Kunsthal Light #24 until 23rd May 2021
Am I looking at a photographic print, or is this part of the building? The installations of Marleen Sleeuwits (1980) blur the dividing lines between fiction and reality. Aided by bright neon lights, foil, photographic prints, and mirrors, she plays with perspective, reflection, and scale in architectural spaces. Examples of this are windows that continue beyond the ceiling, or the repetition of architectural details. It is her intention to temporarily alienate the visitors from their sense of time and location. Sleeuwits will be transforming the display window along the ramp into a spatial optical illusion for Kunsthal Light #24. She is inspired by the Kunsthal architecture that, in her view, contains elements of beauty and disorientation. With the Kunsthal closed to the public, Sleeuwits started building her installation Isomatrix on 18th January. The progress of her project can be followed from the ramp, outside the building. As soon as the Kunsthal is allowed to reopen, Kunsthal Light #24 can be visited.
For realising her site-specific work Isomatrix, Sleeuwits will first capture the interior and exterior of the Kunsthal with her camera. With its unexpected spyholes, slanted ramps, and somewhat hidden entrance, the architecture by Rem Koolhaas feels like a labyrinth to the artist. It gives Sleeuwits a positive sense of disorientation that she wishes to intensify. She uses three-dimensional elements, reflection, and photographic prints to offer the visitors an experience of the space from a different perspective. Am I looking at a photograph? Or is this part of the building? Where does the ceiling end, and where do the large windows begin? Through her work, Sleeuwits offers visitors a surprising visual experience and allows them to look at the space in an entirely new way.
Artist Talk
Also part of the Kunsthal Light talent development programme are a concise publication about the creative process and an Artist Talk. More information and the date for the Artist Talk will follow on www.kunsthal.nl/marleensleeuwits
Marleen Sleeuwits
Marleen Sleeuwits (1980) is based in The Hague and researches the boundaries between flat surface and three-dimensional space. Sleeuwits studied at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague and completed a master’s degree in photography at the St. Joost School of Art & Design in Breda. Earlier, she exhibited her work at venues like MKgalerie in Rotterdam, Nederlands Fotomuseum, also in Rotterdam, Museum de Fundatie in Zwolle, and the Brno House of Arts in the Czech Republic.
Kunsthal Light
Kunsthal Light creates opportunities for talented artists. The spotlight is aimed at ‘modern muralists’, urban artists and cartoonists, conceptual art, and art installations. Artists are given free rein to make a site-specific work in the display window along the ramp and engage in conversations with the public. In 2021, Kunsthal Light is also made possible by the Mondriaan Fund.
Artists from previous Kunsthal Light editions are:
2020 Sil Krol, Thomas Trum
2019 Said Kinos, Joris Strijbos
2018 Gijs van Lith, Nazif Lopulissa, Willem Besselink
2017 Ari Bayuaji
2016 Susanna Inglada, Inge Aanstoot, Pim Palsgraaf
2015 Myungsu Seo, Thera Clazing, Tim Hollander, Aura Rendón Benger
2014 Stefan Hoffmann
2013 Ruwedata & Ephameron
2012 Sam Peeters, Johan Boer, Niels Brozat
2011 Ben Merris, Nacho Simal, Susan Opperman
More information: http://jaarverslag.kunsthal.nl/education-talent/kunsthal-light/?lang=en
