Pau Waelder

Philippe Ceulemans. Power Flower I — Electric Orchid, 2025

Looking at your oil paintings, particularly the abstract compositions, as well as your interest in stillness and silence, I wonder if this has been influenced by the natural surroundings of Turnhout and its natural reserves. Can you elaborate on the connections between the Kempen landscape and your work?

Very much so.

The Kempen landscape is not spectacular in the way mountains or coastlines are spectacular. Its beauty is quieter. It reveals itself slowly. I think that has influenced me deeply.

I spend a lot of time walking in the forests and nature reserves around Turnhout. What stays with me is not a particular tree or view, but a feeling: the silence, the openness, the changing light, the sense that everything is moving while appearing still.

That experience has become central to my work. I am not interested in depicting nature literally. I am interested in translating the experience of being present within it. Whether I work on canvas or write code, I am searching for a space where attention slows down and where the viewer can become more aware of subtle things.

In that sense, the Kempen landscape is present in almost everything I create, even when it is no longer visible.

In your paintings there is a clear interest in nature, but also in going beyond depiction to look for structures, movement, flows, that directly connect with your digital artworks. Can you tell us more about how your creative process transits between canvas and code?

For me, painting and coding are simply two different ways of exploring the same questions.

When I paint, I work with color, texture, layering, and material. When I write code, I work with movement, mathematics, repetition, transformation, and emergence. But the underlying curiosity remains the same.

“I am not interested in depicting nature literally. I am interested in translating the experience of being present within it.”

Ideas often travel back and forth between the two practices. A texture discovered in a painting may inspire a digital system. A mathematical behavior discovered while coding may later influence a painting.

I think both practices are really about observing relationships. How elements interact. How complexity can emerge from simplicity. How order and unpredictability coexist.

Many people see technology and painting as opposites. I don’t. For me they are simply different tools for exploring perception. 

The use of the Black 3.0 (or Vantablack-like) pigment is an interesting indication of your interest in going beyond traditional forms of painting on canvas and looking for new forms of perception. It is also interesting that this pigment is linked to the pioneering work of another Belgian artist, Frederik De Wilde. What drove you to use this pigment, and how do you see the concepts of silence and nothingness represented by the color black in both your canvases and your digital work?

My interest in Black 3.0 was never about finding the darkest possible black. It was about perception.

When you stand in front of a surface that absorbs so much light, something unusual happens. It almost stops behaving like a color and starts behaving like an absence. It challenges the way we normally read space, form, and depth.

That fascinated me.

I have always been interested in silence, emptiness, and stillness —not as negative concepts, but as spaces of possibility. Black can function in that way. It removes distractions. It creates room.

I often think about silence in music. Silence is not the absence of sound. It is what allows sound to have meaning. Black operates in a similar way within my work.

The same idea appears in my digital pieces. Moments where movement becomes extremely slow, where forms dissolve, or where visual information becomes minimal are often the moments that interest me most. They create space for reflection rather than consumption.

“I have always been interested in silence, emptiness, and stillness as spaces of possibility. Black can function in that way. It removes distractions. It creates room.”

Your interest in science is also patent in series such as The Unrepeatable Field, which is inspired by cellular structures and the possibilities of expressing them through mathematical formulas. Can you elaborate on how this scientific view of nature complements the more poetic aspects of your work, and how it is shaped by creative coding?

I have always been fascinated by the fact that nature combines strict rules with endless variation.

A cell follows certain principles. A tree follows certain principles. An ecosystem follows certain principles. Yet no two outcomes are ever exactly the same.

That tension fascinates me.

Science helps us understand the structures behind the visible world, while art allows us to experience them emotionally. I don’t see those approaches as contradictory. I see them as complementary. Creative coding has become a natural extension of this interest. Through mathematics and algorithms, I can create systems that behave in a similar way. I establish a framework, but I never know exactly what will emerge from it.

The Unrepeatable Field was born from that idea: that uniqueness is not the exception in nature, but its fundamental condition.

Philippe Ceulemans. A Singularity Flow — The Unrepeatable Field II, 2026

You underscore the fact that you do not use AI models in your work but rather write every line of code. This brings to mind the craft behind applying pigments to a canvas to create a work of art. Please tell us about your decision to move away from AI and how you carry out your creative process writing algorithms.

I don’t consider myself anti-AI. I find the technology fascinating and I follow its development with great interest.

At the same time, I realized early on that it wasn’t the path I wanted to take in my own artistic practice.

What attracts me is the process of building something myself. I enjoy understanding every mechanism that contributes to the final work. When I paint, I work directly with materials. When I write code, I work directly with systems.

In many ways, coding feels surprisingly close to painting.

I often spend weeks or months developing a visual idea. A small mathematical adjustment can completely change the behavior of an artwork and lead me somewhere unexpected. Those discoveries are some of the most rewarding moments in my practice.

For that reason, I write all my own code and do not use generative AI models in the creation of my artworks.

The process is slower, but it allows me to maintain a direct relationship with every aspect of the work. The algorithms themselves become part of the artwork. They are not just tools used to create images—they are artistic material.

“Science helps us understand the structures behind the visible world, while art allows us to experience them emotionally.”

You have described your work as “a still point inside the moving world.” Your attention to a more meditative and calm artistic expression can be clearly perceived throughout your work, but since your digital artworks incorporate motion, I’d like to know how you create motion to denote stillness and introspection.

This is probably the central question in my work.

I am interested in motion that does not seek attention. Most moving images today compete for our attention through speed, intensity, and constant change. My work moves in the opposite direction. The movement is often extremely slow, sometimes almost imperceptible.

I am not interested in creating images. I am interested in creating conditions for contemplation.

Paradoxically, very slow movement can make us more aware of stillness. It changes the way we experience time. The work remains active, yet it can feel calm and stable.

I often think of these pieces less as animations and more as environments for perception. Their purpose is not to tell a story. Their purpose is to create a space in which reflection becomes possible.

Philippe Ceulemans. After Ice III — Residue, 2026

“I am not interested in creating images. I am interested in creating conditions for contemplation.”

Many of your works feel particularly timeless, subtly suggesting ancient symbols and rituals, as is the case of the Aureate series. While you state that you do not intend to dictate meaning, the choice of colors, textures, and elements does insert a certain narrative, albeit subtle and open to interpretation. How do you play with the balance between creating a purely abstract composition and hinting at certain meanings?

I am very interested in the space between recognition and ambiguity.

If everything is explained, the viewer has little room to participate. If nothing is recognizable, it can become difficult to establish a connection.

I try to work somewhere in between.

Certain colors, forms, textures, and spatial relationships naturally evoke memories, symbols, or cultural references. Rather than defining their meaning, I prefer to leave them unresolved.

The Aureate works are a good example. Some viewers see ritual objects, sacred spaces, ancient architecture, or spiritual symbols. Others see purely abstract compositions.

Both responses are valid.

I want the work to remain open enough that viewers can bring their own experiences and interpretations into it.

“The algorithms themselves become part of the artwork. They are not just tools used to create images—they are artistic material.”

Tell us a bit about Lumin820 and your collaboration with your brother Olivier. Has his photographic work influenced your creative process? How do your visions of the world connect?

Lumin820 grew out of a shared fascination with observation, light, and image-making. Although Olivier and I work in different mediums, I think we share a similar sensitivity toward the world around us. We are both interested in looking beyond the obvious and paying attention to things that are often overlooked.

His photographic work has certainly influenced me. Photography teaches patience. It teaches observation. It teaches the importance of light and atmosphere.

At the same time, our approaches remain distinct. Olivier works through the camera, while I often move toward abstraction, painting, and algorithmic systems.

What connects us is a desire to create work that invites people to slow down and look more carefully.

Philippe Ceulemans. Aureate Radiant Core, 2026

Your digital artworks are displayed on screens in public spaces such as hotel lobbies and offices through platforms such as Niio. How do you imagine the experience of the viewer and the interaction between the artwork and the surrounding space in these contexts?

I find these contexts very interesting because they are different from traditional exhibition spaces.

People do not necessarily arrive with the intention of looking at art. They encounter the artwork while moving through everyday life.

Because my pieces evolve slowly, they can operate almost like a presence within a space. Someone may notice the work briefly, walk away, and then encounter it again later from a different perspective.

I like that relationship.

Rather than demanding attention, the work can coexist with its environment and gradually influence the atmosphere of a space. If it encourages someone to pause for a moment or become more aware of their surroundings, then it has already achieved something meaningful.

“Rather than demanding attention, the work can coexist with its environment and gradually influence the atmosphere of a space.”

Philippe Ceulemans. Papaver Nocturne, 2026

Given your interest in taking art beyond the canvas, have you considered creating artworks for immersive environments using Virtual Reality technology, or developing Augmented Reality pieces that could be connected to a specific location?

Absolutely.

Many of the ideas I explore already exist beyond the limits of a traditional frame. They deal with space, perception, movement, and presence. Immersive technologies therefore feel like a natural extension of that exploration. What interests me most is not spectacle but experience.

Much immersive technology focuses on stimulation and visual impact. I would be more interested in creating contemplative environments—places where viewers can slow down, reflect, and experience a different relationship with time and space.

Augmented reality also offers exciting possibilities because it allows digital artworks to enter into dialogue with specific locations, landscapes, or historical contexts.

For now my focus remains on painting and hand-coded digital works, but I definitely see immersive environments as a possible future chapter in my practice.