Amsterdam-based artist Sander Hagelaar develops installations and objects that foreground natural processes such as light, water, air, gravity, and chemical reactions. Rather than fixing outcomes, he constructs frameworks in which these forces can operate with a degree of autonomy and variability.
Fluid Current consists of water, aluminium, an electric circuit, and an LED. As water moves through the aluminium structure, it completes an electrical circuit and triggers a pulse of light. The system is direct: conductivity produces illumination.
The work focuses on the relationship between material behavior and perceptual experience. Water—commonly understood as fluid and unstable—functions here as a conductive element within a simple electrical system. The circuit is not concealed; its operation unfolds physically through contact and flow.
Hagelaar has described his practice as engaging two related perceptual states: estrangement, when familiar materials reveal unexpected properties, and stilling, when subtle movement concentrates attention. In Fluid Current, both are present. The timing and intensity of the light depend on the dynamics of the water, introducing variation into an otherwise minimal setup.
By aligning a natural process with a technical response, Fluid Current frames perception as an encounter with cause and effect in real time. The piece does not simulate interaction; it stages it through material conditions.
Project Info
Artist: Sander Hagelaar
Materials: Water, Aluminium, Electric Circuit, LED
Year: 2020
