Victor Dissel is a multimedia artist, composer and co-founder of art festival We Are Water. Dissel is mainly known for his audiovisual installations, in which he examines new interventions between humans and nature. By using a combination of light, sound and natural elements, he aims to make natural patterns and processes tangible.

I aim to create shared, immersive experiences that invite a physical connection with nature. I want to emphasize the concept of a harmonious coexistence between humans, nature and technology, by exploring their symbiosis.  

Reflect

Mixed-media installation

Reflect is a mixed-media installation that uses sound frequencies to create visual patterns on a water surface. It makes the unseeable become visible by exposing sound in water. Thesemiraculous patterns emerge in many choreographic ways, showing the beauty of interacting natural elements. Reflect invites people to look beyond the surface and feel how we all are connected to nature in a common way. Furthermore, Reflect examines the interaction between sound vibrations and the human body, consisting of 70% water. How does sound affect our bodily experience? And in what new ways can we observe the sounds and perceptions around us?

 

Concept & design: Victor Dissel

Code: Gerben van der Kleij

 

Exhibitions

2022 Rietveldpaviljoen, We Are Water

2022 Museum Speelklok, Springplank

2023 Havenloods, FAAM Licht/Donker

2023 Fort Pampus, Water Werken

Zonnewende

Audiovisual installation for Lipton Ice Tea

Zonnewende is an audiovisual installation that invites you to celebrate the magical transition from day to night. Multimedia artists Victor Dissel and Emanuel Nijkerk created an abstract interpretation of this shift, capturing the mesmerizing dance of light, color, and the interplay of the sun and the earth. The hexagonal design of the installation is inspired by Stonehenge, which was built to align with the sun on the solstices (or ‘Zonnewendes’) serving as one of the oldest human rituals. With its 6-meter-high light column and its own ‘sun sphere’ moving up and down, the Zonnewende serves as both a signpost and a space for collective ritual at Into The Woods. Through this, we honor the endless cycle of the sun, guiding us from day to night.

Made possible by Lipton Ice Tea

Commissioned by Kultlab Events

Credits:

Victor Dissel – creative director

Emanuel Nijkerk – creative director

Merijn Versnel – engineer

Jela Nieuwstraaten – light engineer

Daniel Steenhoff – technical assistance

Hugo Wierikx – pre-production and construction

Floortje Krikke – plant care

Reveal Works – floor construction

Timo Lejeune & Boris Acket – early-stage brainstorming

OostWest – workspace

On-site crew: Jesse Klemans, Jules Janssen, Feja Ruiter, Noa Iesberts, Casper Prinssen, Pepijn Rozer, Jim Steltenpool, Gabriel van der Sluijs, Twan Aalders, Lisa Bast, Julian Worron, Yonah Kalmann, Luca Schaap, Floortje Krikke 

Reflect 2.0

mixed-media installation

Reflect 2.0 is a second iteration of Reflect, combining multiple custom speaker parts into modular shaped watersurfaces. 

Concept and sound: Victor Dissel

 

Exhibitions

2023 Kunsthal KAdE – Blauwdruk, Amersfoort

2023 TivoliVredenburg – Betweter festival, Utrecht

2023 FCA – OostWest, Amersfoort

2024 Door Open Space, ADE 2024 – NDSM, Amsterdam

SouRCe; Water (2022)

Audiovisual installation

SouRCe is dedicated to the many faces of water and embraces the idea that all water streams originate from the same source, just like us. This is embodied on a towering six-metre LED screen with spectacular water sculptures falling from the sky supported by an electronic/acoustic composition. With a shared fascination for the countless shapes and forms of water, light artist Emanuel Nijkerk and composer Victor Dissel explore the ever-changing beauty of water patterns. Emanuel captured footage of streams, rivers and waterfalls during his journey in the Portuguese mountain area of National Park Gerês. The people there depend on a large network of pumps and hoses to provide clean drinking water. Around this, all kinds of social constructs emerge about how the limited amount of water should be distributed in the area. 

 

Concept: Emanuel Nijkerk, Victor Dissel

Sound: Victor Dissel 

Visuals: Emanuel Nijkerk

 

Exhibitions

2022 Rietveldpaviljoen, We Are Water

2022 Museumnacht, Alkmaar

2022 ORBIT Festival, Fort Vechten

SouRCe; Soil (2023)

Audiovisual installation

SouRCe is an annual series of audiovisual installations in which multimedia artist Victor Dissel and light artist Emanuel Nijkerk explore the elements of nature. Their aim is to reimagine our connection to nature by creating audiovisual rituals that examine the confluence of digital and physical perception. 

In SouRCe; Soil, the audience gets transported to the hidden macro-cosmos of the earth. With the use of unconventional recording techniques, like dug-in microphones and macro cameras, the earth’s element is captured in a new light. These layers, textures and structures are brought together in an audiovisual piece, consisting of a 6-meter-high LED wall and 4,000 kilos of soil. 

by Victor Dissel and Emanuel Nijkerk

Exhibitions

2023 Into The Woods ADE, NDSM

With the kind support of

Showdesign, Kultlab, ADE

Don’t F*ck With Culture

Audiovisual film installation

‘Don’t F*ck With Culture’ is an immersive experience in which two films are showcased on multiple movie screens. In addition to the films spatial sound, lightart and live-performances are being combined to create a on of a kind cross-over between film, exhibition and dance-event.

 

Director: Hylko Smit

DP: Bobby Littlejohn

Stage design: Victor Dissel, Emanuel Nijkerk, Hylko Smit

Composition, spatial sound: Victor Dissel

Visuals, live video: Emanuel Nijkerk

3D design: Chris kore

Spoken word: ZOOPHIS

Mix & mastering: Lars van Leeuwen

 

Exhibitions

2022 Sneak preview, KOSMIK

2023 Premiere, FLUOR

 

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Circular

Audiovisual performance

CIRCULAR is a performative installation that plays with the sensory perceptions of its viewers. Composer & creative director Victor Dissel, visual artist Emanuel Nijkerk and creative coder Gerben van der Kleij joined forces to create an environment that is built to provoke, challenge and stagger the viewer using transparent projection screens, spatial sound and psychoacoustics. These manipulative experiences appeal to our primal senses, bringing us closer to them and, on the other hand, making us question their reality.

Visuals are created by light artist Emanuel Nijkerk and explored within a spatial design of transparent screens. Electronic sound composition is made by audiovisual artist Victor Dissel consisting of percussive noises, microtonal harmonies and psychoacoustic phenomena. These sounds are transmitted live within a spatial speaker system by creative coder Gerben van der Kleij. Is everything that exists perceptible? Is everything perceptible existing? How do we relate to our reality?   

Concept, sound: Victor Dissel

Visuals: Emanuel Nijkerk

Creative coding: Gerben van der Kleij

 

Commissioned by UNCLOUD

2021 Nicolaikerk, Utrecht

2022 UNCLOUD, De Nijverheid

Constellations

Light installation

Constellations is a light installation focusing on connectivity. The work completes the decor of Straight From The Horse Mouth Festival, a music and art festival taking place in the hangar of the Amersfoort arts hub OostWest. 30 moving heads have been placed in the roof of the hangar and another 10 or so scattered at different heights from the floor. The columns of light create spectacular patterns and connections that fill up the space. The lights also make connections with the performing artists, resulting in an impressive three-dimensional web of light.

 

Victor Dissel: creative director & composer

Silence Of The Lights: technical director & light operator

Bart Kipping: light programmer 

 

Commissioned by Waldo Volmer and Camiel De Kruijf

Located at OostWest

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CAELUM

Short film

‘Caelum’ is Latin for heaven, or sky. In many religions, it is a place where God or Gods reside and a place where the soul goes after death; a blissful place of eternal happiness, a dimension where time does not exist.

‘Caelum’ is a short film in search of the deep now by exploring guided meditation, spatial sound and visuals. This translates into a multi-sensory ritual in which there is room for self-reflection and connection with the inner soul.

This project is a S.O.A.P production and a collaboration between multiple artists. Sound design and spatial composition is made by audiovisual artist Victor Dissel. 3D-animations are made by digital artist Chris Kore (UKR). Spoken-Word is done by Nadia Azimzadeh and the cinematic story is created by co-director Bobby Littlejohn and director Hylko Smit.

 

Director: Hylko Smit

Co-director, DP: Bobby Littlejohn

3D artist: Chris Kore

Sound design: Victor Dissel

Spoken word: Nadia Azimzadeh

 

Exhibitions

2022 Blauwdruk, OostWest

2023 Première, FLUOR

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info@victordissel.nl
+31 6 22828088

Partners

Uncloud, Tivoli, ORBIT, Museumnacht, Into The Woods, Wildeburg, Amsterdam Dance Event, Centraal Museum, Lipton, Museum Speelklok, Metaal Kathedraal, FAAM, FLUOR, De Nijverheid, Betweter festival, Monopol Berlin