Rhizomebook.com | Jan van der Til | Concepts of work | Curriculum vitae | Support Mondriaan Fund
Rhizomebook.com was initiated by Dutch artist Jan van der Til as an open-ended reflection on, and extension of, his artistic practice. Functioning as a continuously evolving digital book, the website documents ideas, interventions, and developments over time. It does not aim to present a singular narrative or final form, but instead embodies a living system of thought and creation.
The title Rhizomebook refers to the concept of the rhizome, as theorized by philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. A rhizome is a non-hierarchical, decentralized structure in which every point can connect to any other. Unlike a tree, which unfolds through roots and branches in a linear, binary logic, a rhizome grows through multiplicity, detours, and unpredictable pathways. This model of thought and structure underpins both the content and the architecture of Rhizomebook.
In Van der Til's work, the notion of the book transcends the conventional form of bound pages and a fixed sequence. Each Book — often titled with a Roman numeral — is a conceptual and material node within a broader rhizomatic constellation. These nodes can take the shape of websites, texts, installations, objects, videos, or collections. They exist autonomously yet remain interlinked, forming an ever-expanding network of artistic and theoretical inquiries.
Rhizomebook serves as the connective tissue between these works. It is not a catalogue or archive, but a generative environment in which ideas can circulate, cross-pollinate, and evolve. Works are linked not by chronology or hierarchy, but by associative relationships — thematic, formal, contextual, or speculative. This approach mirrors the structure of knowledge itself: unstable, interdependent, and perpetually in motion.
Each node within Rhizomebook represents a site of interaction: a moment of convergence between media, disciplines, and references. These may include Van der Til's own works, essays, or external sources — from artists and philosophers to scientific models or cultural artifacts. Readers are invited to navigate these nodes non-linearly, following their own paths of interest and constructing unique readings of the whole. In doing so, the audience becomes an active participant in shaping the meaning and structure of the book.
This rhizomatic model also reflects Van der Til's resistance to fixed authorship and institutional boundaries. His practice foregrounds ambiguity, context-sensitivity, and systemic thinking, and often draws inspiration from organic processes — such as the resilience of wild plants like horsetail and ground elder, which defy cultivation and thrive in overlooked spaces. Similarly, Rhizomebook resists domestication, offering a space in which divergence, multiplicity, and critical inquiry are cultivated.
Ultimately, Rhizomebook offers an alternative mode of reading, thinking, and creating — one that embraces complexity and contradiction, and foregrounds the interdependence of content, form, and environment. It is not merely a representation of artistic work, but a work in itself: a living, thinking system that grows through relation.