| ||||||||||||
|
artist
born 1958 in Hank, the Netherlands
phone: +31.20.4202.331
As an artist, I do not work in a studio. I consider public space and its periphery as my working field. Art in public space does not mean installing a studio object in another environment, but recreating the situation of that site. My works include texts, installations, paintings, prints, graphic design, collaboration works, organising, abstracts. Which makes it impossible, since I am still a young artist with ever changing interests, to be able to state my actual position. Here are the trivia: Before I came to Amsterdam, I have lived in Nijmegen for 13 years. I went there to study history at the university (KUN). After three years I quit and in 1982 I started to study at the academy* for fine arts of Arnhem (painting dept.). At the same time I was called for military draft, I refused and, as an accepted alternative, I started to work as a member of the av-dept., at the graphic design studio for the alpha-studies. The art school was not very tempting, but I contacted friends and fellow artists, with some of them I still collaborate. I was a member an art group at the academy; its last activity was an exchange exhibition with students from Budapest (paintings and one video). Also the academy in Arnhem got boring after three years, so I dropped out again. In Nijmegen, were I stayed after my study at KUN, I got first contacts with local artists, went excited and started to rent and sometimes squat places for studio space. Most rooms were so huge (old monasteries, factory buildings) that as an starting artist with no money and lots of jealous 'friends', I could easily find support for projects and shared work space. Since that time, 1986, I got involved, but often invited in the local arts scene. I lived in Vienna for 8 months with a guest studio and some work as a gallery assistent. Back in Nijmegen, I started to organise group and theme exhibits, collaborated in several local art groups, made intensive exhange programs with artists from Budapest and set up a couple of legal organisations. Some of those turned into real institutes. But my being involved in this was very exhausting and often very frustrating, all the time being supportive for tenths of people. I thought, as a naive young artist, that it was better to create my own conditions and environment in stead of depending on existing visions and infrastructure. Consequently, I drowned in the public artistic sphere of Nijmegen. But from January 1, 1994 I have cut all my ties with Nijmegen to concentrate (better) on new goals and interests here in Amsterdam, with only a few concrete jobs and projects. I live in Amsterdam for almost three years now, started to work here as a graphic designer/dtp for a small publisher of computer magazines. I bought my first computer (Classic) late 1990. Since august of last year I am a member of the editorial board of the digital city in Amsterdam. I help starters with macintosh computers, do some system management and maintainance for Amsterdam Cultural Studies and got interested in Internet as a new public space. Over here it is quite new for computer illiterates, the majority of the population, including most academic artists. My actual activity: I have just started to work part-time at the Netherlands Design Institute as a technical assistent for av, computer network-maintainance, coaching, and a little development. Member of the editorial of De Digitale Stad (the digital city) in Amsterdam. Re-creating gopher space for the art-site of the digital city and developing models for front ends to be used on Performa 450's terminal cities throughout the city. Spin off cd-rom (release november in MediaMatic). Member of the board of the Fabriek, Artists residence/workshop in Eindhoven. Preparing a conference for artists initiatives in the Netherlands, with probably 40 participating organisations. Next year the same conference with international initiatives. I prepare some presentations and a new installation, somewhere in November of 1994. But this is just for now. * In the Netherlands, one can study to become an artist at an 'Academie' or 'Hogeschool', which is a bit under an university. Also in Europe, an academy is not only a military training school. There are 12 academies in the Netherlands and I think 6 post-graduate academies.
EMAIL: Click here to send this artist an email
MESSAGE BOARD: Read archived comments about this artist
LOCATION: NONE
LANGUAGE: None set (will use English)
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT: "Full" - Artist retains full copyright of any and all works he or she has created. Please contact this artist before using any of the artist's work in any way.
COPYRIGHT NOTE: Copyright may vary from project to project or image to image, even for one artist. Please verify the copyright in each specific instance before using ANY artwork from SITO.