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During Art Rotterdam, you will see the work of hundreds of artists from all over the world. In this series, we highlight a number of artists who will show remarkable work during the fair.
Monali Meher works in a multitude of disciplines: from video, installation and performance to photography and textiles. But it is performance art that occupies the most prominent place in her practice. The body plays a central role in this, alongside recurring themes such as time, a sense of belonging, migration, cultural cross-pollination, a hybrid and diaspora identity, gender, intimacy, decay, the climate, transformation and the reshaping of objects and memories — often in a social or political context. In fact, time, and the physical and spatial dimension of time, is such an essential part of her practice that it almost counts as a medium in itself. She compresses or stretches the concept of time. The artist is also interested in oppositions such as sadness and happiness, continuity and transience, birth and death.
Meher’s practice is a continuous quest in which she mirrors her own experiences through the media she chooses. Sometimes certain objects play a role in this, often transitory or natural in nature. When the online platform ITSLIQUID asked her about her personal interpretation of art in 2014, Meher stated: “Art is the language, the body, an expression, emotion, sound, pain, struggle, growth, change, statement, something which stays with you in your memory and/or changes it’s form over a period of time.”
In recent years, Meher has performed a number of compelling performances. She used her body to simulate the almost imperceptibly slow change of nature in the performance “Gilded” (2022), amidst a staged natural landscape. She made stone soup in Kunsthal Gent and in 2011 she organised a ‘Silent Walk’ on the Museumplein in Amsterdam as part of International Migrants Day, specifically in the context of the worldwide art campaigns of Tania Bruguera. In 2021, she presented a performance in De Kerk in Arnhem. For this she painted 700 kilos of potatoes in black paint with words with a negative connotation. In different languages you could read words like “anger”, “violence”, “hass” (hate), “guerre” (war) and more. Visitors were invited to peel the potatoes to remove their (emotionally) toxic skin. The potatoes were then donated to various homeless institutions and the sustainable local restaurant De Stadskeuken. When the performance ended early due to a lockdown, Meher continued the project on her own. Later in 2021, Meher presented a performance in a snowy valley in Norway. In “Arctic Action VI” she wrapped yellow, green and blue transparent fabric over an old rusty oven, which had previously been used for burning garbage. Meher: “I started wrapping objects in 2005, transforming, giving them new skin with the aim to make emotions emerge from them.” The Arctic Action project, that the performance was a part of, draws attention to the fragility of the planet and the relationship between human beings and nature.
Meher graduated from the Sir J. J. School of Arts in Mumbai in 1998. In the same year, she travels to Vienna, where she is invited for a UNESCO-Aschberg residency. In 2000 she started a residency program at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam and remained in the Netherlands after that. In 2004 she briefly traveled back to India, where she participated in the Khoj residency project in New Delhi for two months. She currently lives and works in Ghent.
In the Belgian magazine rekto:verso, Meher wrote that it can frustrate her when people always center her Indian background, even in the interpretation of her work — and with that her “otherness”, an expression of “othering” in the terminology of Edward Said. Meher mentioned that she initially adapted to the Netherlands by applying a neutral palette, but that none other than Marina Abramović advised her to embrace her background in her artistic practice.
In addition to performances, Meher also creates work on paper. Meher: “Drawings for me are like autobiographical diagrams. My use of natural and ephemeral ingredients results in a process of perishing and transitory moment of the time. I transform the nature of manner in which materials react, what shape or smell they produce, what impact they make on my viewers and how the space around my art and audience gets transformed.” Meher enriches these works with food colouring, inks, pigments, face paint and sandalwood oil, which are then used as a means to soothe physical and mental pain. In combination with the images, this creates a number of almost ritual acts.
Meher has shown her work at Tate Modern, the National Gallery of Modern Art in India, the Van Gogh Museum, the MAXXI museum in Rome, the Sinop Biennale Turkey, DaDao Beijing, the Venice Experimental Cinema and Performance Art Festival and the Arezzo Biennale, where she won the Golden Chimera Award for innovation and originality. In the Netherlands, her work is included in the collections of the Centraal Museum and the AkzoNobel Art Foundation, among others.
During Art Rotterdam, Monali Meher will present her work in the booth of Lumen Travo Gallery in the main section.
Written by Flor Linckens
Zoro Feigl (NL 1983) has his office in Amsterdam, but works in the Belgian Kempen region where he has a large outdoor studio. Space is essential for Feigl, as his installations are usually large and noisy. Feigl has always had a fascination for ‘how things are put together’. Only later did he realize that this had to do with art. Initially, he studied design in Utrecht, and enjoyed himself there, but got stuck because he didn’t stick to the instructions of his teachers. He ended up at the Rietveld Academy, where he graduated in 2007. In 2011, he followed a further education at the HISK in Ghent. His work has already been shown at Art Rotterdam, where he won the prize for the best presentation at Intersections in 2015.
On Saturday 14 May, Feigl’s solo exhibition Zonvonkengesproei will open in the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, a stone’s throw from the Van Nelle Factory. The museum opens its doors after a thorough renovation that lasted two years. Ellis Kat is involved in Zonvonkengesproei as a curator and talks about the effect the newly renovated museum had on Feigl’s work, his method and the ideas behind his work.
You have built up the exhibition over the past few days. Is that different with Zoro’s machines than with an exhibition with two-dimensional works?
Past days?! Past weeks, you mean. Due to the size and complexity of the installations, a large team spent weeks building it up. In fact, work on this exhibition started about three years ago. Initially, Zoro’s solo exhibition was planned just before the renovation. He was given a license to use the spaces as he wished, as the museum would be renovated afterwards anyway. Everything was cut and dried, the works were ready for transport and then the lockdown followed. It was decided to renovate first and postpone the exhibition.
A big difference in curating this exhibition compared to an exhibition with two-dimensional works is that paintings are usually completed in the studio, transported to the museum where they are unpacked and hung. Now every installation was actually made in the museum itself. Zoro’s studio in Belgium is large, but an eighteen meter long installation such as Getij cannot be completely built there. So the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam actually functioned as Zoro’s studio for weeks. Only there and then did it become clear how it all came together.
In some cases Zoro made a smaller version of a work in his studio, such as the work Fosfenen, which consists of countless moving mirrors that reflect in space. He first showed me that version in his studio amid the clutter and in the semi-darkness. In the museum it really comes into its own and I saw the magic of the end result.
Is curating an exhibition like this different from a ‘normal’ exhibition?
I’m afraid a normal exhibition doesn’t really exist. Zonvonkengesproei is a special exhibition to curate. More than ever I have learned that the place where an exhibition takes place plays a fundamental role. At first we were in the midst of the renovation, during which he was given carte blanche to demolish the museum. Now, Zoro was obliged to act neatly; he not only ensures that the new building is not damaged, but with his art he knows how to unlock the new elements in the halls for the visitor. It has become a completely different exhibition. Due to these circumstances, Zoro had to work very carefully and he has shaken off the bad boy image. When you think of his installations, you envision robust, twisting, spinning machines. Now I have seen how ingenious, concentrated and skilful Zoro works. In retrospect, the pandemic is a gift to the renovated museum and Zoro’s artistic development: they pull each other up.
The exhibition comprises six rooms. Do those rooms provide a survey of Zoro’s work or are they six recent or new works?
It is almost all new work. Only Zwermen, an installation that the museum acquired in 2020, has been on display before. The works in Zonvonkengesproei mark a new step in Feigl’s oeuvre. He has grown up. It remains kinetic work and it does make noise, but it was made with a lot of attention, so that the visitor also dares to give that attention to the works. He has managed to get to the core of his artistic practice.
The exhibition is called Zonvonkengesproei. What does that mean and why exactly does that term cover the charge?
That is a neologism, a non-existent word that comes from Herman Gorter’s 1889 poem Mei. In the poem the girl Mei meets the love of her life, Balder. She is in ecstasy and directly projects her feelings onto the young god. It’s such an overwhelming feeling that she can’t quite put it into words and that’s why she uses this word. Zoro’s work evokes a similar overwhelming feeling. It’s so all-encompassing that it’s hard to describe.
What is the core of Zoro’s artistic practice you were talking about?
In his work Zoro tries to incorporate natural phenomena and everyday things in installations. Think of the behaviour of a flock of starlings, ripples in the sand in the surf or glowworms on your retina, which you see when you close your eyes for a long time. They are things that happen, but which we cannot influence. No human can control the way a flock of starlings moves in the sky, no matter how much we think we have power over nature. Zoro does try to seize these elusive situations and make them accessible in his work. Suddenly he takes control. Just for a moment, because when he turns on his installations, all the balls – the starlings, or the mirrors – the glowworms – all go in a direction that he could never have predicted himself. The work itself has come alive again. If you have seen his installations, hopefully when you exit the exhibition you will notice everyday things that you previously passed by.
How does Zoro work? Does he start from an idea, a vision, or rather from material that he finds interesting?
Zoro has no set method. Some works, such as Floating Floor, are created by association. One evening, Zoro took the bag from a 5-litre carton of Aldi wine, squeezed it and watched the wine flow to other parts of the bag. A kind of waterbed effect. What if we have floors like this, he wondered. In Schiedam you can now walk on a parquet floor that is constantly sagging. Another example is the installation Lianen, which is displayed in the attic of the museum. This installation consists of four metal ribbons that are driven by motors and that wind continuously. Together they form a choreography. Like many of his installations, this one takes on a more human character the longer you look at it. The idea for Lianen was a package that was closed with tie-wraps, they flew away when he cut them open. This uncontrollable effect intrigued him and he tries to capture it in a work. However, the reason for a work can also be much more pragmatic. It also happens that a material has been wandering around in his studio for a long time, he keeps tripping over it and decides to use the material, so that it is finally cleaned up. Not having a set method ensures that Zoro is always open to play and accidental discoveries.
Zoro often uses classical mechanics in his work. Motorcycles in all shapes and sizes. Why does he use this rather dated technology?
Why does a painter use paint? I disagree that he uses outdated technology. Now that I had a look behind the scenes, I see how much modern technology is involved. An installation such as Getij consists of PCs at the back that control programmed choreographies of the bands. It is a combination of raw materials and modern techniques. The assumption that he only gets things from scrap to use in his work is patently incorrect. At times he spends weeks looking for a specific part of his installation to finish it exactly the way he envisioned. He received this time from the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, so that he has transcended his bad boy image.
In articles about Zoro’s work you often read something like: if you have ever seen a work by Zoro, you will not soon forget it. Can you explain why his works leave such a strong impression?
That’s Zonvonkengesproei; you can’t quite put it into words. Let me not say too much about it: just come to the exhibition, then you can experience it for yourself.
Abysses by Zoro Feigl can be seen at Art Rotterdam in the booth of Gallery Fred&Ferry.
The exhibition Zonvonkengesproei by Zoro Feigl can be seen from 14 May through 11 September in Stedelijk Museum Schiedam.
During Art Rotterdam, you will see the work of hundreds of artists from all over the world. In this series, we highlight a number of artists who will show remarkable work during the fair.
In her practice, the British-Japanese artist Lilah Fowler investigates the effects and consequences of technology on our contemporary landscape. She analyses the extent to which these are natural and man-made technologies. These human technologies consist of both analogous variants (such as Roman pottery or Navajo weaving techniques) as well as digital forms (such as large data centers). How do these change our contemporary landscape? And what role does (a common) language play in the ways in which we interpret our direct environment? In her work, Fowler delves deeper into the geopolitical layers of our globalised virtual and analog landscapes — and the ways in which these parallel worlds occasionally overlap.
Fowler’s complex and layered installations include sound installations, woven works, photography, sculpture and video art. For her projects, the artist regularly collaborates with experts from other fields, including biochemists, quantum physicists, computer programmers, mathematicians and weavers. For an exhibition on behalf of the Colchester and Ipswich Museums, she combined her own installations with works from the museum collection. For example, she made large-scale textile works whose patterns derived from a tailor-made algorithm.
Fowler studied at the Edinburgh College of Art and obtained a master’s degree in Sculpture at the Royal College of Art in London. She has completed several residencies — including a residency at Whipps Cross Hospital — as well as research projects in places including Nevada, California, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. She created several site-specific outdoor works and exhibited her work at the Bonner Kunstverein, Kunsthal KaDe and Museum Vasarely in Budapest, among others. Her work is currently also on display at the Whitechapel Gallery as part of the interactive side programming of the exhibition ‘A Century of the Artist’s Studio: 1920-2020’.
During Art Rotterdam, the work of Lilah Fowler will be on show in the New Art Section, presented by UN-SPACED Gallery.
During Art Rotterdam, you will see the work of hundreds of artists from all over the world. In this series, we highlight a number of artists who will show remarkable work during the fair.
The practice of Thibault Brunet explores the vague boundaries between reality and virtuality in the digital age. On a technical level, Brunet questions the functioning of photography: he seeks insight into the relationship between virtual images and reality and our own relationship with virtuality, in a society that is slowly becoming more and more digitized. In his work, he searches for new ways to capture reality and make it virtual, making use of surprising areas of research and experiments. For instance, he makes frequent use of existing virtual worlds for his photographic research.
In the spring of 2018, Brunet completed an Etant donnés residency in New York, which was made possible in part by the Aperture Foundation. In an interview about this with the French embassy in the United States, he explains more about his thinking. Brunet: “Today’s world is extremely documented. Everything is photographed, any gas station, any path; recreational drones, dashcams of cars and Gopros on the helmets of cyclists record everything. If I know how to recover and use all of this data, I can recreate the recorded world, add more in volume, make topographical interpretations. Because all of these recorded instances one after another mobilize a new world, a world numerical and immaterial, it is not a perfect replica of reality, but a misrepresented and sick replica, with holes.”
For his first series, Brunet did virtual landscape studies in video games like Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty, and in his most recent work he delved into the popular game Minecraft. For his series “Boîte noire” (‘Black box’) he traveled in a virtual sense to war zones in Syria. He used images from Google Street View and drone images to compose 3D models. This creates a model, a simplified and incomplete representation of reality that resembles a video game. For other projects — including “Soleil noir”, which will be on display in the booth of Galerie Binome during Art Rotterdam — the artist experimented with a LIDAR (Laser Imaging Detection And Ranging) 3D scanner, which allows him to add more perspectives than you can perceive with the naked eye. As a result, he effectively changes our relationship with those same spaces.
Brunet studied at the Ecole Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Nîmes. His work has been shown at the Lyon Biennale in 2015 and at the Center Pompidou in the exhibition “Imprimer le Monde/Print the World”. The artist was a finalist of the Aperture Foundation Prize 2012 in New York, won the Photo London John Kobal Residency Award (2016) and was chosen as one of the FOAM Talents of 2013.
During Art Rotterdam, the work of Thibault Brunet will be on show in the booth of Galerie Binome, as part of Projections.
During Art Rotterdam, you will see the work of hundreds of artists from all over the world. In this series, we highlight a number of artists who will show remarkable work during the fair.
Tarona’s video artwork “Pivot” opens with a powerful English quote in purple against a black background: “When Black bodies are on the stage, Black perspectives must be reflected. This is not simply a matter of ‘artistic interpretation’; race and sex play a pivotal role in determining who holds the power to shape representation.”
This quote was uttered by the award-winning American actress Tonya Pinkins, who previously received a prestigious Tony Award. She noted that her perspective as a Black woman was structurally ignored throughout her career, in favour of a different kind of portrayal of the Black woman: viewed through a filter of the white gaze.
The academic concept of ‘the gaze’ analyses a certain power relationship when one person is captured by another. The recorder determines how the portrayed person will be immortalised — and will be viewed by others in the future. This inequality is exacerbated when there is also another level of power inequality between these two people. In 1975, the British feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey first spoke about the ‘male gaze’, the way in which women are captured and viewed by men: often as a decorative (sex) object. Three years later, the term took on additional depth when literature professor Edward Said, founder of the field of Postcolonial Studies, published the book ‘Orientalism’. Terms such as the “oriental gaze” or the “western gaze” are useful when referring to the ways in which people from non-Western countries were (and are) represented by the West; in many cases by their (former) colonial oppressors. These people were regularly portrayed and diminished as ‘exotic’ or ‘uncivilized’, to serve as a contrast, as ‘the other’. In line with this, there is also the ‘straight gaze’ and the ‘white gaze’. This terminology is important because it signals that the mere presence of (for example) people of colour does not automatically mean that there is a correct and balanced representation.
In this work, Tarona takes a closer look at Black performances in white spaces. How are Black people and people from the African diaspora (mis)represented? In the video artwork “Pivot”, we see a Black performer who resists the expectations of a white audience. In eleven minutes we see her dancing expressively in a striking golden dress that almost becomes a character in its own right. It seems like a contemporary interpretation of the famous ‘Serpentine Dance’ (1899) by the Lumière brothers, one of the very first coloured films, that was shot at an accelerated pace. However, the character in “Pivot” dances in slow motion. Tarona: “She occupies time and space, on her own terms. Since video is a time-bound medium, I chose to make this idea tangible by slowing down the visuals.”
Tarona was born in Curaçao and also uses her work as a way to explore her own identity. In her practice, the artist is inspired by the work of Johny Pitts, whose book ‘Afropean’ examines how Black and African diaspora identities are shaped in a European landscape. In her own research, Tarona often focuses specifically on Black Caribbean and South American identities in Europe, in all their versatility and complexity. In doing so, she searches for forms of representation and communality, in a landscape in which these identities are often invisible or erased.
You can view the video “Pivot” during Art Rotterdam in the Prospects exhibition of the Mondriaan Fund. For the 10th consecutive time, the Mondriaan Fund presents the work of 88 starting artists who received a financial contribution to start their career. Tarona studied at the School Of Visual Arts in New York and the Willem de Kooning Academy and her work has previously been shown in the ‘Caribbean Ties’ exhibition at the Museon in The Hague.
The video “Pivot” was made in collaboration with Chanel Vyent, Qianwei Tong, Sam van Eenbergen, Ivan Hidayat, Imane Saksou, Gaea Studio, de Makeover Factory en Captcha!.
During Rotterdam Art Week (18 to 22 May), art, design and architecture are placed on a pedestal. With about 70 events at 50 locations, you get a chance to rediscover what makes Rotterdam so unique. Like every year, the pivotal event of Rotterdam Art Week is the international art fair Art Rotterdam, supplemented by the leading design fair Object Rotterdam, young talent at The New Current, the Kunstavond XL in the Witte de Withstraat and the TEC ART festival; at the exciting event at the intersection of art, creative technology and science. In addition, there is a lot to see in the galleries, open studios and unique creative breeding grounds such as STEUR, which are only open to the public once a year. In addition to these must-sees, we highlight a few more tips below.
Charlotte Nijsten, coordinator of Rotterdam Art Week: “The best aspect of Rotterdam Art Week? The whole city is buzzing! That is the result of approximately 70 events at 50 locations, including various fairs like contemporary art fair Art Rotterdam and design fair Object Rotterdam, as well as special openings and exhibitions in museums and art institutions, pop-up exhibitions and open studios that actively enhance and enliven the art climate in the city.”
Tip: did you know that during Rotterdam Art Week, you can borrow a VanMoof e-bike (for free) between 11 am and 5 pm? Please note: It is necessary to make a reservation in advance. In addition, there is a free MINI shuttle service between the Van Nelle factory and the Merwe-Vierhaven area.
Do It Yourself Routes
Do you prefer to go out on your own but don’t know where to start? Then make use of the handy Do It Yourself Routes, which were created in collaboration with Art Index Rotterdam and her tour partner. The walking routes cover the five focus areas: the Merwe-Vierhaven area (M4H), the Van Nelle Factory area, the Kop Van Zuid, the Museum Park and the vicinity of the Central Station. View all walking routes here. Tip: click on the Google Maps button on the website to open the route (including all locations in Google Maps) on your phone. That way you can effortlessly navigate through the city.
The tenth edition of Prospects, the exhibition of the Mondriaan Fund, shows work by all artists who recently received a contribution towards the start of their professional practice. New this year is the extension of Prospects to the Expedition Building, which is located directly opposite the entrance to Art Rotterdam. 88 visual artists will take part in Prospects. The exhibition is curated for the third time by experienced guest curator Johan Gustavsson, in collaboration with Gabija Seiliute.
Waèl el Allouche, Cindy Bakker, Cedric ter Bals, Marwan Bassiouni, Sophie Bates, Simon Becks, Sjef van Beers, Asgerdur Birna Bjornsdottir, Irene de Boer, Wiosna van Bon, Suzette Bousema, Wiebe Bouwsema, Anna Bravo Pérez, Leon de Bruijne, Ryan Cherewaty, Robin Alysha Clemens, Angelo Custodio, Anders Dickson, Daniel Dmyszewicz, Jurjen Galema, Andrés García Vidal, Elena Giolo, Esmay Groot Koerkamp, Sarah Rose Guitian Nederlof, Gijsje Heemskerk, Laurence Henriquez, Marta Hryniuk, Rosalynn van Hummel, Danae Io, Karlijn Janssen, Honey Jones-Hughes, Lotte Louise de Jong, Maureen Jonker, Sonia Kazovsky, Minne Kersten, Susanne Khalil Yusef, Julia Kiryanova, Bin Koh, Anne Kranenborg, Sarah Ksieska, Tarona Leonora, Nazif Lopulissa (Nasbami), Florence Marceau-Lafleur, Sjoerd Martens, Donglai Meng, Salvador Miranda, Ruben Mols, Rossella Nisio, David Noro, Evi Olde Rikkert, Tjitske Oosterholt, Ana Oosting, Anastasija Pandilovska, Natalia Papaeva, Alice Reis, Flora Reznik, Thom van Rijckevorsel, Duncan Robertson, Victor Santamarina, Joana Schneider, Simone Schuffelen, Hans Schuttenbeld, Miriam Sentler, Mirre Yayla Séur, Katerina Sidorova, Ghita Skali, Kateryna Snizhko, Machiel van Stokkum, Jonathan Straatman, Cécile Tafanelli, Michiel Ubels, Piotr Urbaniec, RJM (Robin) van der Heijden, Luciënne Venner, Lara Verheijden, Jeanine Verloop, Philip Vermeulen, Raquel Vermunt, Wessel Verrijt, Roosje Verschoor, Arian Vette, Majda Vidakovic, Marit Westerhuis, Bente Wilms, Joeri Woudstra, Iris Woutera de Jong, Bernardo Zanotta, Valerie van Zuijlen, Zindzi Zwietering.
During Art Rotterdam, you will spot the work of hundreds of artists from all over the world. In this series, we highlight a number of artists who will show remarkable work during the fair.
Brazilian artist Mano Penalva studied social communication and social sciences in Rio de Janeiro, with a specialisation in anthropology. In addition, he followed seven years worth of art courses at the Escola de Artes Visuais. Above all, he is fascinated by material culture: an umbrella term that is used in various fields, including anthropology, to refer to the total of tangible objects from contemporary cultures and cultures from the past. How are these products made, distributed and used?
The artist investigates this material culture in relation to behavioural changes and globalisation. He particularly prefers everyday objects that have been converted into commodities and are both local and global in character — as a result of an increasingly intensified, industrialised and internationalised production process. Penalva is interested in the ways in which objects and images are distributed around the world in an exponential fashion. This exchange can also reveal something about the socio-economic and cultural reality of a particular people or an underlying colonial history.
Penalva collects everyday objects that he finds on the street or during his many trips to major world cities, especially at popular street markets. For earlier works, the artist has used the tarpaulin that is used in these stalls. He collects and buys materials such as embroidery, appliqué patches, nets, jute bags, nylon strips, hooks, brushes and seat belts. For a recent series from 2021, Penalva used raffia packaging bags that are used for things like flour, fertilizer, mail and brown sugar.
The artist then appropriates these examples of material culture, after which he removes them from their original context in order to arrive at new, poetic meanings. Sales strategies also play a role in this. For example, for the work “Maiz”, Penalva made a corn cob out of Cheetos (chips), the size of a popular type of corn that is sold in Mexico, but is imported from the United States. He photographed that object and then printed 3,000 postcards of it, which he distributed to local souvenir sellers in Mexico City. They were allowed to keep the proceeds of the sale. The artist wants to say something about material culture, but also about the effects of globalisation.
For his practice, Penalva works in a variety of media, including painting, photography, video, sculpture and installation. His work is sometimes identified with Brazilian culture because he makes extensive use of characteristic local items, but by offering new applications, he removes the boundaries of the material. The artist is also intrigued by the idea that an object or word can have different meanings in different cultures. He searches for objects that transcend these boundaries and thus become a symbol for globalisation, after which he places them in a new context. A recurring theme is the contrast between (private) domestic life and the more ephemeral (public) life on the street, and the ways in which these influence our values and habits.
In recent years, Penalva has completed residencies in Mexico, Miami, Brussels, New York and Brazil. His work has been exhibited worldwide, including in Brussels, Mexico, Barcelona, Venice, Paris and New York. During Art Rotterdam, the work of Mano Penalva will be on show in the booth of Galerie Felix Frachon.
Vriend van Bavink | Teun Castelein
The Totem project by artist Teun Castelein is a response to the far-reaching regulation of our public domain with a multitude of rules and instructions. The project is an experimental research to find some space for the artistic within our controlled environment, for some free jazz on the beaten track.
The series of traffic signs will be placed in your street after purchase. Plates can also be ordered separately.
Martin van Zomeren | Paul Geelen
Mothership (…) is a large suspended ceramic sculpture that accumulates over a stretched period of time and descends from an immediate fusion between a series of contradictions and imbalances; an anecdote and the visual associations between a Snail Shell and the mutations of the hair on the Buddha’s Head and Uṣṇīṣa.
In addition to the direct impact – or by rapprochement, some closer tensions between formal, abstract and semantic associations – the ‘performative’ presence of living snails on the two bodies is characterized by a chemical reaction between the bronze glaze and the soft body of the snail.
These traces – leaving an iridescent etching effect and a permanent mark – reveal a colourful potential and transform the snail from a temporary bit player into a humble protagonist, protector and martyr at the same time.
Note: A snail is able to naturally adapt and protect itself against more severe conditions.
Mondriaan Fonds| Wiebe Bouwsema
For Wiebe Bouwsema, boundaries or limitations are a recurring theme: between the material and the immaterial, between interior and exterior spaces, between the actual and the virtual worlds and between man and nature. He brings these contradictions together in his work, allowing them to flow into one another, cancelling them out as well as emphasizing them. You can see it as oppressive, as dark, but also as quiet and poetic, as figures who – like Michelangelo’s Prisoners – still have to free themselves from their material.
Opperclaes | Onno Poiesz
The blues
With the blues, Onno Poiesz welcomes the public. The work is meant to be festive, but is also a reference to war and pandemic, or contemporary “blues” that dominate the beginning of 2022.
NEST | Eugenie Boon
The Pawns that Wandered in Promised Land is an installation which creates an analogy between the physical and the spiritual, fused by references of Hebrew literature, philosophy and boardgames.
“The Promised Land” in Hebrew literature expresses an image of a restored homeland that brings salvation and liberation and is understood as a goal to be reached. With this work Boon suggests that the Promised land is not only a physical place but can be understood as a state of mind- with the brain as the main battlefield, figuratively represented as a board game and the pawns as either reactive or proactive in their approach to this understanding.
With this installation Boon reflects on what can be seen and experienced versus that which cannot be seen yet still experienced. The experience is constant while the components around change through visualization.
Josilda da Conceição | Bernardus Baldus
In my work I investigate the power and influence of corporate language and visual culture and its disciplining effect on society. A culture where everything can be made and controlled on the basis of figures and efficiency. I am inspired by things like efficiency, success and manufacturability, entrepreneurship, positivity, transparency, office architecture and office supplies. This leads to business objects (sculptures), performances, drawings or photos that function as illusions (simulacrum or simulation). I find it stimulating that the symbolic value – such as luxury and/or status – is more important than originality and authenticity. As an artist, I myself consider originality to be a meaningless, empty concept. Baudrillard calls this the ‘irony of the object’.
In my work I use irony as an ambiguous game with which I can seduce, surprise or make the viewer doubt. The most exciting thing about irony is that it functions through the unsaid judgment. To understand irony, context and foreknowledge are important to understand that which is not spoken. If, through irony, I ask the viewer to understand that there is a moral judgment in my work, then both the viewer and I must share that judgment in order to understand the unspoken. That does not always work.
With my ironic, critical work I want to stretch the line between what people expect from art and what it is now. The context and/or prior knowledge of the spectator are important aspects here.
Josilda da Conceição | Marjolein Witte
Seduction is a sculpture that is a follow-up to the Evolution sculpture Witte made in 2019 for the exhibition Masterly Women at Stedelijk Museum Schiedam. By making robust, bold and strikingly colored geometric constructions, Witte investigates how we as a group or individual claim space and try to bend the world to our will. The need to be seen is at the core of our existence. We seek confirmation of our identity in family, in relationships, at work, in society and in the world. As happens similar to the animal kingdom, people have come up with all kind of ways to stand out and claim a place with different sensory means. On a micro level, here it is the artist who spreads her feathers like a bird in an attempt to seduce the viewer.
Galerie Nadja Vilenne | Charlotte Lagro
Charlotte Lagro takes found objects and relieves them of their intended purpose and function to accommodate new possibilities for exchange and desire. She strips them bare, plays with them and transforms them, and makes videos about them, often inviting others to join in the process. With sleight of hand, Lagro can make heavy objects appear almost weightless. The work “The Beginning and Ending is Always Ambiguous” centers around an umbilical cable used to supply oxygen, as well as light and communication signals, to deep sea divers. From a hundred meters below, divers climb the umbilical, hand over hand, to make their way back to the surface. In water, its air-filled tubes have just the right amount of added mass to gently sink. This artificial lifeline materializes the vulnerability of human existence. And the search for the familiar in the unfamiliar with handcrafted extensions. An optimistic relic of the human endeavor to the leave the bubble.
PHOEBUS Rotterdam | Esther Bruggink
I would like to escape from the watery depths, to become human and live in the golden sunshine! – this is what the little mermaid from Andersen’s fairy tale sings, in Dvorak’s opera “Rusalka”. In her longing for the prince, she sacrifices her voice and with it her ‘uniqueness’. She loses herself in vulnerability and the prince has to let her go… Full of sorrow she dissolves in the foam of the sea. The sculpture shows a structure of veins and scales, while the lungs on Rusalka’s back refer to angel wings…
Winterlicht Schiedam | Leonard Passchier
Alarm!
UV light is essential for all living organisms on earth, but it also makes capital grow. In Rotterdam’s backyard, the Westland, you can see the purple-blue LED UV lights lighting up more and more often. Will artificial light be our future? Will we no longer be able to live without it? Will it be our only way of getting the vitamin D we need in a world where artificiality is becoming increasingly important?
Passchier’s beacon screams for attention. It’s five minutes to midnight and our climate is changing rapidly. Is this beacon warning us of rising water? Can we trust this beacon, can we navigate on it? Or will we suffer the fate of flies and mosquitoes that get too close to UV light and burn up?
In December 2022, the beacon will be part of the Winterlicht light art festival in Schiedam, which will take place in the Julianapark.
Jaap Sleper | V&B (Alex Jacobs en Ellemieke Schoenmaker)
Over millions of years, our world has been shaped by various geological processes. I would like to introduce you to ‘Continental Drifter no.3’, the promoter of this long forgotten history.
Stones are very sensitive to their environment and especially to vibrations. This sensibility has an effect on their surface.
My appearance is cuddly. This is because I consist of many layers of colored plaster that have been sanded until my skin feels polished. Where necessary I have been restored and drawing has been applied to come as close as possible to a feeling:
‘What would it feel like to be a rock; what was it like when dinosaurs walked the earth. Stones may not be able to speak, but they are telling us something and we need to listen. Because, even though we don’t know much about existence beyond humans, we can still try to imagine it….‘
Albada Jelgersma | Jelle Koorevaar
A populist creates his own image of the world, together with his followers. Together they create their own truth within reality. There is an interdependency. Without his followers the populist is nothing. But being part of this worldview is what gives followers a sense of belonging. Populism shows this interaction between a central figure and his followers. In a very large spiderlike web a machine is hung. From a central point, the machine and the web together create a movement that spreads out. Both are dependent on each other. Without the machine the web hangs still. Without the web, the movement would just be inside the machine. Ultimately, it’s unclear who is in control.
Mundriaan Fund| Roosje Verschoor
An investigation into the phenomenon of hoarding led Roosje Verschoor back to World War I and the food shortages that so prevailed among the poor in Dutch cities. The Amsterdam Potato Riot took place at that time and forms the foundation for this work. Verschoor hands out small, pointed paper bags of fries from a traditional chip cart, an action that refers to a period when potatoes were rationed. At the same time, the snack refers to the ‘spoiled fries generation’, as Verschoor and her peers are called.On the chip bags is a QR code that links to a digital chart in which we can follow how and where the riot unfolded in Amsterdam. In this Boezelaarskompas, named after the aprons worn by the women, archival material and fiction have been brought together. Verschoor has also incorporated archival materials into collages on paper made of potato peels. The final part of this investigation into the Netherlands’ best-known popular food is a series of precious bronze potatoes.
Mondriaan Fund | Jonathan Straatman
Jonathan Straatman makes architectural installations, sculptures with interiors as well as exteriors. Here, the emphasis is on how the interior space is experienced. His architectural assemblages are a kind of ‘mind map’, translations of ideas and concepts about spaces that can be walked through. In this work as well, the way in which we move through the installation plays an important role. The work is about our urge and desire to hold on to and comprehend a reality. At the heart of the experience awaits a soundscape by Twan Bracco Gartner, made especially for this sculpture.
Trendbeheer | Toine Dutch Bushman Klaassen
Not For Sale is a living installation. Contemporary archeology in a laboratory of make-believe: generatio spontanea, visual chemistrymix.
Lumen Travo Gallery | Thierry Oussou
The flag “Equilibrium Wind” is part of the on-going project that artist Thierry Oussou has developed in recent years, addressing the cotton plantations located in the district of Panouignan in Benin and the significant impact they have on the country’s economic growth.
Cotton is an important African product in the globalized arena. It is featured in international discourses and debates on privatisation, poverty alleviation, agricultural subsidies, and sustainable development. But unlike gold or oil, cotton grows from the efforts and sweat of millions of small‐scale farmers, with households and entire communities depending on it.
This flag represents all the people working in the shadows. It is a symbol for the farmers that work hard and are not seen in our society. Oussou re-connects the dots of cotton manufacturing, pointing out the sequence of actions that we, as consumers, often forget about.
Tim Wes
“This is my best body of work until date”, says Wes. As his delicate taste for cultural blending and ability to challenge the status quo of the universal perception of art, gave life to a genre bending artistry, the proverbial energy that flows through his creations reflect the disruptive-healing vision he has for the world. In his latest work he shows us the term uomo universale, today also referred to as a multidisciplinary artist, still exists. Just as Da Vinci embodied this in the 15th century, the Rotterdam based creator redefines the definition of this term by establishing unprecedented innovations in the contemporary fields. A blueprint for the new order. With the installation Trauma Triggers Triumph he uses film, music, canvas and objects to narrate his story and that of many others.
