PAPER PLANES, 2014

The Paper Planes series consists of sixteen folded paper models of actual aircraft designs that have never been realised. Based on information, technical drawings and ‘artist impressions’, predominantly found online, Knibbeler was able to create the reconstructions. These aircraft now exist mainly on the Internet, where their design drawings are shared and discussed on fora for aviation history. Conceived but never realised, these ideas for aircraft represent failure on the one hand. Due to mistakes, lack of funding or by simply being out-dated, their development programmes were terminated. On the other hand, the designs represent visions of a future and have become part of a collective imagination. Knibbeler explains: ‘Some of these aircraft designs are over eighty years old and what struck me is that though they’ve failed as physical aircraft, they still fly around the world as ideas – in the virtual form of data.’

Each photograph is named after the aircraft on which it is based and comes with a short written history. Sjoerd Knibbeler did not hold on to the folded paper models, but chose to unfold and photograph them again, documenting his own interpretation of the models.

Interview FOAM 
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Sjoerd Knibbeler (NL)
°1981, Weert

Sjoerd Knibbeler is a Dutch visual artist, living and working in Amsterdam. In his practice, he combines photography, video and installation. He finds his inspiration in natural phenomena such as wind, air movement and climatological conditions, and subjects such as flying, aeroplanes, aerodynamics and climatology. Sjoerd Knibbeler is a member of the Photography Collective Piece of Cake. He studied at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, and is represented by LhGWR in The Hague.