20 | HANS OVERVLIET | DISTANT SUFFERING XXI | I.D. OF A SHARED BULLET by Hans Overvliet

works | exerpt

distant suffering

Edition Sunday, December 5, 2021 1

hans overvliet

Front page: DISTANT SUFFERING XXI | i.d. of a shared bullet - 2019 SUFFERING Melting ice bullet of an AK-47 Kalashnikov 2

Without memory there is no limit to radical evil | Hannah Arendt

CONTENT

page 03 page 06 page 08 page 80 page 82 page 86

Introduction Temporal Disruption and Anti-Efficiency: Hans Overvliet’s critical media practice | Dr. Dani Ploeger Works Justification Exhibitions - selection Acknowledgement

M. & cross #2 | Middelburg Saturday, March 17, 2018 In the studio complex in Vlissingen in the Netherlands, where my studio is situated, an artwork of mine is located on an intermediate platform of the stairwell. From ground level, five steps lie between you and that work. It measures 144 x 244 centimetres. The artwork is an enlargement of a paper collage, printed on Perspex; different images are cut out horizontally and pasted back and thus interlock into a story with each other. Indeed it is the Image on the right. A group of twelve year old children of a primary school is visiting the complex in the context of an art education project. A head scarfed girl sees the artwork and freezes in her movement. And she looks. After some time she takes the five steps up. Now she is standing still on the intermediate platform. And looks. Then she slowly walks forward. Somewhere in the jumble of images she has discovered the head scarfed girl. That girl stands with her arms wide spread amidst the rubble of a street somewhere in Syria. The iconic picture of a prisoner in the Abu Ghraib Prison is imminent. Our girl now touches the image almost with her nose; the artwork towering above her. Then she moves very, very slowly her hands together until her fingertips touch each other as if she was holding a sphere. Then her hands include the girl's head in the collage. She is standing there, her hands around the head of the other head scarfed girl. Eye in eye.

cross #2 | 2007

Temporal Disruption and Anti-Efficiency: Hans Overvliet’s critical media practice Dr. Dani Ploeger The proliferation of digital news media over the past two decades has led to the distribution of increasing numbers of news events at ever higher speeds. Through news feeds and live alerts, updates on the latest incidents all over the world are disseminated almost instantly and continuously. In The Administration of Fear (2012), Paul Virilio discusses the paradoxical consequences of this development. Instead of facilitating a more detailed assessment of events and thus trigger empathetic action on the side of the recipient, the fast sequence of detailed mediatizations of catastrophes and threats promotes a permanent state of fear. Whereas, in previous media eras, fear used to be ‘related to localized, identifiable events that were limited to a certain timeframe’, it has now increasingly become an environment that determines everyday life in the Global North.

It is this paradigm of speed and fear that has formed the starting point for Hans Overvliet’s work since the mid-2000s. In Cross #2 (2007) press photos of violent events during the Second Gulf War are cut into strips and woven into fragments of fashion and architecture photography. At first sight, it is not quite clear what the image fragments in the resulting Duratrans print represent. Unlike the original war photographs, the often-graphic nature of which instantly fills you with horror, you need to take some time to decipher their gruesome contents. In addition to the collision of the slick realm of consumer culture with the destruction of warfare, two processes are at work here: On one hand, the cutting up and weaving of the image strips foregrounds that the photos also exist as aesthetic objects in them-selves, rather than merely a means of representation that gives access to a reality elsewhere. Thus, the process of mediation and the distantiation between the viewer and the events represented are foregrounded. On the other, by making the contents less readily accessible to the beholder, the images are removed from the rapid stream of catastrophic representations Virilio describes. You are compelled to pause and reflect.

cessible to the beholder, the images are removed from the rapid stream of catastrophic representations Virilio describes. You are compelled to pause and reflect. In distant suffering I: Syrian Skies | 1,000 days (2015), this strategy of foregrounding the process of mediation, while establishing an initial ambiguity of the material’s representative contents is developed further. Magnifications of clouds scanned from printed newspapers draw attention to their composition of different patterns of dotted ink. At the same time, the absence of the landscapes that were below the clouds in the original images invites you to enjoy the scene like you might contemplate the sky in a 17th century Dutch painting. This beauty and apparent peacefulness of the isolated clouds and the accompanying process of mediation are juxtaposed with the eerie reference to the war in Syria that is provided by the title of the work. Slowed down by the work’s seductive visual appeal, the confrontation with the painful implications of the source of the clouds unfolds itself in the foreground of your mind. These disruptions of the high-speed digital media landscape that occur during encounters with the finished work are not the only locus of Overvliet’s interventions though. A possibly even more radical interruption of what Virilio calls ‘the cult of speed’ takes place during the creation process. Instead of taking advantage of the latest software solutions to make image processing, graphic design, data collection and categorization faster and easier, Overvliet spends hundreds of hours conducting individual Google searches, cutting and gluing prints of digital images with scissors and a glue stick, and fiddling with the space bar and the return key of his old laptop to position images in a Word document. Although to an outsider this may appear like a ‘waste of time’ or a sign of incompetence, the inefficiency of Overvliet’s engagement with digital technologies is a significant component of his desire to undermine

may appear like a ‘waste of time’ or a sign of incompetence, the inefficiency of Overvliet’s engagement with digital technologies is a significant component of his desire to undermine the ideological framework that surrounds digital media. Overvliet’s work process rejects the logic of process optimization and efficiency that usually accompanies everyday consumer technologies. Thus, the temporally disruptive quality of his work is also established by the often makeshift digital (and non-digital) processing of its materials. In distant suffering IVX, i.d. of a shared cloud, the ‘book’ (2017-18), Overvliet includes us in his laborious creation process. Instead of a finished book, we are offered a box filled with a pile of paper sheets with a grid outline, accompanied by 1000 stickers. Each sticker shows a downloaded image of a cloud on which a set of geographical coordinates – sourced from a publicly accessible online military database – are superimposed. Here, Overvliet revisits the theme of the seemingly innocent cloud, this time connected to mapping technologies, a decisive facilitator of imperialist expansion since colonial times; ‘to conquer […] global life, one must be able to map it’ (Patel and Moore, 2017). These two components, the clouds and the mapping coordinates, are both sourced from the virtually endless public information-pool available through the internet. This makes both the images’ individual contents and the interrelationships between coordinates and clouds appear arbitrary at first. However, Overvliet gives us an assignment: We can only obtain the work if we commit to sticking all 1000 images to the pages, one by one. Over the duration of multiple hours, we are required to make decisions on the order of the images, as well as concentrate on placing each sticker carefully onto the page, an activity reminiscent of the now archaic practice of the picture card album. What seemed like an arbitrary mess of data at first, is turned into puzzle of sorts, where we are 9

of quantified space in combination with the clouds as ambiguous double references to the forces of nature and human violence.

trary mess of data at first, is turned into puzzle of sorts, where we are invested in giving each piece its proper place. The true relationship between the clouds and the coordinates is never disclosed, but our repetitive, concentrated engagement with each individual instance confronts us with the uncanniness of quantified space in combination with the clouds as ambiguous double references to the forces of nature and human violence. Instead of providing us with a slick and streamlined finished art object, Overvliet’s ‘book’ challenges us to join him in a slow, detailed – and potentially frustrating – engagement with contemporary media. Thus, the work doesn’t provide us with an endpoint, but instead creates a breathing space. A moment to step outside the numbing, high-speed stream of fearinducing media spectacles, and ask ourselves the question: “What must we do?”

References Paul Virilio (2012). The Administration of Fear. Los Angeles, CA: Semiotext(e). Raj Patel and Jason W. Moore (2017). A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things: A guide to capitalism, nature, and the future of the planet. Oakland, CA: University of California Press.

DISTANT SUFFERING I |

syrian skies 1,000 days - 2014

Ariha | 07-09-2013

Yarbroud | 17-05-2013

Daraya | 16-01-2013

DISTANT SUFFERING II |

anatomy of a cloud [ gaza ] - 2014

DISTANT SUFFERING III |

may 18 2012, july 31 2014, april 5 2015

DISTANT SUFFERING IV |

documentation of a cloud - 2015

work 3 x [ 82,2 x 12,8 cm.] full colour prints on Hahnemüle German Etching 310 grs. mounted on 10 mm. Kapafix the Syrische town Kobane / Ain al-Arab, observed from the Turkish village Mursitpinar / Mürşitpınar [ 36° 54' 14" North, 38° 20' 52" East ] in the Sanliurfa region Monday, October 20, 2014 exhibitions (woot) Antwerpen | Belgium - 2015 Art Gouda | het Weeshuis - 2016 studio seven | Vlissingen - 2016 Sea foundation Tilburg - 2018 Luxfer Open Space | Česká Skalice | Czech Republic - 2021 20

photo | Bulent Kilic | AFP Photo

photo | Gokhan Sahin | Getty Images

photo | Lefteris Pitarakis | AP Photo

DTANT SUFFERING VI |

i.d. of a shared key #1 - 2015work in progress

Palestinian refugees whom I met from the early eighties, to the pre-sent day keep up the keys of their homes from which they were expelled from 1948 on by the state of Israel. The current generation Palestinians carries all kinds of keys and key chains as jewellery. In 1991, for the first time I read the book Pity the Nation, Lebanon at War by Robert Fisk *. The chapter "The Keys of Palestine" ** associating me with my own experiences, I always remembered. The artwork consists of 215 scoured biscuit tins, of which I remo-ved the enamel and / or paint. Inside the tins are a print of a key, pressed into plaster in the shape of a gold bar. The can functions also as a container of the memories of my own childhood storing my treasures. It is also the metaphor of the forgotten memory [with forgotten postcards, far forgotten coins from countries visited, etc.] that everybody has picked away. Each exhibition image is determined in situ. The pictures on the next pages show the work in the exhibition ART GOUDA [01/06 / '16 - 05/06 / '16]. This work measures (height x width x depth) 2.44 x 1.22 x 1.22 cm.

* **

Pity the Nation | Robert Fisk | Oxford Paperbacks ISBN 978-0-19-280130-2 | 1990 This chapter can be read on http://www.archipelago.org/vol6-3/fisk.htm

Luxfer Open Space | Česká SkaliceCzech Republic | 2021

Art Gouda | het Weeshuis | 2016 24

Kunstpodium ‘T’ | Tilburg | 2020 25

DISTANT SUFFERING VII- VIII - IX |

i.d. of a shared cloud / wave / home - 2015 selection used images

work 3 ‘out-lines’ of filing cabinets, each 134 cm. x 49,5 cm. x 71 cm. [ h x w x d ] material weathering steel 2x [ 10 x 10 mm.] 1x [ 12 x 12 mm.], wooden bars 1 x 1 cm., Nobo OHP Transparency Film, sided acid-free tape filled with 1,000 images of explosions and ‘holiday clouds’ on 50 sheets codes super imposed on the images: unique location positioning from a military open source website; 1,000 images of waves | statistics Global Warming on 50 sheets; 1,000 images of destroyed houses | ground plans in the images: send to me - in 1996 on my request – from and of 72 national libraries The World Library Art Project on 50 sheets exhibitions AFFAF | Café Spoorzicht – Arnemuiden - 2015 Biënnale Amersfoort | Vreemde Gasten ( Foreign Guests ) - 2016 Abby Complex | Middelburg | Iconoclastic Fury - 2017 Sea foundation | Tilburg [ residence ] - 2018

-2542538 | -3495143 | 37SCV1973385798

-2538031 | -3490053 | 37SBT5691709784

-2541858 | -3483931 | 37SCV1973385798

i.d. of a shared cloud

-2542538 | -3495143 | 37SBV8633978746

-2542538 | -3495143 | 37SCV1973385798

DISTANT SUFFERING VII |

-2538031 | -3490053 | 37SBT5691709784

DISTANT SUFFERING VIII |

i.d. of a shared wave

DISTANT SUFFERING IX |

i.d. of a shared home

DISTANT SUFFERING XIV |

i.d. of a shared cloud ‘the ‘book’

text Dr. Dani Ploeger Temporal Disruption and Anti-Efficiency: Hans Overvliet’s critical media practice work clam book A4+ 1,000 stickers, to be glued on a grid on 100 pages A4, 120 grs. execution #1` Sea foundation | Tilburg - 2018 execution #2 KunstHal 45 | Den Helder - 2019 32

i.d. of a shared cloud | the book

This proposal is the context of the text Temporal Disruption and Anti-Efficiency: Hans Overvliet's critical media practice by Dr. Dani Ploeger at the beginning of this portfolio. It concerns a different elaboration of i.d. or a shared cloud, namely in the form of a 'book' on the boundary of artist's book, performance and multiple. The configuration is a so-called clam shelf box, provided with a dust jacket with an intaglio print of the title and the name of the author on the front and back. On 100 pages, a grid is printed. Separately supplied is a number of sticker sheets with the 1000 explosions / clouds with the unique codes. The person who buys the 'book' assembles the stickers into the grid, which disappears.

At this point it is in order to raise two issues: one of the characteristics of my work concerns working itself (labor | laborans = working / giving birth). My productions are always extremely labor intensive, concern large series over long periods of time with many repetitive actions. I want to include the person who purchases the 'book' in this process of concentration, linearity and repetition. The content of i.d. of a shared cloud is by means of the seemingly endless repetition of what is happening around us - now by means of actions - experience by the person making ‘the book’. A process that ultimately, by the choice of the person who compiles the 'book', based on that repetition, ends in a unique result. creating process in the work is anchored and solidified at the same time? This 'book' aims to contribute to this discourse. And the possessor.

compiles the 'book', based on that repetition, ends in a unique result In addition, a discussion about 'the object' in art has long dominated my thinking: is it possible to make art without an object as the end result of a chain of attitude, ideas and actions / decisions, but in which and at which the whole creating process in the work is anchored and solidified at the same time? This 'book' aims to contribute to this discourse. And the possessor of this 'book' ultimately gathers a greater knowledge of his / her book than the artist The strategy is that in a number of related art spaces, I assemble the 'pictures' in the 'book' for about a week as a performance. Visitors purchase their own copy on site and he / she composes her / his / her own unique 'book' there and then. Performance and book are therefore essentially interconnected: the visitor is given the opportunity to participate in what the inventor / executor intends and wants to achieve. The community of the artists of the project 'pose a question to the city ' I initiated in 2017 in ruimteCAESUUR, have responded very positively to my request for presentation places.

supported by

March 2017 | Hans Overvliet

Sea foundation | 2018 KunstHal 45 - 2019

DISTANT SUFFERING XVIII |

defacing palestine | the nakba 1948 - 2018

I spent 40 days - starting April 24, 2018 – charting 417 destroyed Palestinian villages / towns with the name, both in Latin and in Arabic script, the geographical location, the number of inhabitants in 1948 and a photo from the remains of that village / town. I poured that information into 417 obituaries and stored them in a steel archive cabinet. To complete the installation, I made a video of his computer screen, which shows all the actions that led to each individual obituary. work conceived from April 24 till June 2, 2018 1 metal archive box with drawer | brand / production year unknown 39,7 x 19,8 x 15,3 cm [ l., w., h. ] | handle 8,5 x 0,8 cm. 417 obituaries | 19, 1 cm. x 14,7 cm. [ l., w. ] black & white prints with 5% extra cyan on Staples inkjet printer paper, 170 g/m2, matt | by Canon PIXMA IMAX651 laptop Samsung notebook NP.R530 with a video of the making process [ www.vimeo.com/268949587 ] 2 consoles | MDF 18 mm. | Flexa white primer | Flexa white satin gloss for metal archive box: 90 x 28 x 60 cm. [ h., w., l. ] for laptop [ Samsung R530]: 90 x 36 x 23,3 cm. [ h., w., l. ] text on inner wall | Details ( excerpt ) | Ghayath Almadhoun exhibition ruimteCAESUUR | Middelburg - 2018 - opening speech by Ingrid Rollema Juxtapose Art Fair | Aarhus - Denmark - 2021

click here for the catalog 36

flying kites with ruimteCAESUUR In 2010, thousands of children in Gaza improved the Guinness Record Kite (kite flying record) that they themselves had established in 2009. 7,202 Children and as many pilots and kites participated in this event, organized by UNRWA, the Palestinian refugee organization of the United Nations. In 2018, people in Gaza use kite flying as a cheerful political statement of protest, occasionally alternated with an attempt of actual resistance to underscore the 70-years remembering of the Nakba - the Disaster. The term Al-Nakba refers to the 1948 war with Israel. A war with the current disastrous consequences for the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. With their protests, the Palestinians support their demand for returning to their villages and cities. A requirement, incidentally, that is recognized by numerous internationally recognized organizations, including the U.N. I wanted to create an exhibition consisting of kites, made by some 20 colleague artists who have expressed a critical attitude towards social developments in the past and / or identified themselves with my work. The exhibition has two moments: the kites were air born on Saturday, October 20 at 4 o'clock in Vlissingen during a heavenly vernissage, whether by the artists themselves or our friends, and subsequently shown in ruimteCAESUUR. Afterwards, the exhibition might find accommodation elsewhere with the help of the invited artists. Work: the model of the kite concerns a symmetrical improvisation on the Japanese Rokkaku, the so-called libanese model. The paper is artisan (Washi), made in Japan: Inshu Kozo, 56 grams, color white. The gross size of the sheet is 98 by 98 cm. Participating artists: from Pakistan | Mehreen Hashmi - from Gaza / Palestine | Mohammed alHawajri, Dina Mattar and Raed Issa from Germany / Danmark | Jörn Burmester - from Belgium | jen gossé, Frie J. Jacobs and Jan Verhaeghen from the Netherlands | Leni van den Berge, Ko de Jonge, Dani Ploeger, leon riekwell, Loek Grootjans, Ingrid Rollema, Hans Overvliet, Stef Fridael, Robin Weijers, Harriët Rademakers and Rinus Roepman Click here for the catalog of the project & exhibition Click here for the catalog with the international political uproar

Uit: ‘De vliegerende Hollander’ | cultuurgeschiedenis van de Nederlande vliegverbeelding vanaf 1600 - 2020 From: ‘the kite-flyig Dutchman’ | cultural history of the Dutch aviation imagination from 1600 - 2020 Gaza and Vlíssingen Almost four centuries after an image of an Ambonese fishing kite appeared in a Dutch book, and three centuries after the blind seer Rumphius wrote about it in his Amboinsch herbbook – the fish kite was reinvented in a Dutch children’s book. It now had become an ecofriendly reminder of a world where you could fish without a permit from Brussels’ fishing quotas. A world without politics. But such a world without politics only exists in children’s books. This became clear once again when the Zeeland artist Hans Overvliet organized a kite project for the Middelburg gallery Caesuur in 2018. In the 70th year of the state of Israel, Overvliet asked twenty artists from home and abroad to create a work of art on a hexagonal sheet of Japanese paper that could be converted into a kite. The resulting kites were launched on October 20, 2018 on the Vlissingen beach. The artist wanted to recall the fact that in 2011 the Guinness record for the largest number of simultaneously launched kites was set by children from the Gaza Strip: 12.35 kites remained in the air for the required 30 seconds at a time. A nice action, but Overvliet also pointed to a less pleasant side of kite flying in Gaza: “ On the other hand, kites are used to fly flammable materials and small explosives to Israeli territory

cause damage there.” The intention was that the kite artworks would contribute to constructive thinking about such and

and cause damage there.” The intention was that the kite artworks would contribute to constructive thinking about such ambivalences. That did not work very well. Some spectators thought they saw swastikas and anti-Semitic messages on the kites, and others even saw a bomb explosion where one of the artists wanted to depict a vagina. There was a fuss in local politics. The planned revival of the event, a few days later, was canceled. As the initiator remarked: “It makes little sense that I will tell on the boulevard what the kites are for, when people who think we should be shot in the legs, as I read on social media, threaten to come.” Almost a hundred years after the kite competition of Jacob Israël de Haan, the Vlissingen kite project made it painfully clear that peace in the Middle East was still a long way off. It also raised a question that had often been asked in the confrontation between the Western and the Eastern world: is the kite an innocent piece of children’s toy, a symbol of innocence and hope, or is it a means of fighting?

DISTANT SUFFERING XIX | dissection of a disappearing cloud introduction / context 44

DISSECTION OF A DISAPPEARING CLOUD Indifference & repetition #2 On August 9 2018, the Said al-Mishal Cultural Center in Gaza City was obliterated in a bomb strike by the Israel Defence Forces. For people outside the Gaza Strip, this incident was mainly perceived as a media event, embedded in a web of interrelated and often conflictting political interests. From these external perspectives, the materiality of the explosion, in which matter was transformed and people were hurt, tends to move to the background. The explosion is easily perceived as merely a collection of images, a cloud of data that is contained by the digital platform that one accesses through a small screen of a digital device.

This work functions as the starting point of a serie, which connects art spaces in which I exhibit my work in a mental / spititual way with the destroues Said al-Mishal Cultural Center in Gaza City. The subtitle difference & repetition # 2 refers to the disserta-tion of the same name by Gilles Deleuze. Published: 1968 (Presses Universitaires de France)

DISSECTION OF A DISAPPEARING approaches the Said al-Mishal bombardment as a material event. I asked a friend in Gaza City to collect dust and dirt from the remains of the building and send this to me. I mixed the dust with water and used it to paint a large scale representation of the dust cloud that accompanied the explosion of the center, based on a photo I saw in the news when I learned about the bombard-ment. The painting consists of nine panels, which will be installed on the wall in wooden frames. The supermarket bag in which the dust was collected is presented in front of the painting. The physical presence of material from the actual explosion establishes an indexical connection with the site of the horrific explosion, rather than the often symbolic function of news media imagery. The large format of the work, 3 x 2 meters, evokes a sense of immersion whilst one studies the small details of the bobbly paper. 45

DISTANT SUFFERING #V / 1 - ? | DISSECTION OF A DISAPPEARING CLOUD

[ as are other works wihin the art-series DISTANT SUFFERING] is of course also inspired by the paintings of the Dutch masters from the 17th century, in which the 'Dutch skies' dominated the painted landscape.

Jacob van Ruisdael (1628/29 - 1682) detail of The mill at Wijk bij Duurstede | ca. 1670 32.66 x 39.75 "│ Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

distant suffering # I SYRIAN SKIES 1,000 days Daraya | 2013 Canon MP-101 170 gr., A4 10 mm. Dibond

LIST OF EXHIBITIONS | EXHIBITION SPACES DISTANT SUFFERING #V / 0 was exhibited from 6-20 September 2019

and ran in parallel with the D.R.H.A. conference in Watermans Arts Centre, London. Thanks to Mohammed al Hawajri, Suus, Ingrid Rollema, Giel Louws & Dani Ploeger. in September 2018, DISTANT SUFFERING #V / 1 was selected by a jury to participate in the M5-art project ‘Art from the Low Lands’ in Arsis Gallery in Bergen op Zoom in April / May 2019. Thanks to Maarten van ’t Hof & Christine Veraart . DISTANT SUFFERING #V / 2 was exhibited in artspace ruimteCAESUUR

in Middelburg in November 2018. Thanks to Willy van Houtum. DISTANT SUFFERING #V / 3 was exhibited at the Sea foundation

in Tilburg in October 2018. Thanks to Riet van Gerven & Giel Louws. DISTANT SUFFERING #V / 4 was exhibited in de Roofprintpers

in Middelburg in February 2019. Thanks to Leni van den Berge. DISTANT SUFFERING #V / 5 was

exhibited in KUNSTHAL 45 in Den Helder in June 2019. Thanks to Margo van der Pool | curator DISTANT SUFFERING #V / 6 was

created with the soil of Watermans Arts Centre October 2019. Thanks to Klio Krajewska | curator. 47

DISTANT SUFFERING XIX0 | dissection

of a disappearing cloud

nine parts March 26 - April 26, 2019 total dimensions work | 287,7 x 192,9 cm. work Cloud, actually painted with rubble from the spot in Gaza where annihilated Mishal Cultural Center was situated, in extremely diluted East-Indian ink & Arabic gum on Simili Japon, 225 grs. 96,0 x 65,0 cm. in nine wooden frames, each 97,9 x 66,3 x 4,5 cm. Total dimensions 287,7 x 192,9 cm. content Connecting the Said al-Mishal Cultural Center Gaza - oblitorated in a bomb strike by the Israel Defence Forces on August 9, 2018 with the Watermans Arts Centre in London. From every exhibition space in which I display work within DISTANT SUFFERING, I collect dust an I paint a picture with that dust. exhibition Radical Immersions | Watermans Arts Centre, London. In parallel with the Digital Research in the Humanities and Arts [ D.R.H.A. ] conference | 2019. The exhibition was curated by Klio Krajewska. 48

mock-up based on scale model of the work

Watermans Art Centre | London | 07/09/2019 | ©photo Dani Ploeger

Watermans Art Centre | London | 07/09/2019 | ©photos Dani Ploeger

Works / places DISTANT SUFFERING XIX / 1 | DISSECTION OF A DISAPPEARING CLOUD

exhibition work

content photos

Gallery Arsis | Bergen op Zoom | January – February 2019 triptych | September 8 – September 14, 2018 Cloud, painted with dirt from ruimteCAESUUR in Middelburg, in extremely diluted East-Indian ink & Arabic gum on Simili Japon, 225 grs. 96,0 x 65,0 cm. In three wooden frames, each 97,9 x 66,3 x 4,5 cm., dyed matt white. Connecting the Said al-Mishal Cultural Center Gaza – oblitorated in a bomb strike by the Israel Defence Forces on August 9, 2018 with the studio complex Kipvis in Vlissingen & Gallery Arsis in Bergen op Zoom. ©2019 Christine Veraart | courtesy of Gallery Arsis

DISTANT SUFFERING XIX / 2 | DISSECTION OF A DISAPPEARING CLOUD

work

content

dyptych | november 2018 Cloud, painted with dirt from ruimteCAESUUR in Middelburg, in extremely diluted East-Indian ink & Arabic gum on Simili Japon, 225 grs. 96,0 x 65,0 cm. in three wooden frames, each 97,9 x 66,3 x 4,5 cm., dyed matt white. Connecting the Said al-Mishal Cultural Center Gaza - oblitorated in a bomb strike by the Israel Defence Forces on August 9, 2018 with ruimteCAESUUR.

DISTANT SUFFERING XIX / 3 | DISSECTION OF A DISAPPEARING CLOUD

work

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one piece | October 2018 Cloud, painted with soil from the garden of de Sea foundation, in extremely diluted East-Indian ink & Arabic gum on Simili Japon, 225 grs. 96,0 x 65,0 cm. in a wooden frames, 101,0 x 68,5 x 5,5 cm., dyed matt white. Connecting the Said al-Mishal Cultural Center Gaza - oblitorated in a bomb strike by the Israel Defence Forces on August 9, 2018 with de Sea foundation in Tilburg. ©2018 Riet van Gerven | courtesy of Sea foundation

DISTANT SUFFERING XIX / 4 | DISSECTION OF A DISAPPEARING CLOUD

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triptych | January 2 - January 14, 2019 Cloud, painted with soil from the garden of de Roofprintpers, in extremely diluted East-Indian ink & Arabic gum on Simili Japon, 225 grs. 96,0 x 65,0 cm. in three wooden frames, each 101,0 x 68,5 x 5,5 cm., dyed matt white. Connecting the Said al-Mishal Cultural Center Gaza - oblitorated in a bomb strike by the Israel Defence Forces on August 9, 2018 with de Roofprintpers in Middelburg. ©2019 Leni van den Berge | courtesy of de Roofprintpers

DISTANT SUFFERING XIX / 5 | DISSECTION OF A DISAPPEARING CLOUD

work

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diptych | April 22 – April 30, 2019 Cloud, painted with soil from the garden of de Roofprintpers, in extremely diluted East-Indian ink & Arabic gum on Simili Japon, 225 grs. 96,0 x 65,0 cm. in two wooden frames, each 97,9 x 66,3 x 4,5 cm. Connecting the Said al-Mishal Cultural Center Gaza - oblitorated in a bomb strike by the Israel Defence Forces on August 9, 2018 with the art space Kunsthal 45 in Den helder. ©2019 Margo van der Pool | courtesy of Kunsthal 45

DISTANT SUFFERING XIX / 6 | DISSECTION OF A DISAPPEARING CLOUD

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one piece | February 2020 Cloud, painted with soil from the exhibition space in Verona, Italy of the international art project Kabutar | pigeon, curated by Mehreen Hashmi in art spaces in Pakistan, Italy, France, Turkey and The Netherlands, in extremely diluted East-Indian ink & Arabic gum on Simili Japon, 225 grs. 96,0 x 65,0 cm. in wooden frame, 97,9 x 66,3 x 4,5 cm. Connecting the Said al-Mishal Cultural Center Gaza - oblitorated in a bomb strike by the Israel Defence Forces on August 9, 2018 with the art spaces in Pakistan, Italy, France, Turkey and The Netherlands in which the exhibitions of the art-project Kabutar, curated by Mehreen Hashmi, was exhibited.

DISTANT SUFFERING XIX / 7 | DISSECTION OF A DISAPPEARING CLOUD

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one piece | January 23 – 25, 2020 Cloud, painted with soil from the garden of the Biekorf, Culturecentre Bruges, Belgium, within the exhibition in extremely diluted East-Indian ink & Arabic gum on Simili Japon, 225 grs. 96,0 x 65,0 cm. in wooden frame 101,0 x 68,5 x 5,5 cm. Connecting the Said al-Mishal Cultural Center Gaza - oblitorated in a bomb strike by the Israel Defence Forces on August 9, 2018 with the Biekorf, Bruges, Belgium within the program Comedy of the human deficit by Geertje Vangenechten, curated by Jan Verhaeghe

DISTANT SUFFERING XIX / 8 | DISSECTION OF A DISAPPEARING CLOUD

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one piece | May 25, 2021 Cloud, painted with dust from Luxfer Open Space | Česká Skalice | Czech Republic, in extremely diluted East-Indian ink & Arabic gum on Simili Japon, 225 grs. 96,0 x 65,0 cm. in wooden frame 101,0 x 68,5 x 5,5 cm. Connecting the Said al-Mishal Cultural Center Gaza - oblitorated in a bomb strike by the Israel Defence Forces on August 9, 2018 with Luxfer Open Space in Česká Skalice in the Czech Republic. ©2021 | Lukáš Jasanský

DISTANT SUFFERING XXA |

i.d. of a shared assemble game set - 2021

work 1:144 3D Battle Damaged Building Outland Model Railway Office Scene For Child Gift Hand Work Plastic ABS Assemble Game Set (Li Limyt) Filterglass (> 1,0 mm) | Toppershops B.V. Plexiglass hood | 25 x 25 x 25 [ x o,3 ] cm. Pedestal | 110 x 25 x 25 cm. MDF 9 mm. | primer white / topcoat Gamma white 710 – matt exhibition EXILE | CultuurCentrum Brugge, Belgium | 2019 - curated by Jan Verhaeghe and Matthieu Lobello

Luxfer Open Space | Česká Skalice | Czech Republic | 2021 56

DISTANT SUFFERING XXB |

i.d. of a shared assemble game set – 2021

work 1:144 3D Battle Damaged Building Outland Model Railway Office Scene For Child Gift Hand Work Plastic ABS Assemble Game Set (Li Limyt) Bleached bird feathers Plexiglass hood | 25 x 25 x 25 [ x o,3 ] cm. Console | 30 x 25 x 2,5 cm. MDF 9 mm. | primer white / topcoat Gamma white 710 – matt exhibitions ‫ – کبوتر‬KABUTAR – PIGEON, INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL EXCHANGE PROGRAM Cultural exchange exhibition between Pakistan / Karachi and Italy / Milan Curator | Mehreen Hashimi DISTANT SUFFERING – the project | 2021 Solo oeuvre exhibition | Luxfer Open Space | Česká Skalice / Czech Republic Curator | Kateřina Štroblová photo next page ©Lukáš Jasanský, courtesy by Luxfer Open Space | Česká Skalice | Czech Republic IN THE GLARE OF GREY MOON | 2022 Group exhibition in Lahore / Pakistan Curator | Mehreen Hashimi 58

DISTANT SUFFERING XXC |

i.d. of a shared cup of tea - 2019 | 2020

exhibition Luxfer Open Space | Česká Skalice | Czech Republic - 2021 work tea glass | Loctite Super Glue Glas | blood of the artist, sand from Zeeland waiting for sand from Jackson, West Tennessee | engraved brass plate Plexiglass hood | 25 x 25 x 25 [ x o,3 ] cm. | Console | 110 x 25 x 25 cm. MDF 9 mm., primer white / topcoat Gamma white 710 – matt text brass engraved text sign 95 x 50 mm In memory of Raja Hamid Yahya al-Oud [14] † 23 March 2018 | Sa'dah – Yemen Raja was it by a CBU-52 B/B cluster bomb, manufactured in 1977 in the Milan Army Ammunition Plant in Jackson, West Tennessee, U.S.A. catalog click here for the catalog 60

DISTANT SUFFERING XXE |

i.d. of liquid mobility - 2021

work two Dutch newspapers [ NRC / VK ] wallpaper paste Perfix non-woven | paint: Histor black 6372 – matt two Faller rowing boats blue, Artitec H0 Steel A387.09-BL approximately 50 x 33 cm. on four threaded rods | Ø 5 mm exhibitions decreet-concreet | Zeeuws Art Magazine - September 2020 Boulevard of beauty & solace | Middelburg Canal / Town Hall - September 2020 Turbulent Waters | Arsis | Markizaat / Bergen op Zoom - 2020 – 2021 Luxfer Open Space | Česká Skalice | Czech Republic - 2021 click here for the catalog 62

September 2020 | Boulevard of beauty & solace | foundation decreet – concreet | Middelburg Town Hall | photo ©Giel Louws 64

We are grasping for who we are, dangling between the 53 identities Facebook reserved for us. In the past we were voyagers. We had a purpose and a direction, we knew how far we were from home, who we were and where we belonged. Now we changed into tourists. We settle down for a moment and gain fast experiences, but we aren’t connected to anyone or anything. We lack purpose other than dissolve deep boredom. We interchange totally different countries & cultures almost as easily as we change the coffee brand or anything else you consume. Literally by accident, we occasionally come across our counter tourists when they arrive on a beach that we had just booked. Asylum seekers profiting from the same liquid mobility. 65

DISTANT SUFFERING XXI |

i.d. of inequality - 2020

work 200 full colour posters A1 [ 59,4 x 84 cm. ] qr-code linking to the main text on 135 gr. MC paper with the paraphernalia of ‘travelling / mobility’, placed in public spaces all over the world and a catalog / book in the making, following the process click here fort he catalog in the making 66

In our globalized world, there are many political contradictions: rich vs poor, white vs black, north vs south, et cetera. In recent years you have also seen this contradiction increasingly clearly expressed in mobility. Especially in the western world, travel-ling has taken extreme forms with the rise of tourism, and the globalization of internationally oriented companies, research centres, universities, et cetera. This mobility contrasts sharply with the necessary escape from war and poverty of migrants. There is no warm welcome for them, as western people can expect everywhere. No infrastructure in which they feel safe, no tax benefits, but countless dangers and hardships and hopeless admission criteria. Their mobility is restricted as much as possible and sold to us in terms of 'reception in the region'. While reality expresses itself in degrading refugee camps. In short, mobility is currently one of the clearest examples of privilege. However, the poster shows one of the few similarities between these different travellers, namely their luggage. The poignant differrence is in the contents of these suitcases, bags and backpacks. May 2020 | W.F.T. van Houtum

Den Haag / The Hague | Vredespaleis / The Peace Palace ] – 04/06/2020

SkopjeMK | 01/06/2020

EdinburghSCH | 26/05/2020

Dakar | Île de GoréeSN | 28/10/2020

The HagueNL | Binnenhof | 11/06/2020

GenoaIT | 05/10/2020

Larrés (Huesca)ESP | 18/06/2020

GazaPS | 03/07 & 04/07/2020

AgersøDK | 27/07/2020

VeniceÏT | 29/07/2020

AmsterdamNL | 29/07/2020

BeirutLB | 02/08/2020

BerlinDE | Nollendorfplatz | 14/09/2020

DISTANT SUFFERING XXIII |

i.d. of a shared artefact – 2021 work in progress

teamCAESUUR cureerde in de winter van 2021 een tentoonstelling met als titel ‘CAESUUR en het object’. Zie pagina 18 & 19 van deze catalogus. Dit is mijn bijdrage. Alina Achenbach ≈ Ruben Hordijk ≈ Anne Hordijk schreven op mijn verzoek een tekst bij dit concept. Klik hier voor de catalogus in staat van wording. teamCAESUUR curated an exhibition in the winter of 2021 entitled " CAESUUR and the object". See page 18 & 19 of this catalog. This is my contribution. Alina Achenbach ≈ Ruben Hordijk ≈ Anne Hordijk at my request wrote a text for this concept. Click here for the catalog in the making.

DISTANT SUFFERING XXI |

i.d. a shared bullet – work in progress - 2019

Material Mold ‘hot Bullet Shape Mode’ from Etsy, Hong Kong 061207 1 H14-03-020 1 PL191 129 02 187 A. Small bottles from Etsy, Hong Kong; High borosilicate glass and corks, volume: 85 oz (25ml), 90 mm x 20 mm; opening: about 13 mm. Severin GB 8882 - Mini freezer Steel console 110 x 60 x 60 cm | powder coated white Tap water from in Česká Skalice | Czech Republic / Arhus | Denmark Youtube video Catalog Exhibitions Luxfer Open Space | Česká Skalice | Czech Republic - 2021 Juxtapose Art Fair | Aarhus | Denmark - 2021 Special thanks to Loek Overvliet | console Willy van Houtum | research, implementation, video Jochem Weststrate | video’s Roman Rejhold & Kate Štroblová | Luxfer Open Space Sasha Rose Richter | Pamela Grombacher | Jacob Juhl | Cecilie Bernts of the Juxtapose Art Fair 76

DISTANT SUFFERING XXI | i.d. of a shared bullet derives from the bullet that fits into

an AK 47 - the most commonly used assault rifle in the world. The bullet in this artwork is made of ice, with the help of a mold from Etsy, Hong Kong, pretending to be an exact copy of the magazine of the AK47. The first badge of this work was presented on June 11, 2021 in Luxfer Open Space in Česká Skalice in the Czech Republic. Due to the contemporary human condition, unfortunately this part of the series is infinite. 78

Justification

Since 2013, by means of the ongoing art-series distant suffering, the Dutch artist Hans Overvliet ( Leiden, 1952 ) investigates the role of the media in their representation of (military) violence. This, in the context of themes as perception, memory and identity formation. Overvliet uses a various range of media, symbols and codes, bringing together seemingly dichotomies like beauty and violence, refinement and brutality, the sublime and the vulgar. Aspects of power, politics, exclusion, censorship and the connection between artist, artwork and viewer seemingly effortlessly infiltrate his multifaceted conceptual oeuvre. The language-image relationship and references to (art) history are always present. With the production of the art-series distant suffering, Hans Overvliet questions the role of the media consumer, yet equally his own role as an artist. By constructing these works of existing media images, Overvliet allows us to view these images through an entirely different lens. Most often, the artist’s intended themes include the multiplicity of visual culture and its mindless consumption. Overvliet’s works ask from the spectator to gaze intently at them, in order to instigate in the viewer a new awareness about the images around them. 1

The transition into art is inspired by the Dutch Artist Armando2: It is the beauty of evil, ‘die Schönheit des Bösen’, located in the belly of the evil, looking for a place in the wake of evil in order to show himself to me, although it doesn’t amuse me at all. This beauty calls me to transfer the ‘evil’ into the innocent, because of the amoral domain of art.

order to show himself to me, although it doesn’t amuse me at all. This beauty calls me to transfer the ‘evil’ into the innocent, because of the amoral domain of art. The action driven perspective that is included in the approach of Hannah Arendt’s non-paternalistic empathy is the performative part of the series distant suffering. Elements of distant suffering were exhibited in the Netherlands, Belgium, Pakistan, Italy, the Czech Republic, Denmark and England. Hans Overvliet lives and works in the province of Zeeland in the South-West of the Netherlands. Next to his art-work he is, together with his wife Willy van Houtum, the founder and runner of the 27-year old space for contemporary art: ruimteCAESUUr.

1 2

Julia Mulié , Assistant Curator Vleeshal, Middelburg Armando, Acknowledgements About Beauty, 1987

Exhibitions | selection

2014 - 2017 Willem3 | Vlissingen | 05/04’14 – 06/04/’14

Vleeshal | Middelburg | 30/04/2017 So You Don't Get Lost in the Neighborhood

W45 art space | Goes | 06/09/’14 – 27/09/’14

Nieuwe Kerk Middelburg | Art Camping Syria

Mon Capitaine | Middelburg | 05/04/’15 – 26/04/’15

Abby Complex | Middelburg | June – August 2017 Iconoclastic Fury | group

AFFAF | Café Spoorzicht – Arnemuiden | 9-10/10/’15

2018 Willem Twee art space | Den Bosch | DISTORTION 07/01/’18 – 25/03/’18

Winner category ‘series’ 2018 | Red Art Line Works

studio seven | Vlissingen | 01/05/’16 – 12/05/’16

ruimteCAESUUR | Middelburg | June 16 – July 1st 2018

Art Gouda | het Weeshuis – Gouda | 02/06/’16 – 05/06/’16

Sea foundation | Tilburg | [ residence ] September – October 2018

Biënnale Amersfoort | Vreemde Gasten ( Foreign Guests ) 1 & 2 oktober 2016 Theater De Fransche School | Culemborg | 23/10/’16 My Land- Israël | Palestina – film, debate & encounter CultuurCentrum BuggeB | April 27, 2017 – May 27, 2017 Contribution to ‘Les Refugés’

CultuurCentrum BuggeB | 27/04 – 24/05/’18 Contribution to ‘Play’

2019 De Roofprintpers | Middelburg | 02/02/’19 – 04/02/ 19 Leni van den Berge CultuurCentrum BruggeB | 25/04/ 2019 - 31/05/2019 Contribution to EXILE

MEN OF (street art) | Independent Artists

Arsis & Rijksmuseum | Bergen op Zoom [ Amsterdam ] June 2019

Steal like an Artist! | Kunstpodium ‘T’ | Tilburg October 2 – October 28 2020 in cooperation with Lost Painters | Niek Hendrix

Watermans Arts CentreEngland | London | exhibition D.R.H.A. September 2019 2020 [ due to Civid19 some exhibitions were postponed ] Cultuurcentrum BruggeBelgium Comédie de la Condition Humaine April 23 – May 24, 2020 Also in the catalog

Art Magazine decreet | September 2020 Also in the public space Middelburg September 2020 – May 2021

June 31, 2021 | Markizaat / Bergen op Zoom the end of the exhibition Arsis & Rijksmuseum

I.D. OF INEQUALITY

Luxfer Open Space | Česká SkaliceCzech Republic residency / solo exhibition June 11 – August 30, 2021

MilanItaly | October 04 – October 28 2020

Juxtapose Art Fair | AarhusDenmark | August 20 – 22, 2021 with Jorieke Rottier representing ruimteCAESUUR

2022 LahorePakistan | In the glare of grey moon Ranrez art gallery | January 2022 Curator | Mehreen Hashmi

Acknowledgement

A long-term project like DISTANT SUFFERING is impossible to work out on your own. Apart from all the people living in my library, I also want to thank the people who made the execution and exhibitions possible. In fairly random order: Willy van Houtum, Giel Louws, Dani Ploeger, Jorieke Rottier, Jan VerhaegheBE, Loek Overvliet, Robbert Jan Swiers, Rinus Roepman, Ingrid Rolema, Alina Achenbach, Ruben Hordijk, Anne Hordijk, leon riekwell, Loek Grootjans, Hendrik Driessen, Harmen Eijsenga († 2017), Jen en Frie GosséBE, Johan de Koning, Leni van den Berge, Peter Steutel, Ramon de Nennie, Suzanne Groothuis, Manuel ZoiaIT, Fred van den Berge († 2017), Martina ButtiglieriIT, Margo van der Pool, Rolf van der Mije, Niek Hendriks, Mehreen HashmiPK, Klio KrajewskaGB, Mohammed Al jawariGaza, Kees de Valk († 2019), Luk Vulders, Ko de Jonge, Klaartje Esch, Roman RejholdCZ, Riet van Gerven, Kate ŠtroblováCZ, Frank ÅsnesNO, Yvette Lardinois, Sasha Rose RichterDK, Sylvia Hubrouck, Virginie Gmelich Meijlingt van Dooren, Jan Gmelich Meijlingt († 2021), Pamela GrombacherDK, Jochem Weststrate, Jacob JuhlDK, Jan-Willem van Rijnberk, Pim Steinman, Julia Fidder, Eva Langerak, Kris van der Hart, Maarten van ’t Hof, Bianca Runge, Cecilie BerntsDK, Hynek ŠnajdarCZ, Christine Veraart, Huibert-Jan Vader, Iris van ‘t Bos André Smits, and the numerous participants in I.D. OF INEQUALITY.

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