In her work Butink focuses on the meeting point of photography and video. Her images come in slow motions, loops and stills, which elongate time, make it endless or bring it to a stop. Details, normally hidden in the conventional passing of time, are revealed, but since the previous and next frames are still perceptible, the language remains that of video. She refers to her work as 'moving photography'.
Movements of people in the street intrigue Butink. Common details fascinate her: a turn of the head, hair falling in front of the eyes; the different postures of people walking, running, waiting. Those are poses familiar to everybody, yet not reflected on often. Changing the perspective of time emphasises the familiar, and creates a dance: her videos choreograph movements that take place in public spaces.
In addition to video installations, Butink makes live video projections (VJ). This work allows her to experiment with her material and to put it in another context. Because the (live) editing will always be different, it leads to suprising combinations. Butink concentrates on ambiance, rythm and the experience itself. Images in these performances relate to rythm and movement. she films all images herself mostly during traveling and in everyday life situations. In her VJ shows she works closely together with DJ's and also with the band Nevada Drive.
Michal Butink (1975) graduated in 1997 in Photography, at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, The Hague, the Netherlands. In conjunction with those studies she also attended the interfaculty Image and Sound at the Royal Conservatory. From 1998-2001 she studied at the Sandberg Institute and got her Master Degree in Fine Art.