in collaboration with a programmer, are rooted in compositional issues and moving images that can work on a grand scale. 

As he shared in an interview, the computer offered him a sense of freedom and a medium with ‘very little history’, allowing for novel expressions like a scrollable toilet paper website. His works are held in prestigious collections at the Whitney Museum, Centre Pompidou and Stedelijk Museum.