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Talk hosted by Art Rotterdam – ‘The Influence of Digital Technology on Architecture, Fashion, Art and Design’
Thursday February 1, 17.00 – 18.00 hrs
Location: Reflections Room, on the first floor, next to booth 30
Four experts in the fields of architecture (Aric Chen, director of Nieuwe Instituut), art (Nieck de Bruijn, founding director of Upstream Gallery), fashion (Margreeth Olsthoorn, owner of her eponymous fashion store, curator and stylist), and design (Audrey Jane, interdisciplinary designer using analogue and digital methods) will share their perspectives on this issue in a panel discussion moderated by art historian Manuela Klerkx. Note: This is an English spoken event.
Talk hosted by BK-Information – ‘Marilyn Douala Bell: The Art Practice and the Practice of Public Art in Douala, Cameroon’
Sunday February 4, 11.30 – 12.30 hrs
Location: Reflections Room, on the first floor, next to booth 30
BK-Information hosts the lecture ‘The Art Practice and the Practice of Public Art in Douala, Cameroon’. In an interview with Marilyn Douala Bell, artist Liesbeth Bik will discuss Douala Bell’s role as a commissioner of exhibitions and art in the public space of the city of Douala in Cameroon. Note: This is an English spoken event.
Free guided tours with Young Collector’s Circle
Saturday February 3, 13.00 & 15.00 hrs
Sunday February 4, 13.00 & 15.00 hrs
Registration and staring point : entrance of the fair
Want to join a tour of the fair, led by a passionate art lover from the Young Collectors Circle? The Young Collectors Circle opens up the art world to art lovers with collecting ambitions. Meet other starting collectors, get acquainted with all aspects of collecting and develop your own taste and style.
For further questions, please visit the Info Desk at the entrance of the fair.
After graduating from art schools in Wuhan and London, Sun Chang (1994) attended ‘The Dirty Art Appartment’ course at the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam from 2017-2019. Rather than training artists to practise a craft, it invites them to research our everyday social dynamics and the meanings we assign to social roles. Chang therefore describes herself as a ‘community-based and social artist’. In 2020, she initiated to M•Others (2020-present), an exploration of what motherhood means through interviews, discussions and workshops. In doing so, the artist builds a community that anyone can join. At ‘Prospects’ at Art Rotterdam, she gives insight into her process and shows a recent collaborative artwork.
The idea for the to M•Others project (2020-present) emerged during the covid pandemic. Chang shares: “Lockdown made another thing apparent: much of the work around the house is done by women. This is no news, but it made clear that even when everyone is at home, most chores still end up on the plates of women. Gender plays a role in the home. This was the starting point of my project to M•Others, in which I examine M(other)ing: mothering, taking care of another, the home, and oneself. I started examining motherhood as an action, not as a state of being. In the end motherhood, the act of mothering, is a sort of taking care of one another that can be performed by anyone, regardless of gender identity.” The artist thus uses a broad definition of motherhood, as ‘caring for another’, to include fathers, people without children and queers.
Through dinners, letters, pamphlets, interviews, discussions and collective design workshops, Chang explores what motherhood entails. One example is Sisther-Hood (2023), a large canvas designed with mothers from the Bijlmer and cardboard tags written by girls from womxn’s Mill neighbourhood. This textile work acts as a manifesto with the words ‘I am more because we are more’. The ‘I’ and ‘we’ are connected like veins of life. In the spirit of: ‘another’s beauty and strength does not mean the absence of your own.’ This project was organised during International Women’s Day together with Buurtzus. The children and adults reflected on their female role models and women/girl power in others and themselves. In addition, participants created spirit masks, inspired by a hybrid creature from Greek mythology, to represent symbols of domesticity and threats towards women.
At Prospects, the artist shows this 3-metre-long cloth with an ant-shaped anthill, in response to the question of which animal best represents motherhood. According to Chang, the ant is like a cloak that radiates the strength and connection of its creators. In times when we risk losing sight of connection, Chang uses her artistry to connect people of diverse cultural backgrounds and ages. In her words, “In the end, everyone can be a mother, regardless of gender or sex. M(other)ing [ed. mothering] is a verb, an intention.” As such, her art practices contribute to emancipation, resilience and self-awareness.
Sun Chang (1994) is a social artist, independent publisher and educational designer based in Amsterdam. From 2012 to 2019, she pursued art studies in Wuhan, Beijing, New York, London and Amsterdam. Chang is artistic director of to M-Others and co-founder of Lost Dad Publishing. She was granted several residencies, including from Guangdong Times Museum (2022-2023), Witte Rook (2022) and CBK Zuidoost (2021).
Between 2022-2023, Chang received talent support from the Mondriaan Fund. Therefore, she is one of the participating artists of the ‘Prospects’ exhibition at Art Rotterdam.
Written by Pienk de Gaay Fortman
Hanane El Ouardani’s work stands out for her unique ability to interweave intimate and personal narratives and perspectives with broader societal and cultural themes. El Ouardani’s subjective documentary photography projects are not only aesthetically captivating but also prompt questions about identity, exotism, contradictions and social status. She challenges the viewer to contemplate the complexity of these themes. With her camera, she ventures to public spaces where men play a prominent role and she actively engages in interaction there.
The Dutch-Moroccan photographer was born in the Netherlands with bicultural roots, and her practice reflects a recurring duality: on one hand, an unwavering desire to truly feel at home somewhere, and on the other, embracing her status as an ‘outsider’ due to the unique perspective it offers her, allowing her to keenly observe differences from a distance. In 2018, she published the photo book ‘The Skies are Blue, The Walls are Red’, a visual diary that explores the various layers of a diasporic identity. The book raises questions about representing one’s roots without feeling estranged from one’s own culture.
During Art Rotterdam, El Ouardani will showcase her work at Prospects: an initiative of the Mondriaan Fonds that showcases work by 86 artists who received financial support in 2022 to launch their careers. The work on display ranges from photography to textile works, video to paintings and performances to sculptures. The exhibition is curated by Johan Gustavsson in collaboration with curator Louise Bjeldbak Henriksen. El Ouardani will present three works there that she created in Kuwait, an introduction to her ongoing research that is currently taking shape. So far, the photographer has captured migrants working in American fast-food chains in Kuwait, which have proliferated since 1991 in the aftermath of the First Gulf War. In doing so, El Ouardani is exploring how cultural exchange translates into the complexities of overconsumption.
Additionally, she draws inspiration from a set of playing cards developed by the U.S. military during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, to help soldiers identify the most wanted members of Saddam Hussein’s regime. The cards were considered provocative and trivializing, and at the same time, they represented a bizarre Americanization of the war — a war whose legitimacy, the ‘weapons of mass destruction’, was later found to be unfounded. By 2021, nearly all of the 52 most wanted individuals on the cards had died or been captured, with eleven of them subsequently released.
El Ouardani was born in 1994 and lives and works in Amsterdam. She studied Photography and Design at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague and her work has been exhibited at notable venues, including the Van Gogh Museum, Unseen Amsterdam, Foto Tallinn and Paris Photo.
During Art Rotterdam, Hanane El Ouardani’s work will be on display in the Prospects section of the Mondriaan Fonds.
Written by Flor Linckens
This edition, Art Rotterdam welcomes several new exhibitors including the Johannesburg based Kalashnikovv Gallery. The gallery is dedicated to providing a platform to both emerging and established South African artists. One of them is the interdisciplinary artist Senzeni Marasela (1977, South Africa) who explores photography, video, prints and mixed-medium installations involving textiles and embroidery. Her work deals with history, memory, and personal narrative, emphasising historical gaps and overlooked figures. Although Marasela exhibits around the globe, it is the first time her work is shown at a Dutch art fair.
In her performance titled Waiting for Gebane (2013-2019), Marasela delves into the life of her alter-ego Theodora (named after her mother) and fictional husband Gebane who abandons her in a village in the Eastern Cape and travels to Johannesburg. The story starts with a modest red dress which she receives as a gift before he leaves. The ornamentally printed Iseshweshwe dress is worn by married women in Xhosa culture and is widely worn by the rural population. Marasela wears the garment daily for six years in a row, a powerful statement woven into the encounters she has. She also performed this project at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015.
As the artist explains: “A large part of my work is concerned about covering Theodora. It is the hardships that she had to go through living in Johannesburg and probably also the hardships that women like me now are struggling with now. Because it’s a place with a lot of violence.” As such, Theodora remains not only a fictional character but also a way of giving voice to the traumas of Marasela’s mother and other black women, to this day.
There is literally and figuratively a common thread in her work. The frequent use of the colour red in her embroidered works and watercolours, can be interpreted as a reference to the blood and evil behind colonial practices. Thematically, the artist makes invisible stories of oppressed black women visible. In her most recent series Last Known Location (2023), which the artist presents at Art Rotterdam, she uses topography to string together the story of Theodora in search of Gebane’s footprints.
In earlier work Covering Sarah (2011), consisting of watercolours of red outlines in front of a white background, Sarah Baartman (1789-1815) is the main character. Baartman was a South African Khoikhoi woman who was required to perform in London and Paris in the 19th century. Tragically, she was used by Europeans to exhibit at rich people’s parties and private salons.
That her art has remained relevant and impactful for almost 30 years of artistry is reflected in the recent award Marasela received. In 2023, the artist won the first K21 Global Art Award, an initiative from the Friends of Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen which celebrates the vision and courage of emerging and mid-career artists. She responds: “I hope that this is the beginning of great discussions and cooperations. I also hope that this is a journey that will inspire young artists around the world, especially in Africa.” Determined to address inequality resulting from apartheid, the artist deconstructs practices of colonialism and racism in order to reconstruct a world of equality for generations to come.
Senzeni Marasela (1977, South Africa) graduated from the University of the Witswatersrand in Johannesburg (1998) and shortly thereafter completed a residency at the South African National Gallery. Some of her career highlights include exhibitions at the South African Pavillion during the 56th Venice Biennale (2015), Zeitz Mocaa in Cape Town (2020) and the Museum of Modern Art in Paris (2021). Her work is represented in several collections such as Smithsonian Museum (USA), MoMA (USA) and Harry David Collection (GRE). She lives and works in Soweto.
During Art Rotterdam, Senzeni Marasela exhibits her art at Kalashnikovv Gallery from Johannesburg (Solo/Duo, booth 22).
Written by Pienk de Gaay Fortman
Interview with Shani Leseman about her presentation at Prospects, witchcraft and magic
More than ever before, we have structured our world in line with scientific insights and technological discoveries. From the invention of the microscope to the smartwatch, everything is geared towards rationality and efficiency. But not everything is immediately explainable. There is still room for magic. This is the subject of Shani Leseman’s paintings. Her work is filled with spiritual and magical practices, symbolism, rituals and talismans.
Leseman has an eye for what cannot immediately be seen but can be felt. “Often, I only discover what the painting wants to tell me after I’m finished. I consider the process of painting a way to access the subconscious. Visual art often communicates in the language of dreams, symbols and rituals.”
Shani Leseman (Curaçao, 1996) lives and works in The Hague, where she studied at the Royal Academy of Art (KABK). Currently, she is enrolled in a course to become a witch, or to put it in more friendly terms, a practitioner of magic, which involves dealing with forms of energy and connecting with the inner world. This aligns well with her artistry, as both practices, Leseman claims, focus on intuition and intention. At Art Rotterdam, Shani Leseman’s work can be seen in the Prospects exhibition.
Congratulations on your presentation at Prospects. What can we expect to see?
Thank you! At Prospects, I am presenting five canvas paintings that I created over the past year. They touch on various topics within the overall theme of magic, such as spells, magical objects and places.
You mention magic as the overall theme of the Prospects presentation. Is magic also the general theme of your work?
My work is about the invisible and unexplainable, that which cannot immediately be seen but can be felt. It revolves around spiritual and magical practices, symbolism, intuition, rituals and objects as carriers of meaning.
You spent part of your childhood on Curaçao. Throughout the Caribbean region, magic plays a more significant role in daily life than here. Did your fascination with magic in an everyday context originate there?
Yes, I believe I encountered a naturalness in the belief and use of magic during my childhood on Curaçao. At the same time, magic is something universal and can be found everywhere in the world, in different times and forms. Europe also has rich spiritual roots.
In addition to being an artist, you are a practicing witch. What does that entail?
Witchcraft is not an organised religion and has no fixed rules or frameworks; there are many different styles and practices. What a witch does varies from person to person. In general, a witch, or practitioner of magic (a less loaded term), focuses on the inner world and its connection to the living world around us. Living because the basis of magic is the idea that everything is energy or contains energy. Rivers, plants, humans and other animals, but also things unseen, like feelings and thoughts, consist of energy. Working with magic is consciously noticing, changing or guiding this energy. The practice and philosophy of witchcraft arises from a sense of kinship and focus on protecting life forms that need our support. It has an ecological and activist character.
I read that you are undergoing training for this. What does that training involve?
I am apprenticing with a witch who practices traditional Dutch witchcraft. During my training, she is teaching me about various practices within witchcraft and how to perform them, such as creating rituals, charging magical objects, divination and talismans. The foundation is to develop a strong connection with your intuition through daily exercises.
Is it something you can incorporate into your artistic practice?
Yes, I see many similarities between the practice of a witch and that of an artist. In both practices, intuition and intention are central (for me). An example of how both practices are intertwined can be seen in the work Talismagic, for which I made 100 ceramic talismans. These objects are not references to talismans; they are the magical objects themselves. During the creation of the sculptures, I charged each object with a specific intention. For example, there is a talisman for setting boundaries, one to counter gossip and one for better sleep.
The first time I saw your work was when you were nominated for the Royal Award for Modern Painting. You had submitted the work An altar for dogs. Is such an altar piece typical of your work?
That work is based on an altar piece I encountered on the street while traveling. I was struck by this spontaneous encounter with something magical – I suddenly found myself standing before a carefully assembled whole, consisting of emotionally charged objects. I consider this found altar a physical expression of a feeling that perhaps had nowhere else to go. In such an altar piece, I see the human urge for rituals, for practicing magic. I cannot know the specific intention of the creator with certainty, but I can feel or guess it. I called it An altar for dogs perhaps for the maker’s dogs or for dogs in general. I also recognised my own dog and altars I had made for him in this.
Dogs are a recurring element in my work: this refers to the bond between humans and other animals. As mentioned earlier, the foundation of witchcraft lies in connecting the inner world with all living things around us. I think witchcraft is currently experiencing a revival because it is crucial for the way people interact with other animals and plants to change. The vision within witchcraft calls for a re-evaluation of the environment, an awareness that we share the world with other beings. I find it important to speak out about animal rights and advocate for those without a voice, both in altars and on the street.
I consider the assembly of my paintings in general as the creation of an altar piece, where various elements with symbolic meaning (both personal and universal symbolism) come together for a specific purpose or intention. Sometimes the intention is clear beforehand, such as expressing gratitude or creating an ode, but often I only discover what the painting wants to tell me after I am finished. I consider the process of painting a way to access the subconscious. Visual art often communicates in the language of dreams, symbols and rituals.
Another recurring element in your work is the hand. Hands have a symbolic function in multiple cultures and religions, so I wondered what the hand represents in your work?
In my work process, there is a lot of room for intuitive, quick drawings, often with charcoal. I make many of these, almost like automatic writing, and then I use a selection as the basis for paintings. The hand does indeed appear frequently, without me knowing in advance why or what it represents exactly. Often, I only later discover the personal meaning of these symbols, as with the hand. In my work, it often stands for humanity. Where religion places a god at the centre, within magic, it’s the human and the ability to effect change. Through our hands, we create, connect and heal. When I imagine where energy leaves my body, it is also through the hand.
Last year, you received a grant from the Mondriaan Fund. Is there a project you were able to execute with the grant that you wouldn’t have been able to otherwise?
In addition to various investments in my practice, the Mondriaan Fund grant allowed me to carry out the production of the previously mentioned work, Talismagic, both in terms of material costs and the time invested in each object. The contribution was also crucial for creating the paintings shown at Prospects: the most valuable aspect is having the peace of mind to spend a lot of time in my studio with the canvases.
What are you currently working on?
I am starting a collaboration with Isabel Cavenecia soon. We have a duo show in March at POST as part of the Symbiosis Series. We were put into touch with each other by curator Fenne Saedt due to our shared interest in witchcraft. Another ongoing collaboration is with Trees Heil, under the name My Guides and Me, where we explore spirituality and magic in video and music. Our first songs and performance were created with Piyoyo (Rik Mohlmann). I am also interested in working with glass. I had a small preview of that during my residency on Aruba last November.
Written by Wouter van den Eijkel
Adriano Amaral’s hybrid world
Those who missed the first solo exhibition of work by Brazilian artist Adriano Amaral at Galerie Fons Welters at the end of last year are in luck: Prole is being revived at Art Rotterdam. In part, that is. The gallery will be showcasing some of Amaral’s Prosthetic Paintings that were featured in Prole. For this series of paintings, Amaral used photographs taken with his smartphone as a starting point and then produced them in the same silicone as used for prosthetics.
Describing the content of the work of this alumnus of De Ateliers is much more challenging than the type of silicone he uses. The press release for Prole, which means ‘offspring’ in Portuguese, describes Amaral’s work as an exploration of the materiality and content of everything surrounding us and how things gradually change over time. If we take the title literally, it is about over-evolved offspring. Amaral (Brazil, 1982) experiments with contrasts both conceptually and in terms of materials – living-dead, organic-digital, ecological-technological, but also tangible-ephemeral – to arrive at hybrid forms of those contrasts, which can be so confusing that you are forced to rethink the concepts.
A space with its own logic
Those who came to see Prole had to step through a number of plastic flaps, as if entering a walk-in cooler, a symbolic gateway to a space with its own visual language and corresponding logic. On the floor of the entirely white gallery were 32 crosses made of dirt, each on its own aluminium platform. During the exhibition, the dirt continuously dried out, causing the crosses to become brittle and eventually fall apart.
The gradual transition from life to death is a fairly obvious contrast. The cross shape is a clearly religious symbol, combined with the slowly drying dirt, which may be interpreted as crumbling religious awareness, but Amaral takes it even further. The crosses extend all the way to the walls of the gallery, where half crosses are displayed. This creates the suggestion that the crosses continue endlessly outside the gallery, as if you’ve entered a kind of digital mesh where an organic and a digital world merge.
“My ultimate goal is a hybrid between something organic like dirt and the digital domain,” says Amaral, who worked on the installation for over a year. “At the beginning of my career, I mainly created site-specific installations, but nowadays also more autonomous work, like the Pinturas Protéticas (Prosthetic Paintings). But I still want visitors to see something everywhere and connect with other objects in the space. I also want my work to be open to interpretation so that visitors can make their own connections.”
Amaral describes his approach as intuitive. “Initially, I combined things I found, such as a branch with a cap from a PET bottle. Only after a few years did I realise that the things I combined carried a duality in them on many different levels. In a show like this, I start intuitively, but at a certain point, I know what I want to create and it becomes more conceptual.”
Pinturas Protéticas
On the walls hung the Pinturas Protéticas, made of silicone used in prosthetics for people who have lost a limb. Touching is rarely allowed in art, but with Amaral’s works the skin-like structure makes it difficult to suppress that tendency. “It feels soft, like human skin,” says Amaral. He has been working with silicone since 2015 but only developed this complex application last year.
With the Pinturas, there is also a hybrid aspect. Although the works have an almost skin-like quality, they were 3D printed. Because the works are recessed in a kind of membrane-like frame, you view them from closer by. For Amaral, it’s about the effect of experiencing something made with a printer as human and intimate. The depictions in turn have an artificial, futuristic citrus or lime green colour, making the animal scenes appear somewhat unnatural.
The photos that served as a starting point were taken by Amaral in his immediate surroundings with his mobile phone. “In past work, my environment was an integral part of the work in the form of the materials used,” says Amaral, who now lives on his family’s farm three hours from São Paulo. “This time, I also wanted to show images of my environment, so I’ve occasionally added something I like or found online, like the man in the frog suit.”
Written by Wouter van den Eijkel
Undoubtedly, the most striking booth at Art Rotterdam will be that of the Annet Gelink Gallery. No one will be able to casually pass by a 3½-meter-high rabbit made of hay. For his new project, tentatively entitled De Gloeiige, Erik van Lieshout temporarily traded his residence and workspace in Rotterdam for his hometown of Deurne, an agricultural village on the Brabant side of the Peel that has become a focal point in the resistance against nitrogen policies in recent years. Van Lieshout spent a year there capturing footage for a new film, creating sculptures of eggs and the hay rabbit. Handmade T-shirts, crafted by Van Lieshout in collaboration with Rotterdam fashion designer Jeroen van Tuyl, are also available for purchase.
“Have you ever stood in a barn with a thousand pigs?” Erik van Lieshout asks somewhere in the middle of our conversation. There is a brief silence. “See, that’s the point; the city and the countryside are two worlds that don’t often interact.” That is precisely what Van Lieshout aims to do with his project: bring these two worlds into contact with each other, even if it means causing a bit of friction.
De Gloeiige
Erik van Lieshout’s latest project takes its working title from the regional myth of a ghostly apparition observed at night in marshes and marshy heathlands. In one version of the legend, the ghost is a farmer who had tampered with boundary markers. After their death, the spirits roam around, trying to reconcile before finding peace.
While De Gloeiige (which translates as ‘the glowing one’) closely follows political events, Van Lieshout has previously created works about farmer protests. The unruly demonstration in front of the Friesland provincial government building in 2019 was the subject of a large collage made from coloured vinyl, just like the tractor protests in The Hague the following year. Protests and challenging the status quo are recurring themes in Van Lieshout’s work. This traces back in part to his upbringing in Deurne, where village politics have been traditionally dominated by the interests of pig and chicken farmers. Van Lieshout’s parents were not farmers, making him an outsider and giving him a love-hate relationship with the local farmers.
Very positive
“It’s a really hardcore industry and the farmers know that something has to change,” Van Lieshout summarises the situation, “because we’re up to our ears in manure here.” With the film he is currently editing, he hopes to bring about sustainable change in the region. Apart from farming, there is little to do in the Peel, according to Van Lieshout. “There are no bike paths, beautiful walking routes or coffee bars, and aside from the Wieger, no museums. I want to change and transform the area into something enjoyable.” For this reason, Van Lieshout refers to his project as “very positive for farmers”. But this is not as straightforward as it may sound because the farmers were not initially open to an exchange with an artist. “Farmers tend to keep to themselves and nowadays, they are especially wary of the media and animal rights activists,” says Van Lieshout. For De Gloeiige, it helped that he came from Deurne and spoke the language. Van Lieshout was transparent about his intentions – “they know I’m a left-wing activist” – and thus gained their trust. He gradually earned their trust and permission to film everywhere. What also helped is that, according to Van Lieshout, the region has a lot of humour. Despite the serious message, humour is not lacking in Van Lieshout’s work or in the film. At the festive conclusion of the project the day after the parliamentary elections – one of the hay rabbits was to be burned while everyone enjoyed a bowl of pea soup and beer – everyone who contributed to the project from the neighbourhood showed up, much to Van Lieshout’s surprise.
While occasional friction is only natural, it enhances the film. Van Lieshout welcomes collectors and museum delegations, bringing them into contact with the farmers. An uncomfortable gathering, not least because some urbanites are vegetarians. This underscores Van Lieshout’s point that urbanites and farmers rarely encounter or know each other.
A towering rabbit
Van Lieshout not only addresses the separate worlds of the city and countryside, but also poses the questions of who owns the land and what can be done with it. He gained access to the ruins of a farmhouse, owned by a veterinarian who, like Van Lieshout, left the region to study. The veterinarian now wants to return to start a laboratory developing a serum for snakebites. This would involve testing on laboratory rabbits. The plan faces strong opposition, not only from activists, but also local farmers. In response, Van Lieshout decided to build a towering rabbit made of salvaged wood covered in hay on the veterinarian’s land, a provocative imitation of the hay structures that farmers set up along the road in protest against nitrogen policies.
Another location that plays a prominent role in the film is the area behind the ruins: a vacant 250-hectare terrain. Originally intended for greenhouse development, the financial crisis of 2008-2013 prevented any progress. The development of this area is a hot topic in the municipality. Some residents want nothing to be done with it, while local farmers would prefer a manure fermentation factory, allowing everything to remain the same.
Farmers’ art and T-shirts
The veterinarian allowed Van Lieshout to use everything he found in the ruins for his work. Planks, belts, pitchforks and spades were all incorporated into sculptures. But the main component is the white eggshells. Van Lieshout purchased the eggs from a local farmer. Using a needle, Van Lieshout pierced a hole and blew out the contents. He used the empty eggs in a series of sculptures that might be called farmers’ art. The imagery refers to farm life and Catholicism – the comparison to a rosary is easily made with a chain of eggshells – two pillars that shaped and continue to shape life in the region. Some of these sculptures will be exhibited at Art Rotterdam at the Annet Gelink Gallery booth.
A self-made T-shirt is also available for purchase in a limited edition of 50, resulting from Van Lieshout’s collaboration with Rotterdam fashion designer Jeroen van Tuyl. Van Lieshout used Van Tuyl’s logo, a kind of mask, as inspiration for a sketch, which ended up as a Mondrian-like drawing with sleek vinyl lines. Van Lieshout and Van Tuyl screen-printed an enlarged version of it on white cotton. Each shirt has its own – often double – print in typical raw Van Lieshout style. Van Tuyl created the design. “Putting it together is meticulous work; the entire family has been involved and we’re still working on it,” says Van Lieshout, who hopes to have the 50 shirts ready for Art Rotterdam.
Written by Wouter van den Eijkel
For the eighth year in a row, the NN Art Award will be awarded to a promising artist who completed their studies at an art academy in the Netherlands and is exhibiting at Art Rotterdam. This year, for the first time, the nominees will exhibit their work in the prestigious Kunsthal Rotterdam, from 1 February to 14 April 2024. The nominated artists for the NN Art Award 2024 are Maaike Kramer (Art Gallery O-68), Mónica Mays (Prospects section of the Mondriaan Fund), Jan van der Pol (CREMAN & DE ROOIJ) and Peim van der Sloot (Brinkman & Bergsma).
Peim van der Sloot’s abstract work is immediately captivating for its use of familiar round stickers: a familiar sight at art fairs, where they signify whether an artwork has been reserved or sold. In his practice, Van der Sloot critically examines economic systems. He questions concepts of value, scarcity and ownership, reflecting on the complex relationship between capitalism and the art world. The artist introduces alternative pricing systems and experiments with seriality, challenging conventional economic norms and assumptions, and inviting viewers to do the same. This questioning of the established order is also evident in his visual style, characterized by optical illusions, playful and dynamic compositions, vibrant colours, and a hint of chaos and anarchy. Van der Sloot grew up in Argentina and studied at HKU (University of the Arts Utrecht). His works are included in the collections of the LAM and the KPMG Art Collection and in 2021, he received the LAM Art Entrepreneur Award.
Can you tell us more about the work you are presenting at Art Rotterdam and in the Kunsthal?
“At Art Rotterdam, I will offer a diverse overview of my body of work to date. Starting with the conceptual approach to art sales, all the way to the latest works that are poised like magical incantations, ready to enchant the viewer. Some of the most prominent pieces I will display during the fair include ‘It Has To Start Somewhere’, a series consisting of 3479 pieces, each gradually missing a sticker that the buyer receives to stick next to the artwork on the wall, and ‘The Most Expensive Piece’, which will be the most expensive artwork for sale at Art Rotterdam 2024.
For the exhibition in the Kunsthal, I am creating a site-specific installation, in which I treat the museum walls as a canvas. In the work ‘Peim was here’, the red sold sticker will, of course, have a prominent place as well.”
What are your plans for 2024?
“Besides ensuring that my work ‘Works I Have Sold In My Life So Far’ continues to grow, 2024 is going to be a year for experimenting with new materials and techniques. For instance, I want to dedicate time to explore the animation of my artworks in film format. I am also currently working on a collection of ‘digital artifacts’, artworks engraved on Bitcoin coins. It’s a bit of a technical story, but you can see it as putting digital graffiti on crypto currency. As long as two computers on earth are connected, these works will exist for eternity.”
Could you describe how you felt when you heard that you were nominated for the NN Art Award? What project would you start if you were to win the award?
“It was a very special feeling. I remember thinking: ‘the circle is complete’. In 2015, I won the ‘Keith Haring art-challenge’ at the Kunsthal, and subsequently made an artwork at Lowlands with the festival visitors. This was the start of my art practice. The opportunity to exhibit my work in the museum now, after all these years, holds added significance for me. I would also like to publish my own book, so perhaps I can realize that dream this year.”
How do you view the role of economic systems in the contemporary art world? How do you try to find your own place in it?
“Art is often sold as an exclusive luxury product. The art market is full of written and unwritten rules. But what a work costs and what it’s actually worth are two different things for me. In my work, I engage with these rules in various ways — sometimes by disregarding them, at other times by adopting and then subverting them, or by approaching them with a sense of playful skepticism. In doing so, I aim to actively involve the buyer in contemplating these underlying questions. Money has become an abstract concept, while ideally, the sale of art is about human contact. Fortunately, I see more and more artists engaging with this, and I am very grateful that at my gallery Brinkman & Bergsma, I get the space to experiment with this.”
What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
“‘Do it yourself’ was the guiding principle when a group of friends and I formed a collective during our time at the art academy. We took the initiative to organize movie nights, create protest stickers, and set up exhibitions and festivals. With the collective power of a community, you can make anything possible. It also liberates us from reliance on established institutions and organizations. This led Marnix Postma and me to establish De Bouwput, an inclusive art space in Amsterdam that everyone can use. We embrace a non-selective, non-curatorial approach, pre-approving all proposals, embodying the concept of ‘Anarchy in a white cube’.”
The winner of the NN Art Award will be announced in the Kunsthal Rotterdam on Thursday 1 February at 20:00 CET. The work of the nominees will be on display there until 14 April 2024. During Art Rotterdam, the work of Peim van der Sloot will also be shown in the booth of Brinkman & Bergsma.
By Flor Linckens
For the eighth year in a row, the NN Art Award will be awarded to a promising artist who completed their studies at an art academy in the Netherlands and is exhibiting at Art Rotterdam. This year, for the first time, the nominees will exhibit their work in the leading Kunsthal Rotterdam, from 1 February to 14 April 2024. The nominated artists for the NN Art Award 2024 are Maaike Kramer (Art Gallery O-68), Mónica Mays (Prospects section of the Mondriaan Fund), Jan van der Pol (CREMAN & DE ROOIJ) and Peim van der Sloot (Brinkman & Bergsma).
Maaike Kramer’s oeuvre stands out because of her diverse use of materials, including concrete, metal, graphite, paper, stone and wood. In her practice, Kramer combines robust, architectural elements with more sketch-like materials. This results in works that are often heavy, massive, and monumental, but also light, fragile and unstable. Sometimes these works also exhibit trompe-l’oeil effects. Kramer explores the dynamic interaction between these diverse and, at first glance, contradictory materials: can they learn from or borrow from each other? And what relationships do the works enter into with the spaces in which they are shown?
Kramer’s art tells stories about the creative process and reflects on the spaces we create and inhabit. They invite contemplation on the nature of construction, the role of humans in shaping their environment, and the contrast between the transience of ideas and the durability of materials. Kramer emphasizes this: “Ideas are not as durable as the material in which they are captured.” In some cases, this line of thinking is reflected in her practice, for example when sketches are literally integrated into the work. Kramer: “I incorporate different stages of the creating process into my work; from the monumentality of the final work, to the materials and methods that lead up to it. Examples include sketches, documentary photography, and scale models in combination with concrete, steel, and scaling up. During the creating process, the work goes through various phase transitions, dictated by the materials and the methods. Sketches are given a sculptural translation, are photographed, printed, enlarged, cast and copied.”
Could you tell us a bit more about the work you are presenting at Art Rotterdam and in the Kunsthal? What led you to focus on ceramics in your newer works?
My work is about spaces, about architectural spaces as a metaphor for spaces in one’s mind. I also wanted to explore the space we inhabit more and felt that this required a new material. For this reason, I applied to the EKWC [European Ceramic Work Centre], where I completed a three-month residency program last year. There, I worked with ceramics for the first time and built spaces by hand, seeking ways in which form and material could give new meaning to space. For me, material is an active part of my story. It undergoes a transformation that allows a story to be told. At the EKWC, I ended up working with different types of clay with different levels of shrinkage, causing deformations and cracks during the process of drying and in the kiln. These works reflect on the space indoors. Some works are about the separation between the indoor and the outdoor. These are works I call ‘luxaflex’. I will show some of these luxaflex sculptures at Art Rotterdam. Here, porcelain is connected to coarse black clay. This creates a side that faces outward, made of porcelain with a celadon glaze, and a side that faces inward. These parts influence each other. The coarse inner part causes the smooth porcelain outer part to deform. In the Kunsthal, I will present a large sculpture, made at the EKWC. This sculpture also represents a space, actually a ‘slice’ of a space. It’s a place in which room has been created for a game of sorts. I searched for a space in my own house that felt the most free and experimental, and ended up choosing my shed. In this fictional shed, game boards are stacked where strategies can be thought out, to possibly place them outdoors, in the world. However, the space is also very isolated. So will these ideas actually come out, and if so: how?
What are your plans for 2024? What are you currently working on?
I’m not done exploring ceramics and the various meanings that clay carries. I am also working on making combination works, in which different materials come together. The step to work spatially is still relatively new to me. Until recently I made primarily flat reliefs, folded sheets or flat stacked works. For my exhibition ‘The Unbalancing Act’ at Drawing Centre Diepenheim in 2022, I started making sculptures with a front, side, and back side for the first time.
Could you describe how you felt when you heard that you were nominated for the NN Art Award? What project would you immediately tackle if you were to win the award?
I was incredibly happy and surprised. This is actually the first time my work is being shown at Art Rotterdam — as well as the Kunsthal. If I were to actually win the award, I would invest in my studio. At this moment, my studio is not quite on par with my practice, which is progressively shifting towards sculpture. This requires more space, but also materials and tools. I would really love to have a ceramic kiln, for example.
What is the best advice you have ever received?
Maybe not advice per se, but rather something I have experienced myself. That making visual work is not about tomorrow’s success or that one particular exhibition. But that you must feel that you need to make the work, for whatever reason. For many years I made work that no one saw. My work was first exhibited around 2017, when I had already been working for a few years. But that in fact gives me strength now, knowing that my inner creative engine will keep running.
What is the most remarkable compliment you have ever received about your work?
That it touches people without them being able to put their finger on why exactly. My work is not always immediately graspable or understandable in a single glance, but there is a kind of gut feeling to it, I hope. It feels like a great compliment when that happens.
The winner of the NN Art Award will be announced in the Kunsthal Rotterdam on Thursday 1 February at 20:00 CET. The work of the nominees will be on display there until 14 April 2024. At Art Rotterdam, Maaike Kramer’s work will also be on display in the booth of Art Gallery O-68.
Written by Flor Linckens
During Art Rotterdam, NN group will present the NN Art Award for the eighth time: to a contemporary art talent with an authentic visual language and an innovative approach. NN Group has been a partner of Art Rotterdam since 2017 and has been awarding an incentive award every year since then. An annually changing jury of art professionals makes a selection of four promising talents, from which a winner is ultimately chosen. The conditions are clear: it concerns artists who have been trained in the Netherlands and who show their work during Art Rotterdam. NN Group will purchase one or more works from the nominees for its corporate collection. Last year, the NN Art Award (worth €10,000) was awarded to Monali Meher, who is represented by Lumen Travo Gallery. Art Rotterdam interviewed her to find out what winning the prize has meant to her and what her best advice is for young artists. Read more about here work here.
How did it feel to win the NN Art Award? Are there any particular things you were able to achieve thanks to the prize money?
“In December 2022, I had just arrived in Pune, India, visiting my mother and the family when I heard about the nomination. Marianne, my gallerist from Lumen Travo Gallery, called and gave me this fantastic news that I was one of the nominated artists for the NN Art Award. I was really happily surprised to hear the news amongst my family. It was a double joy! In the two following months, I settled with this news within me and felt very grateful and grounded. The actual announcement of winning the award at Art Rotterdam 2023 brought tears, not only to my eyes but to many who were present there. The tears of joy, wisdom, acknowledgment and freedom. I felt great honor, enthusiasm and gratitude. Since winning the award, I have been experimenting with new materials and processes. And I published my first book, ‘Unknown Landscape’ in October 2023. Of course, big thanks to the sponsors but also the prize money of the NN Art Award. It’s been greatly appreciated. You can find more information about the book on my social media.”
How did the works that you showed during Art Rotterdam come about? Do you follow a specific process? Has that process changed in any way since?
“The selected mixed media works (intricate drawings with black Japan ink and threads on digital photos) were from the time of pandemic, in the intense and unprecedented sequence of lockdowns the world has recently experienced. Through a new series of mixed media drawings and assemblages, I reflected on the pandemic period just gone by, highlighting the relentless cycle of ‘multiple beginnings’ we, as humans, are enduring in the hope to find a renewed and positive perspective for the world.
The other glass assemblages and recent new body of site-specific installation with soil, sand, hay, bark, coal, shells, dry plants, branches, turmeric, food colors, natural pigments, copper and glass has been developed since my residency at ‘Gent-Glas’, Ghent, Belgium in 2018/19 where I first time experimented with glass. But I could only create this site-specific installation, ’Unknown Landscape’ after the pandemic in 2022 in ‘Het Atelier’ residency in Brugge. Since then it has been continuously evolving. Then in a group show at Lumen Travo gallery, followed by Art Rotterdam 2023 and soon this site-specific installation will be viewed in the group show ‘NICC x 25’, at museum SMAK in Ghent. This exhibition was on view until 28 December 2023.”
“My ongoing research-oriented installation ‘Unknown Landscape’ (2019-2023) contains several natural elements. They are combined together with the glass works created during the artist’s residency at Gent-Glas. The result is colorful & dynamic assemblage which is laid on the floor. Like the natural landscape, this installation is alive, evolving silently but persistently. The materiality of the soil, pigmented fluids and other unique textural properties of the landscape emerge in each aspect of the installation. This hybrid installation is a sort of spread out terrain of various combined components and blended elements. I juxtapose the materials from my earlier body of works with new recycled glass objects, to create a new/ transformed identity by re-shaping, re-arranging, re-cycling, re- assembling various materials, that keep the process of transition growing in the space. This diversified, surreal installation of solid, fluid, cracked, repaired, fragile structures of melted glass forms, that serve as a multi-layered ambiguous landscape, an immersive, extended, breathing field to interact, to observe and to explore the changes it went through. This hypnogogic installation explores the geological observation of nature’s traces, its ruins, mutating landscapes and the survival of holding onto what’s left to protect.
‘Unknown Landscape’ stimulates questions about sustainability, identity, migration, boarders, barriers, loss, and the endless cycle of exploitation of natural resources. At the same time, paradoxically, this installation takes us through organic, peaceful and healing trail that is interventive & interactive where people can walk through to approach different areas of the installation closely and observe details. The smell of natural materials as well as the aroma of strong yellow turmeric spice punctuates the exhibition space.”
Do you have any specific rituals or routines that you follow to stay creative?
“I think ‘creativity’ or ‘being creative’ lies in every aspect of our life, our surroundings and daily life rituals and its nature. For example, when cooking I don’t follow a standard recipe but my own way of mixing a combination of spices. There is no such thing as ‘the best creative routine’. It is a journey of self-discovery, following your instinct, taking risks and being open to changes. It is necessary to have a specific rhythm, balance and discipline in life, forming our own routine or ritual. We are human beings and we all lose it once in a while but to bring back that balance is being creative too.”
As the winner of the previous edition, you get to join the jury for this year’s edition. What is it like as an artist to ‘judge’ the work of other artists?
“Every process is an interesting and learning journey. I would say it is more like ‘reviewing’ the works of artists than ‘judging’. It is about carefully seeing, discussing and observing with other juries who are part of this process. To experience the ‘other side’ or ‘back stage’ is important in life.”
What is your ultimate piece of advice for young artists?
“Follow your heart, keep the balance! Stay focused, curious, true to yourself and to your creativity. Persistence and discipline are important. There is no beginning or end to this creative journey. It’s about life and death and everything in between.”
By Flor Linckens
