21 |hans overvliet | aarhus - skalice | diary

Juxtapose Art Fair A new gathering for artist-run art projects August 20 - 22, 2021 Aarhus | Denmark

ending a residency in LUXFER OPEN SPACE in Česká Skalice | Czech Republic exhibition | June 11 – August 30, 2021 finissage / artist talk | August 27, 2021

www.hansovervliet.com

Lange Noordstraat 67, Middelburg the Netherlands website

Godsbanen Skovgaardsgade 3, Aarhus Denmark website

Riegrova 347, Česká Skalice Czech Republic website

works by Jorieke Rottier info@joriekerottier.nl www.joriekerottier.nl

hans overvliet curiositas@zeelandnet.nl www.hansovervliet.com

Middelburg | Aarhus | Česká Skalice For my project ‘i.d. of inequality’ I contacted Sasha Rose Richter of Juxtapose Art Fair. Sasha immediately positively joined in. In my letter of thanks I mentioned that I thought 'her' Art Fair was a great initiative. Juxtapose Art Fair is a fair that aims to show some 25 artists' initiatives from the wider European ‘region’ and to give international attention to the artists behind these initiatives. At the same time, the fair forms a fantastic exchange platform for these artists and the initiatives.

Even though the registration deadline had long passed, Sasha invited me for the fair. So, on behalf of ruimteCAESUUR, Willy and I present both CAESUUR as well the art work of Jorieke Rottier and me.

The motivation to show these two artists: ‘While at first sight the work of these two artists might appear very different, their working processes have a lot in common: both are collectors and are searching for materials that facilitate reduction; for both of them, the process of creation is often more important than showing the finished work. Generating knowledge through labour and the journey of the creation process itself – often also intertwined with journeys in the literal sense – is their primary interest. For Jorieke, this knowledge oftentimes originates from intuition. Hans, instead, protects know-ledge as a system to attempt finding truths.

While negotiating different ways of sharing and dividing the space between them, they might collaborate, work alone, finish work, change it, recombine, or start all over again.’

I will show two pieces: ‘Defacing Palestine / The Nakba 1948 - 2018’ and ‘I.d of a shared bullet’.

After ‘Aarhus’ Willy and I will travel to Česká Skalice in the Czech Republic in order to work again with the wonderful people of Luxfer Open Space. I will to close my oeuvre exhibition in Luxfer with an artist talk during the finissage on Friday, August 27. Here you find a photo essay on that exhibition So it will be another fascinating art journey, during which I will leave the last posters of 'inequality' behind as well as a number of tent pegs on troubled memorial (war)monuments: i.d. of a shared artefact.

At the same time, I remain connected to the idea of transience and failure. Now more than ever.

statement ruimteCAESUUR Since 1995, exhibitions of contemporary art and culture have been made in CAESUUR. Most of these exhibitions were in the realm of the visual arts, but there were also exhibitions about literature, social themes, and performative arts. All the shows have a relation with the contemporary art discourse, and also have an underlying historical and social perspective. ruimteCAESUUR stands for autonomy of the arts and puts the artist’s oeuvre and it's development at the core of its exhibitions. We offer young, novice and “arrived” artists a platform to present their work in a non-commercial environment. An active discourse with teamCAESUUR and its visitors play an important role in making an exhibition in ruimteCAESUUR. This discourse has a unique urgency because the art practices of our team and the invited artists have many similarities. We believe in this artistic based practice, which means that the process of making shows is creative, viable, and non-conformist. Our space has become an institute, but is absolutely not institutional. ruimteCAESUUR is a private initiative, without any comercial intent, with founders Willy van Houtum and visual artist Hans Overvliet as its core; they form the board of the CAESUUR foundation. teamCAESUUR is completed by the artists Jorieke Rottier, Giel Louws and Dani Ploeger.

The unique composition of this team crosses borders of art practices, gender, and generations.

studio set-up Jorieke hans

DISTANT SUFFERING XVIII | defacing Palestine

the nakba 1948 | 2018

the days

August 15, 2021 | Hamburg For my latest work in progress, DISTANT SUFFERING XXIII | i.d. of a shared artefact, I could not resist to leave a tent peg behind in Hamburg. Connecting al-Hawl in Syrië with the troublesome monument ‘Hamburg Firestorm’ by Alfred Hrdlicka Middelburg (the explosion by Ko de Jonge), Rotterdam (the destroyed city by Ossip Zadkine) the Zeppelin Platz in Neurenberg and Václavice in the Check Republic were the previous locations.

This artwork i.d. of a shared artefact draws attention to people who have been turned into refugees and who are currently forced to roam.

The use of the tent pegs symbolizes the large white UNHCR tents, used to build refugee camps with all over the world.

With this work of art I try to contribute to the fact that mankind will develop so much civilisation, that in the very near future the white tents and therefore these pegs will no longer be needed and that the tent pegs can definetively be displayed in museums as a historical artefact.

For multiple translations of a short introduction text in English, Deutsch, Français, Español, ‫ عربى‬and ‫فارسی‬ please click here.

al-Hawl refugee camp | Syria | 1991 / 2003 36.377040 / 41.135980

Hamburg | monument Hamburg Firestorm | Alfred Hrdlicka | 1985-86 53.559340 / 9.989200

‘i.d. of inequaliy’ | Tsumago / Gifu | Japan | Ryosuke Cohen August 9, 2012 ‘i.d. of inequaliy’ | Hamburg | Willy&Hans | August 15, 2021

Hamburg | August 15, 2021 | Speicherstadt

Hamburg | August 15, 2021 | Trostbrücke

Hamburg | 15/08/’21 | Rathausplatz

August 17, 2021 | Aarhus Started setting up the exhibition in Rå Hal today.

We were ever so warmly welcomed and shown around by Sasha, Cecilie and Jacob. We hope to meet Pam at the opening next Friday. We feel very much at home here.

The fun part was, of course, unpacking Jorieke's work and trying to get into her head - based on the photos of the set-up in the studio.

Making the first badge of the ‘ice bullets’ went very well. Tonight we label the rest of the bottles . . .

I realize how special it is to be able to present our art in such a generous context. My Palestinian comrade and fellow artist Mahmoud is on his way from Gaza to the Netherlands at the invitation of a Dutch art institute. At two o'clock this afternoon, Mahmoud had been waiting for six hours to 'be allowed' to cross the border in Raffah to Egypt. I do not know whether he has already passed and whether his flight to Amsterdam will be jeopardized as a result of this. I consider myself a lucky bastard not living under the iron fist of an apartheid regime . . .

August 18, 2021 | Aarhus It is quite remarkable to install an exhibition with instant feedback from Vlissingen, Middelburg and Basel while working in Denmark. Everybody around us is building all kind of constructions with the modules which the organisation provides: walls, tables, suspension systems, etc. We, on the other hand, only out-lined our space from Middelburg one on one with tape on the floor of the hall.

August 19, 2021 | Aarhus Today was a lesson in humility at the ARoS Aarhus Art Museum: James Turrell with three dazzling works. We were flabbergasted. For these works alone you would drive all the way to Denmark. Or any other place on Earth.

Intriguing stamps from Africa and some beautiful Goya’s also caught our eye.

The museum itself is a really good building, but the architecture is being destroyed with huge Wizard of Oz art additions that pollute the architectural concept.

The rest of the day we worked on the ice bullets, met some really good people, saw interesting works of collegues. So the next days look quite promising.

I met Mikkel Larris from M100 in Odense, who participated in the poster project ‘i.d. of inequality’.

In the mean time, today Giel had a fantastic conversation in ruimteCAESUUR in Middelburg with Anouk Focquier of Berserk Art Agency.

I guess it was a good day.

August 20, 2021 | Aarhus Opening the laptop in the Rå hall of Godsbanen started this beautiful day: Sarah Mohawk from RM - an artist-run space, project office and archive – in Aotearoa (Auckland, New Zealand) send in her contribution for ‘i.d. of inequality’, Karangahape Road in the city district Tāmaki Makaurau.

Sarah wrote about this spot: The crossing has been painted with the progress pride flag designed by artist Daniel Quasar symbolising a more inclusive pride, with colours representing communities of colour and people who are transgender or non-binary, and it's very recognisable as Karangahape.

Karangahape is one of the oldest roads in Aotearoa and existed several centuries before European settlers arrived”.

The day ended with a picture by Willy of the wonderful place we are: in the Rå hall of Godsbanen at the Juxatapose Art Fair.

August 20, 2021 | Aarhus – continuation The opening was very well attended. Wonderful conversations with people who were really moved by the ice bullet and the combination of Jorieke's and my work.

Within a few sentences, almost everyone understood how we approached the concept of 'juxtapose'. The honesty of displaying the size of our space also met with great acclaim. Lars von Trier put a lot of smiles on faces.

Luckily we also met Pam from the organization – as always very passionate.

The day ended in the biggest cliché imaginable: very tired but very satisfied we drove back to Termestrup, accompanied by a huge, almost full moon shining over a lake with dozens of white swans.

P.S. I left a tent peg at the Besættelsesmuseet / the Occupation museumin Aarhus within the project DISTANT SUFFERING XXIII | i.d. of a shared artefact.

August 21, 2021 | Aarhus Some stupid pulled the plug on the freezer so that all 126 ice bullets we've meticulously made in the past three days – the main reason we came so early to Aarhus - melted beyond anyone's perception. Willy cried . . .

August 21, 2021 | Aarhus - continuation Fortunately, our visitors accepted the story of the cutting off of the current. The poster with the ice ball helped a lot with that acceptation. Plus the fact that the story of the bullet moves around the art fair like wildfire; so people know the origin.

Within three hours Willy had another batch ready and we could 'go on'.

This afternoon Willy visited the think tank "Rebels at Heart: What is the role of activism in the artist-run sector?" Hans attended the one titled "Balancing Act: How can we balance our own artistic practices with the curatorial and administrative work of running an artistrun space?" Nice conversations that were especially important in sharing experiences and the observation that our let's say 'challenges' are also those of the other places.

After the enormous disappointment of this morning, we had many conversations about ruimteCAESUUR and the art presented art works with other artists and other artists/presentation places. That alone made it an extremely valuable day.

A kind of future has been born again.

August 22, 2021 | Aarhus The Juxtapose Art Fair is over. The last hour also brought the most beautiful light of the three days. Jorieke's work benefitted from that for a brief moment. As if it was supposed to be, Harry&Yolanda emerged from that sunlight visiting us. On their way from Stavanger, they 'dropped by'.

Tomorrow we will have a detailed look back. Now we have a very good feeling about the many people we actually reached and with whom we may be able to work in the near future.

We are extremely grateful to the organization – including Sasha, Pam, Cecilia and Jacob (in interchangeable order) for their ideas and implementation. Caught in one image: no one was running, everyone was walking.

The audience numbers were very manageable: time and concentration were very well spread over the days.

August 23, 2021 | Aarhus The last image of Goldbanen today:

So yesterday and today we said goodbye to al lot of very good people with whom we had real connecting conversations; both with colleagues, visitors and the great people of the organisation. For the moment we cherish the warm memories.

Tomorrow we’ll leave for Berlin; our stop on our way to Česká Skalice. I asked Jorieke to make a selection of the pictures we took. I am very curious in the way she perceives the exhibition and how she will compose the documentation.

Also tomorrow I’ll make a start with the artist talk about my whole body of work, to be held Friday next. I’ll use the 650+ miles to Hohen Neuendorf to come up with something hopefully interesting.

But for the moment we are sitting in our small cottage in Termestrup, still impressed by the fantastic experiences of the last week.

August 28, 2021 | Berlin / Dresden / Česká Skalice From Aarhus on the days were rather full: much to think about, much to talk about. So no diary, no Fb . . . .

Back to the art work in Berlin. A tent peg left behind at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church on Breitscheidplatz on Kurfürstendamm. A place of memory that has been completely commercialized.

I couldn't resist leaving a tent peg behind on Bernauer Straße, where part of the Iron Curtain has been left behind and where a museum pays attention to the former separation of the former two Germanys.

I chose the place because next to this area of memory there is a beautiful, old cemetery: the Sophien Friedhof.

The spot is on the so called ‘inner wall’, with in the back the trees of the cemetery.

After Berlin we drove via Dresden to Česká Skalice.

We visited the Heidefriedhof on the Moritzburger Landstraße. An incredibly impressive place in every way. The cemetery is a beautiful forest, still used as a graveyard.

About 16,000 victims of the bombing of Dresden from February 13 - 14, 1945 are buried here in a mass grave.

Victims of a war crime.

Before you reach the white monument of the mass grave, you pass through a round square about 100 meters in diameter. The round, ceremonial area is surrounded by 14 pillars. The seven on the right bear the names of Nazi concentration camps: Theresienstadt, Sachsenhausen, Ravensbrück, Dachau, Buchenwald, Bergen-Belsen, and Auschwitz. The pillars on the left side show the names of seven European cities destroyed in the war: Coventry, Dresden, Leningrad, Lidice, Oradour, Rotterdam and Warsaw.

At the distant end of the axis, a white wall is visible: the memorial wall. There you read the words: How many died?

Who knows their number? In your wounds we can see the torture of the nameless who burned here in a manmade hell / In memory of the victims of the air attack on Dresden 1314 February, 1945.

Standing in front of this monument we suddenly realized that not a single image or word referred to a higher, mystical entity. Everything here refers to the human condition: both the horror and the solace. We have to determine our own position, to act ourselves.

The tragedy of this human condition is also that at every commemoration, here the 'left' and the 'right' fight for legitimacy. So this monument has also become a contested site of memory.

On the walk back we decided that the rest of the plan to visit the inner city of Dresden was a bridge too far.

August 28, 2021 | Česká Skalice Meeting Roman again was heart warming. We had immediate contact, immediate enthusiasm and passion.

Last night I held my artist talk for a select group, including Roel and Bart. After the talk we had a moving and lively conversation about art, life and everything.

In short, home coming.

So now I am organizing the past few days and I am writing a text for the literary magazine Ballustrada.

Monday we try to cram the exhibition into the car next to all the stuff from Aarhus; I am curious what we have to leave behind so that we will 'have’ to come back again.

August 30, 2021 | Česká Skalice Full of gratitude while looking back on great moments, we said goodbye to Luxfer Open Space. Thanks to Roman, Kate, Ludek Lukáš, and David and all those other people who made this exhibition quite a memorable experience.

August 30, 2021 | Česká Skalice – continuation Tomorrow we travel via Aschaffenburg to Middelburg. Looking forward to meet ‘our’ people again.

Česká Skalice - Aschaffenburg - Middelburg The last 'stage' before 'home'. Aschaffenburg. We arrived at August 31 in Aschaffenburg, had a beer, made some pictures and the next day - September 1 – we went back to work with 'i.d of inequality'.

We long for the friends, the studio & the garden.

Aschaffenburg, September 1, 2021 ‘i.d. of inequality’

Colophon Jorieke, Willy and I, also on behalf of teamCAESUUR, are deeply indebted to Juxtapose Art Fair: Sasha Rose Richter | Pamela Grombacher Jacob Juhl | Cecilie Bernts; LUXFER OPEN SPACE

Roman Rejhold, David and Kate & Ludek Štroblová in Česká Skalice who – again – gave Willy&me the time of our lives; Giel Louws who inspired me to write this diary and took care of the garden.

LUXFER OPEN SPACE

Česká Skalice | Czech Republic 11/06/’21 – 31/08/’21

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Juxtapose Art Fair A new gathering for artist-run art projects August 20 - 22, 2021 Aarhus | Denmark

www.hansovervliet.com