thoughts about a cooperation in contemporary art representation, fysical & virtual spaces
2019 - 2020
ruimteCAESUUR Lange Noordstraat 67 | NL 4331 CC Middelburg www.caesuur.nu www.caesuur-posethequestion.nl caesuur@zeelandnet.nl WITTE ROOK
Stationslaan 111 | NL 4815 GW Breda https://witterook.nu info@witterook.nu
Caesuur and the things Giel Louws ruimteCAESUUR is a thing, a tangible fact in the city of Middelburg. Four walls enclose the exhibition space, leaving glass holes open for passers-by. The space extends beyond the space, above the space, into the people who live there, pass through, and extends over time. The physical aspect of this whole is undeniable and essential. Caesuur and its exhibitions are undeniable. Hundreds of nails pierced the walls to carry as many works of art. Even these holes are objects, since Anish Kapoor laid down his carved stone in De Pont Tilburg. You can remove an object, but the nail hole remains. Exhibitions live on in thoughts, concepts, roam the internet. Everything, however, derived from physical objects, physical work, a physical space. An exhibition space as a nail hole in reality. Objects are perhaps the best remedy against forgetting. In a time when objects have become disposable items, or completely objectless on a screen, we are in danger of forgetting. It is a big topic at the table at Caesuur, a society without memory. These conversations soon end up in the political spheres, how modern history is formed in a vacuum of memory. The exhibition space is loaded with memories, and what makes these memories reliable is the trail of objects that bear and confirm these memories. This place is a place of things, things that carry things, that when they are described escape us. I could point in the direction of beauty, meaning, emotion, knowledge, skill. I could continue this list with ugliness, failure, ignorance, powerles-
sness. In short; meaningful. Together they form a physical memory, a kind of serious trick to remember. Just as some memory champions remember Pi’s decimals by linking them to objects, you can make a great memory of objects that passed in Caesuur. ‘Remembering things as a protest’ I wrote this night on a post-it note. It sounds very ruimteCAESUUR in my ears. Because in order to remember things, we have to make things, keep making things. Things are honest, but also clear multi interpretable. It helps us remember that the truth does not exist, that our truths change, must change. And when we look back, we see that we ourselves have changed, we have the objects that prove this, these objects themselves have hardly changed, make us this clear as glass. Whether they are objects that we made, that we appropriated, or that we remember, they can stop reminding us who we were then and are no longer. The objects as external memory, a kind of touchstone to check whether we are still changing. But also objects of beauty and consolation.
Together working Jorieke Rottier In 2017 Witte Rook [ White Smoke ] received an e-mail from ruimteCAESUUR in Middelburg. The question was whether it was possible to deliver an article about the exhibition that was currently running. Because I (Jorieke, editorial and social media management for Witte Rook) live in Vlissingen, it was a small effort to pay a visit. I was very impressed by the small size of the space and the people behind ruimteCAESUUR. Their enthusiasm and clear statements, often art and / or political theories and associations quickly fly over the table with a cup of coffee and the atmosphere that makes it possible to make your own additions and to ask questions, made me quickly felt at home. In the meantime, in summer 2019, I have been allowed to work for six weeks at ruimteCAESUUR as an artist in residence. During that period it became even clearer how important a physical place is in thinking about and developing my visual work. I usually get the other side of this. As a member of the Witte Rook team I contribute to the selection of our residents and provide the website and social media channels. As an artist I often work in residencies, but that is separate from my work at Witte Rook. All these aspects were discussed during the residency in ruimteCAESUUR. The a-typical room, with a high, wooden ceiling, a green and red wall, a lot of history and large windows on the street side, in combination with the substantive discussions and practical help, has given a new impulse to my work. As a result, among other
things, I have built up the confidence to write an application for the Mondriaan Fund. This trust, which from ruimteCAESUUR also expressed itself, for example, in lending the key to the building and the use of all available tools and their network, caused me to say 'yes' enthusiastically when Hans Overvliet of ruimteCAESUUR told me on behalf of their team to set up an annual program for 2020 from Witte Rook. ruimteCAESUUR celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2020 and if you have been working as a presentation space for so long, that is a good moment to think again about questions such as "what is our relevance as a place in an online world?" “What is the ratio of energy that we put into it in relation to what comes out and. . . what now?�. At Witte Rook I have recently been busy, besides my practical duties, interviewing various artists and a single artists' initiative. This series derives from my own practice, where I am looking for how and why I could present my work process online. Also in writing, which plays a major role in my work as a visual aspect and as a substantive reflection, the process is especially important to me. The internet is a potentially infinite medium that is constantly expanding. How can you be meaningful or supplementary as an artist? The co-founding of Witte Rook and my work for this I like to use to offer a platform to other artists by talking to them about how they deal with the questions and possibilities regarding the internet. The invitation to each interview contained the open question "what is the role of the internet in your practice?". As a result, we discussed together the role of social media
and your own website in the promotion and development of work, among other things, and how the infinite reach that you have with it potentially works for or against you. Of course things like algorithms, streams of images and whether it would be an option for these artists to only make online work were discussed. This series of articles is still being expanded; can be found in this expanding catalog and on the Witte Rook website under "related articles". I have taken the combination of space and the confidence that I was offered at ruimteCAESUUR to develop work and the discussions with artists about the online world as the starting point for the selection of artists who will present their work at ruimteCAESUUR in 2020. Because I can fill in the physical space from Witte Rook, ruimteCAESUUR will in turn explore the online space of Witte Rook and write and publish a series of articles based on the solo exhibitions. The participating artists are Charlotte Besuijen, Ruben Mols, Johanna Talja, Nele Brรถkelmann, Karl Karlas and Joep Vossebeld. A part of this group of artists has already published an article or interview with Witte Rook, I now want to offer them the space to physically share their work. I have been following others for a long time through their websites and social media, and this has resulted in an appreciation for their work. The artists each have their own method and do not necessarily work with "the internet" as their theme. I do, however, see aspects of the internet appearing in their work in all of them, and I have therefore asked them to work from offer their work a perspective on the role of
the internet in their practice and / or the role of a specific (exhibition) place in their practice. From my experiences as an artist, I always find it very pleasant if an inviting party (exhibition location or organization) gives specific explanations of why my work / method fits into their concept, residence or exhibition. This gives me insight into what image they have received of my work and I can better respond to what can be interesting for me as an artist in their range. That is why I chose to write a short explanation for each artist and add it to the email that I invited them to use. I briefly describe this below. The enthusiasm of the artists immediately gave me new energy to make it a valuable project for us all. The fact that ruimteCAESUUR also offered to provide overnight accommodation, material and travel allowances made me take up this challenge with even more conviction; trust is also designed in a practical sense and shared with the artists who come to work there. The drawings of Charlotte Besuijen investigate how these can work as access to a virtual space. That image can play this role of providing access both offline and online is a statement in a world where things only seem to exist if they are described (preferably as rationally as possible). Ruben Mols increasingly focuses on the relationship between (digital) technology and the physical and mental body. The third artist is Johanna Talja, who incorporates various digital visual elements in her tactile and spatial work in a very playful way, thereby softening the strictness of the forms. Nele Brรถkelmann is likely to connect the ques-
tions about the physical exhibition site and the role of the internet in her practice with the written word. Writing is becoming increasingly integrated into her creative process and she also wonders how she wants to deal with social media and her website within her artistic practice. The way Karl Karlas asks questions about reality and examines it in pictures appeals to me, among other things, because she uses both classical and non-classical materials and methods in both 2D and 3D. As a result, an alienation occurs in images that I recognize in, for example, the picking up of materials on the beach, where I wonder if it originated naturally or industrially. I think the traditional question of whether objects and situations are "true" or "not true" has been greatly strengthened by the internet. In his work as a guest curator at the Bonnefanten Museum, Joep Vossebeld has worked with the oeuvre of artist Ine Schrรถder. Characteristic of her works was that they were all temporary, and the materials from which they were made were reused in various configurations and works. This raises questions about the preservation and archiving of artworks. Joep has created a new exhibition based on the artistic values of Ine. In the maelstrom of the internet, in which new images are constantly being added and other snowcovered snow, the question of the how and why of an archive, especially for images, has become complicated and very relevant. These perspectives will be shared in the exhibitions and further explored in the article series. This makes a network of associations and lines visible that often forms unnoticed between our online and physical world and
we get a visual perspective on the way in which they continuously influence each other. It also provides us with tools to ask questions about how to use the internet in our own artistic practice and to discuss the possibilities with colleagues. For Witte Rook as an online platform, it is a study of its own relevance and it offers new possibilities with which we can support artists as a platform.
Colophon Texts for ruimteCAESUUR Caesuur and the things | Giel Louws for Witte Rook together working | Jorieke Rottier Photos Hans Overvliet