The Recollector by Jasper de Beijer

The Recollector is a 3D collage, created in the computer. Jasper de Beijer has used video game technology to create a virtual environment which is somewhere between a museum, a theatre and a photo archive. The visitor can freely walk around in it like in a physical space.

With the Recollector de Beijer reconstructs colonial history with elements of the archives and brings it to life in a new environment.  As an archaeologist, de Beijer digs deeper into material from the archives of Spaarnestad Photo and exposes several layers of our collective memory. As a collector, he creates a shadow archive which is categorised associatively. As a movie director he leads visitors through the show, after manipulating his version of reality. De Beijer shows a clear, enclosed space where the visitor wanders around without a sense of the space itself. See more;

Jasper de Beijer is an artist, born in 1973 and living in Amsterdam, Holland. His main discipline is constructed photography, building all elements in the picture from the ground up.

The main focus in De Beijer's work lies in the fascination of the source material he finds. Mostly he finds this in historical material; in the periphery of events, where confrontations between worlds or cultures create a new reality.

Following this fascination the need rises to recreate the situation from the found material; so the artist can make his own testimonial which he can manipulate as he sees fit.

De Beijer uses any means necessary to reconstruct: mostly building scale models, which are combined with materials made in his studio (costumes, props, studio settings) and computer generated images. He assembles these elements digitally to new images, creating his own unique imagery.

Thanks for the tip Michiel.