Op een eiland (On an island)
By Narges Mohammadi

Op een eiland (On an island) is a multi sensorial dinner made by Narges Mohammadi and Yannik Güldner. As part of Mohammadi’s presentation for Waterwerken. A program that surrounds our relationship with water, and invites six different artists to dive into this relation and to create a new site-specific work.

It highlights the notion of 'digesting', of recognisable and/or similar experiences, words of hope and hopelessness in relation to being land-, or waterless. The dishes are inspired by the texts of the acclaimed writers and artists Sahar Shirzad, Tina Farifteh, Mina Etemad, Saba Askary and Melisa Can. The texts will be shared during the dinner. Throughout the evening percussionist Christian Smith will perform a combination of live-, and recorded sounds inspired by the island, the texts and the dishes. Reflecting on being land-, or waterless, the dinner will be prepared without the direct use of water. All ingrediënts are vegan and biologic, and as local as possible.

28th of September 2022

Buitenplaats Brienenoord
3077 AE Rotterdam
www.buitenplaatsbrienenoord.nl

18:00 start dinner
22:00 closing

* The island is a protected nature reserve, therefore there is a no-visitors policy after 22:00.

Please note that the dinner is via R.S.V.P. Please send an e-mail to hello@nargesmohammadi.com with Op een eiland in the subject line.

Narges Mohammadi, Concrete Exchange, cement, rebar, rebar mats. IPE120 beams, 345 (L) x 250 (B) / 198 (H), 3840 kg and ±175 (L) x 1x ±175 (B) / positief: ± 240 (H), 1275 kg, 2022. Photography Lotte van Uittert. © 2022 Narges Mohammadi. All rights reserved.

Concrete Exchange consists of two monuments; the first is a teacup with saucer and the second is the space around the cup and saucer that has been made solid. So it is a positive and a negative monument, a form and a residual form. The negative monument is intended to be installed in the ground and can only be viewed from above. The earth released when installing the negative monument is then used to fill the base of the positive monument.

Concrete Exchange is inspired by the principle of an art fair where x m2 equals x euro, and by how the value of physical space in Amsterdam increases exponentially every year due to metropolitan changes. Mohammadi sees the teacup as a symbol against gentrification, since this is often accompanied by the rise of hip coffee shops. The monument in positive is offered for donation. Residents initiatives from the Randstad (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht) are invited to sign up for this call. The monument in negative is offered 'for sale', however his work can only be bought by investing hours in the residents' initiative. The requested time investment is equal to the amount of time that Mohammadi and her team put into realising the work. The buyer can put in these hours by supporting all kinds of tasks that are set up by the initiative. To give an example, this could be in co-organising activities and programmes, and by attending daily activities. Once there is a match between a residents' initiative and a buyer, the process of collectively formulating and shaping the specific tasks, wishes and possibilities starts.

For more info visit www.concrete-exchange.com (all texts are in NL + ENG).

Please send an e-mail to info@concrete-exchange.com when you’re interested in the open call for donation (only resident initiatives and neighborhood communities can apply) or when you want to purchase the monument in negative by investing hours. In negotiation, the hours can be executed by multiple people.

Narges Mohammadi, Memories of becoming, 4x5m mural with loam, objects of an office cut in pieces, a 3m (l) x3m (b) x2m (h) wooden skeleton of a home, and the video A Final Attempt for refuge, 20:22 min, 2022. As presented in the duo exhibition orbit – Sabine Kuehnle and Narges Mohammadi curated by The Real Office (Bigi Gerbhard and Maximilian Lehner) at Kunstverein Wagenhalle in Stuttgart (Germany). Photography by Frank Kleinbach. © 2022 Narges Mohammadi. All rights reserved.

A house that gives no shelter, a room that gives no space, and the traces of a home that could have been only exists in 2D. Fragments of a life wished (not) to be lived.

The three part installation embodies a dream of becoming. Unfinished shapes, gestures and outlines that could be made whole by using imagination. Memories of becoming refers to the moment in-between becoming and disappearing; the outlines of a house left unfinished, an office room stuck in-between different perspectives, and a mural that gave life to the shadows of a child-like refuge (living room). The starting point for this installation was the inability to present Attempts for refuge (2021) in the exhibition orbit curated by The Real Office, due to extensive covid-restrictions in Europe. Instead the monumental work was shown in Who Wants To Live In A World Without Magic curated by Katayoun Arian at TENT, a space for contemporary art in Rotterdam. During this, questions of temporariness, permanence and the right to exist continuously arose. What is left of an artwork, when it is stored behind closed walls, and only visible on a few occasions?

Giving hope to the dream of becoming, I’ve invited Nicole Güldner to orbit. She is an auto-didact artist and has been sketching for many decades without ever showing them. By inviting her to show a selection of her work, questions of temporariness made place for an ever-growing urgency to create, to seize the in-between moment of becoming to become.

Narges Mohammadi, A final attempt for refuge, video 20:25 min, 2022. Camera and edit by Julia Schmitz, colograding by Mayis Rukel and title design by Szymon Hernik. © 2022 Narges Mohammadi. All rights reserved.

The short film follows the dismantling of the artwork Attempts for refuge, shown at the exhibition “Who Wants To Live In A World Without Magic?”, curated by Katayoun Arian in TENT Rotterdam.

The process of working so closely and in such monumental quantities with loam, allows space to experience how it breathes. Loam, a construction material made of sand, clay, and hay is sensitive to water and hence, it transforms with humidity, temperature, and aridity. It expands and shrinks continuously due to seasonal weather conditions. Thinking of Attempts for refuge, which consists primarily of loam, as being able to breathe made me think of the cycle of existence and decay. Would it be fair to the work, intended to give shelter, to keep it artificially alive? Loam is a generous material, it allows it to be used and made fit as many times as possible. Therefore, to continue the generosity of loam, I stepped away from artificially keeping Attempts for refuge alive. Together with the friends that helped to make the work, we dismantled it. In the following, all of the material was given away. Since then Attempts for refuge lives forth and provides shelter to different artworks, experiments, to the try-outs of the BA and MA Interior Architecture (KABK) and even isolates a sauna in Groningen.

Many thanks to the kind people and dear friends who came to help: Lizzy Bax, Ariane Toussaint, Iver Uhre Dahl, Rebecca Levy, Sophie Beerens, Erik Kamaletdinov, Stein Ziel and Yannik Güldner.

Narges Mohammadi, Carrier of The Making of Passing Traces, woodturned pot with ladle, maple wood and ring of tropical hardwood, containing the usb-stick with the film The Making of Passing Traces, 20 cm (l) × 15.5cm (b) × 17 cm (h) and 28 cm (l) × 6 cm (b) × 3 cm (h), 2022. Photography by Lotte van Uittert. © 2022 Narges Mohammadi. All rights reserved. Many thanks to artist Maurice Meewisse for giving insights in woodturning and for welcoming me to work in his studio in Rotterdam.

The video installation The Making of Passing Traces won the Young Blood Award in 2020 at the Ron Mandos Gallery. This prize entails that the work is purchased by Galerie Ron Mandos. The Ron Mandos Young Blood Foundation unconditionally donates the selected work to Museum Voorlinden. The film is part of the permanent collection of Museum Voorlinden. The film is preserved in a handmade wooden carrier; small wood turned pot (maple wood) with a ladle (maple wood, with a ring of tropical hardwood). The USB stick with the film can be found inside the ladle, by opening the top part above the ring.

ENG

Collective artwork as part of Stories of Belonging, wood, model plaster, pencils and crayons, 2022. Collectively made by Beyda, Hajar, Donovan, Yahya, Oumaima, Safae and Narges, Fouad and David. Exhibited in De Appel, Amsterdam as part of the exhibition Stories of Belonging, curated by Fouad Lakbir and David Smeulders. Photography by Jimena Gabriela Gauna. © 2022 The Apple. All rights reserved.

On February 4th, Stories of Belonging was launched at de Appel: an exhibition made by 36 students from the Comenius Lyceum in Amsterdam Nieuw-West, the artist Fouad Lakbir, and de Appel’s education curator David Smeulders. With artworks and artistic contributions from the artists Mehraneh Atashi, Gershwin Bonevacia, Mark Nieuwenhuis and Bonnie Ogilvie*.

Every Saturday for the past two months we, Fouad, David and Narges, got to work with six of these 36 students: Beyda, Donovan, Hajar, Oumaima, Safae and Yahya, with support from the artists Narges Mohammadi, Fouad Lakbir and curator David Smeulders. Together we formed the public programme team.

We made a 'tree of life', in which the past, present and future are central. By making the tree of life, we grew closer and got to know each other. We added more and more personal objects to the exhibition, such as pillows, cuddly toys and board games. Throughout the sessions of the public programme, we exchanged and wrote down ideas about belonging, what it means to feel at home somewhere. You can read these ideas on the windows in the exhibition.

We quickly discovered something important: sharing stories and adding these physically in the exhibition makes us feel at home. Some of the new stories have been worked out into audio fragments that you can listen to via the QR codes.

We want to encourage and invite our visitors to also share their stories and add these to the exhibition. Therefore, we made a new collective artwork made into two benches and a table. The artwork allows you to listen and tell stories to each other; a work that offers space for our stories, memories and overlooked histories. The artwork is like a tabula rasa (a clean slate). We hereby invite you to share your story on the artwork. It is exactly this knowledge and shared experiences on which this artwork is built.

The two benches and a table offer support to the stories we share and the stories that are still missing. They embrace you and remind us of a place where everyone may be welcome. A place where every story is valued.


NL

Collectief kunstwerk als onderdeel van Stories of Belonging, hout, modelgips, potloden en krijtjes, 2022. Collectief gemaakt door Beyda, Hajar, Donovan, Yahya, Oumaima, Safae en Narges, Fouad en David. Zoals tentoongesteld in De Appel, Amsterdam als onderdeel van de tentoonstelling Stories of Belonging, gecureerd door Fouad Lakbir en David Smeulders. Fotografie door Jimena Gabriela Gauna. © 2022 De Appel. Alle rechten voorbehouden.

De afgelopen twee maanden zijn we, Fouad, David en Narges, elke zaterdag aan de slag gegaan met zes van deze 36 leerlingen, namelijk Beyda, Donovan, Hajar, Oumaima, Safae en Yahya ondersteund door de kunstenaars Narges Mohammadi, Fouad Lakbir en curator David Smeulders. Samen vormden we het publieksprogramma-team.

We hebben een ‘tree of life’ gemaakt, waarin het verleden, heden en toekomst centraal staan. Door het maken van de tree of life zijn we dichter naar elkaar toegegroeid, en leerden we elkaar kennen. We voegden steeds meer persoonlijke objecten toe aan de tentoonstelling zoals kussens, knuffels en gezelschapsspelletjes. Tijdens de sessies van het publieksprogramma hebben wij ideeën over wat het betekent om je ergens thuis te voelen uitgewisseld en opgeschreven. De ideeën kan je teruglezen op de ramen in de tentoonstelling.

Al snel ontdekten we iets belangrijks: door verhalen te delen en deze fysiek in de tentoonstelling aan te brengen voelen we ons thuis. Wij willen onze bezoekers prikkelen en uitnodigen om ook hun verhalen te delen en toe te voegen aan de tentoonstelling. Daarom hebben we we samen een nieuw kunstwerk gemaakt, dat bestaat uit twee banken en een tafel. Een kunstwerk waarmee je naar elkaar kan luisteren, maar ook verhalen aan elkaar kunt vertellen. Een werk dat ruimte biedt aan herinneringen en onderbelichte geschiedenissen. Het kunstwerk is als een onbeschreven blad. We nodigen je graag uit om je verhaal te delen op het kunstwerk. Het zijn deze kennis en ervaringen waar het kunstwerk op gebouwd is.

De twee banken en een tafel geven steun aan de verhalen die we delen, de verhalen die nog ontbreken, ze omarmen je en doen ons denken aan een plek waar iedereen mag zijn. Een plek waar elk verhaal waarde heeft.

Attempts for refuge, loam (sand, clay, hay) and wood, 3.5m x 2m x0.6m; loam, wood, mattresses and pillows, 2.5m x 2.5m x 0.78m, 08:18 min audio fragment (loop), 2021. Photography by Marysia Swietlicka. Attempts for refuge was shown at the exhibition Who Wants To Live In A World Without Magic? curated by Katayoun Arian in TENT Rotterdam. © 2021 Narges Mohammadi. All rights reserved.

In Attempts for refuge, two monuments carry childhood memories. Fascinated by the hallway as an in-between space, I desired to hide in the wardrobe, crawl quietly inside, and imagine other realities to wander in. Now, in Attempts for refuge, I’ve pushed the objects of a hallway interior through a wall of loam, leaving empty space. The outlines of a wardrobe, clothes rack, clothes hangers and coats, a table, mirror, and shoes. The impressions of the human touch, be it in the coats, the shoes, or the softly effaced fingerprinted surfaces of the loam, suggest a longing for being freed from the rough stones.

Through the empty spaces, the outlines of the mattress tower show. A monument where seven mattresses and pillows hold hands. Their hands intertwined like mine and my little brother’s when falling asleep in our mother’s bed, afraid of losing each other in dreamland. Inside the tower, the ticking sound, almost like a heartbeat, echoes. Similar to how mattresses and pillows carry the traces of life and safely guide nightly travels to the places of dreams, the loam is like stonified skin bearing the gentle touch of my hand.

Kindly supported by
Stroom Den Haag, Stichting Stokroos, The Real Office, Kunstverein Wagenhalle and Karin Abt-Straubinger Stiftung

Many thanks to
Lizzy Bax, Iver Uhre Dahl, Philip Groubnov, Erik Kamaletdinov, Alex Webber and Yannik Güldner, Ariane Toussaint, Suyoung Yang, Paul Geideck, Rebecca Levy, Kamila Sipika, Natalia Nikoniuk, Stein van der Ziel and the incredible team of TENT Rotterdam

Photography by Ivonne Zijp. © 2021 Narges Mohammadi and Omstand. All rights reserved.

In Your Touch, I Remain is the exhibition following the first residency at Omstand. Artist-in-residence Narges Mohammadi presents new work and a performance in a group exhibition with artists Riun Jo, Suyoung Yang, Solenne Tadros and Emmeline de Mooij Yang after a 6 week artist residency.

In Your Touch, I Remain explores the notion of residue as a connecting link between the past and the present, as a testament to the formative impact of previous generations on our reality. Starting from Mohammadi's designation of the 'residue' as the traces of our (ancestors) parents that remain in our bodies, the exhibition approaches themes around 'the bodily', touch and intimacy, memory, skin, polyphony and tactility. With an eye on 'where we come from', a roundtable discussion moderated by Nazmiye Oral will take place during In Your Touch, I Remain where the artists will reflect with their parents on their work, their art practice, and the context of the exhibition.

In Your Touch, I Remain is a collaboration between Omstand x sonsbeek20→24 manifestation force times distance, on labour and its sonic ecologies. This project is convened in close conversation with the sonsbeek20→24 curatorial team. And opens during the closing weekend of the sonsbeek 20→24 manifestation in 2021. The video of the multilingual and live-translated round table conversation, the artist 1-on-1 interview in preferred, and/or mother tongue and the performance of Narges Mohammadi will be shared later.

Location
Omstand, space for contemporary art Van Oldenbarneveldtstraat 92 A, Arnhem

Program
Exhibition from 29 August - 26 September 2021

18/09/2021
roundtable conversation with parents x artists, moderated by Nazmiye Oral
19/09/2021
performance Narges Mohammadi (limited capacity, RSVP only)
23/09/2021
artist-talk with Fenne Saedt @ collectie DE.GROEN
26/09/2021
finissage exhibition

Participating artists
Solenne Tadros, (x)odus, VR-installation on Oculus Go, 2018 (images 1 – 2)
Riun Jo, 집/Jib, Hanji (Korean paper), 2020 (images 3 – 5)
Suyoung Yang, A Porous Room, carved lindenwood, 2021 (images 6 – 8)
Emmeline de Mooij, Poging tot een Dutje (Attempting a Nap), video installation (25 min.), 2018 (images 9 – 10)
Narges Mohammadi, In Gratitude, two wooden wall constructions and model plaster, 2021 (images (11 – 13)

Exhibition manager
Stein van der Ziel

With many thanks to
The Mondriaan Fund
The Province of Gelderland
The Municipal of Arnhem
Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds
Stroom Den Haag
TotalSeat Amersfoort
© 2021 Omstand

In Your Touch – round table conversations, 2021

Photography by Ivonne Zijp (images 1, 3 – 5 ) and Rowana Slegers (image 2). © 2021 Narges Mohammadi. All rights reserved.

Participating artists, Solenne Tadros, Riun Jo, Suyoung Yang, Emmeliine de Mooij and Narges Mohammadi, in conversation with their parents on art and artmaking, the power of language and belonging. Language of the round table conversation is in the preferred, and/or mother tongues; being Korean, Farsi, Dutch and English. During the round table conversations we translated live to and from the spoken languages. Moderated by Nazmiye Oral.

In Your Touch, I Remain explores the notion of residue as a connecting link between the past and the present, as a testament to the formative impact of previous generations on our reality. Starting from Mohammadi's designation of the 'residue' as the traces of our (ancestors) parents that remain in our bodies, the exhibition approaches themes around 'the bodily', touch and intimacy, memory, skin, polyphony and tactility. With an eye on 'where we come from', a roundtable discussion moderated by Nazmiye Oral will take place during In Your Touch, I Remain where the artists will reflect with their parents on their work, their art practice, and the context of the exhibition.

Photography by Thijs (Kinecka). © 2021 Narges Mohammadi. All rights reserved.

Documentary filmmaker and journalist Melisa Can wrote a new reflective text based on the round table conversation at In Your Touch, I Remain in Omstand (Arnhem).

In Gratitude, two wooden wall constructions and modelplaster, 2.4m x 2.90m x 3.30m, 2021. Photo courtesy Natascha Libbert

Part of the self-initiated exhibition In Your Touch, I Remain in Omstand (Arnhem). In Your Touch, I Remain is the exhibition following the first residency at Omstand x sonsbeek 20→24. Artist-in-residence Narges Mohammadi presents new work and a performance in a group exhibition she initiated – with artists Riun Jo, Suyoung Yang, Solenne Tadros and Emmeline de Mooij after a 6-week artist residency.

Walking up and down the steps of Omstand, there are three in the front of the entrance and three in the back, reminds me of the three steps leading to the door of our temporary home when I was little. Later, when we could finally set foot in a real home, far away from the caravan houses in the asylum centre – we got a real staircase. Twelve whole stairs. Before those steps, I had had no idea of what I was missing. How could I have known the joy of running up and down those steps before actually being able to run on them? 

In Gratitude shows the potential monument to these moments of transition. In the work, both metaphorical and physical passages are intertwined. Firstly, the audience passes through the space; while standing still halfway through the work, attention then becomes focused upon following the staircase steps leading up to a door on both sides of the walls. What defines both doors and staircases is not only their attendant material qualities, but their ability to separate different spaces as well as to connect them. Both objects, or symbols represent separation as well as opening between spaces. 

The origin of the work comes from a transitory period in life where I suddenly found something that I never knew was missing. I now ask myself: what is a silent object that enables movement? Standing inside In Gratitude, the silent object becomes present through its very absence; the negative spaces of a mould. Perhaps some passages or histories are never to be captured in monuments? More than our minds let us, our bodies remember - the comforting warmth of our mothers, the feeling of being light as a feather in the arms of our fathers, the wrinkled soft skin of our grandparents’ hands, the smell of our beloved ones and all those little gestures and movements we will never forget. And how are we to visualise that which is not seen but felt?

In Gratitude is an unfulfilling attempt at making whole moments of passing by retracing the steps that no longer physically exist. Rather than representing a solid form, it is a plaster mould monument of imprints in our being. The creamy squishy textures of the plaster evoke a sense of warmth and loftiness. The swirly circling movements of the hand while applying the plaster were intended to invoke a sense of caring, like the act of rubbing someone on the back to comfort them. However, upon touching the surface, the plaster reveals itself to be sterile and hard as stone. As plaster becomes solid within a few minutes, the limited time doesn’t allow for care and comfort. Perhaps tangibility does demand a level of imperfection? The physical reality of this monument has become the opposite of the bodily memories it was meant to reprise. In its negative imprint the door can never be opened or closed. The mould can never be cast. The twelve steps can never be run up and down upon.  

Still the sense of passage persists, in walking through the negative space – in traces of the caring motion, and in the memory of those three and twelve steps. 

Many thanks to: Rob Groot Zevert, Ivo Rodrigues, Hans-Hannah, Sean Nelissen, Celine Caly and Suyoung Yang.

Made possible with the support of: In Your Touch, I Remain is a collaboration with Omstand x sonsbeek 20→24 and is supported by Stroom Den Haag, Mondriaan Fonds, Provincie Gelderland, Gemeente Arnhem and Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds. 

ENG

Badkamer van stro, 2.5 m x 0.6 m x 1.6 m, 2021. As exhibited next to Piet Mondriaan’s ‘Vrouwen met kind voor boerderij’ at Museum Villa Mondriaan. Photography Erik Kamaletdinov. © 2021 Narges Mohammadi. All rights reserved.

‘Badkamer van stro’ is literally made of hay, rope and an adhesive and tells the story of a poor man's material in the shape of fortune; a generously sized, high-sided bathtub. The smell of hayfields linger in the space. A desire to step inside the bathtub is disturbed by imagining the stinging hay needles.

‘Badkamer van stro’ is inspired by the hayfields, one of the grounding materials for villages that flourish on agriculture and land. I questioned, further enforced by the pandemic where the difference between the wealthy and less fortunate grew starker than ever, if time for rest and space for contemplation is a form of privilege. As we know, a little family in a small apartment in a flat in a big city like The Hague usually has less space to share amongst more people. Space, or the absence of it, becomes more a dependent factor in understanding socio-economic contexts. With the absence of literal space there is literally less space for rest and tranquility.

Many thanks to Museum Villa Mondriaan, Lizzy Bax, Hana Spillerova, Yannik Güldner, Karin Kytökangas and Bo Wielders.


NL

Badkamer van stro, 2.5 m x 0.6 m x 1.6 m, 2021. As exhibited next to Piet Mondriaan’s ‘Vrouwen met kind voor boerderij’ at Museum Villa Mondriaan. Photography Erik Kamaletdinov. © 2021 Narges Mohammadi. All rights reserved.

Badkamer van stro, 2.5 m x 0.6 m x 1.6 m, 2021. Zoals tentoongesteld naast Piet Mondriaan’s ‘Vrouwen met kind voor boerderij’ bij Museum Villa Mondriaan. Fotografie Erik Kamaletdinov. © 2021 Narges Mohammadi. Alle rechten voorbehouden. ‘Badkamer van stro’ is letterlijk gemaakt van hooi, touw en lijm en vertelt het verhaal van het materiaal van een arme man in de vorm van fortuin; een ruim bad met hoge zijkanten. De geur van hooivelden hangt nog in de ruimte. Een verlangen om in de badkuip te stappen wordt verstoord door het voorstellen van de stekende hooi naalden.

'Badkamer van stro' is geïnspireerd op de hooivelden, een van de grondmaterialen voor dorpen die floreren op landbouw en land. Ik vroeg me af, nog versterkt door de pandemie waar het verschil tussen de rijken en de minder bedeelden groter dan ooit werd, of tijd voor rust en ruimte voor contemplatie een vorm van voorrecht is. Zoals we weten, heeft een klein gezin in een klein appartement in een flat in een grote stad als Den Haag meestal minder ruimte om met meer mensen te delen. Ruimte, of de afwezigheid ervan, wordt meer een afhankelijke factor bij het begrijpen van sociaal-economische contexten. Door het ontbreken van letterlijke ruimte is er letterlijk minder ruimte voor rust en verstilling.

Met veel dank aan Museum Villa Mondriaan, Lizzy Bax, Hana Spillerova, Yannik Güldner, Karin Kytökangas en Bo Wielders.

Schoon Verlangen, 77 cm x 38 cm x 22 cm, approx. 70 kg of dove regular cream soap bar, permanent collection of VUMC/AMC Amsterdam, 2020. Photography by Julia Sterre Schmitz

In a time where washing our hands repetitively has become part of our daily reality, the personal effort embodies a shared collective effort of care. With the smell of soap lingering on our hands, we remain in the comforts of our homes. Longing for a moment of tranquility in the warm summer sun far away. Schoon Verlangen embodies a journey of an intimate encounter with soap. 200 kg of the todays’ well-known, wide accessible and price friendly dove regular cream bar is hand cut, liquified, hardened and slowly hand carved. While washing by hand and scraping by fingernails the shape of the suitcase slowly emerges from the soap. As the suitcase is marked by impressions of washing and scraping, the body carries the traces of the repetitive effort. Leaving the million little fingernail scratches and hand movements visible on the surface. Captured in-between stillness and movement, Schoon Verlangen imagines a firmness of marble yet is remarkably sensitive to the warmth of water. And its smell gradually fleets with the passing of time.

Many thanks to: Paulien Bekker (soap artist), Philip Groubnov, Sophie Beerens, Alexander Jermilov en Erik Kamaletdinov.

installation with 350 kg of loam, on view in Amuse Bouche, Academiegalerie (Utrecht, 2020).

With time comes reflection, and with encounters comes understanding. Last year, a work trip to Marrakesh evoked feelings of immense restless homesickness. Considering the fact that Morocco is not my country of heritage, I wondered where or what I was exactly homesick to. Was it the presence of loam – consisting of clay, sand and hay amongst other things – that triggered this yearning for belonging? And what does it mean to feel ‘home’ in the first place?

In many warm, sun-kissed climates, earth has always been the most prevalent building material due to its large availability. Earth, mostly referred to as loam, was used as the building material in many ancient cultures for a variety of buildings. The Citadel of Bam in Iran, the fortified city in the Draa valley in Morocco and the Heuneburg Fort in Germany are just a few examples. Today, more and more people seem to acknowledge the versatile qualities of earth over industrial building materials such as concrete, brick or limestone. Earth meets the current demand for an energy- and cost-effective, easy to use building construction method that emphasizes a healthy and balanced indoor climate. Its advantages are hard to compete with; it absorbs humidity faster and to a greater extent than any other building material, stores heat, saves energy and reduces environmental pollution and can be recycled indefinitely over an extremely long period.

With Almost There I emphasize the contradicting, undefining qualities of loam. Even though it is present in many cultures, contexts and landscapes, it is remarkably site-specific, depending on the main ingredients’ availability. It is a strong and heavy voluminous material, yet it cannot stand water. With its soft earthy tones, it reminds of warm Mediterranean summers and in our lingering to sun-kissed lands we tend to forget about its long history in the Netherlands, Germany and other West-European countries. It is a material determined by its roughness, yet can be soft, detailed and delicate depending on how kindly you treat it. Loam can be as naked as a brick wall, and it can be used as pompous as in times of the Baroque. It can serve as the foundation of a structure, as that it can be used as a protective layer. More importantly, with its warm earthy tones and soft shining texture it reminds me of home, whatever that may be.

19:07 min video (installation) at Ron Mandos Gallery Amsterdam

Video, edit and direction: Julia Sterre Schmitz
Camera assistance: Diane Mahín
Color grading: Mayis Rukel
Sound: Yannick Verhoeven
Title design: Alfonso Yordi Martinez


Made possible with the support of the Stroom Encouragement Award and the Fine Arts Department Prize KABK

Passing Traces, 700 kg of Persian halva (flour, sugar, butter and cardamom) and two wooden constructions of 2.15m x 4.78 m x 0.80 m.

700 kg of halva – hand stirred flour, butter, shivering hot sugar syrup and soft cardamom flavoru prepared by many strong hands. A Persian sweet traditionally prepared at funerals, collectively eaten it comforts the bereaved. Passing Traces is a room of halva in a narrow passage-like space. The walls depict impressions of a sober bedroom interior. The furniture leaves traces of a long-lost presence. Just as life is finitely ungraspable, Passing Traces follows its own lawless path, slowly decaying and visibly cracking due to gravity’s weight

Forever grateful for the contributions of Suyoung Yang, Flora van Dullemen, Isabel Pereira, Berk Duygun, Iver Uhre Dahl, Frederica van Mastrigt, Bo Wielders, Tamim Mohammadi, Nagim Mohammadi, Siadhail Augusteijn, Lui Macrae, Philip Groubnov, Erik Kameletdinov, Naomi Moonlion, Jeremi Biziuk, Niam Madlani, Fatima Jabor, Shirin Mirachor, Reda Senhaji, Lema Ahmadi, Ella Wang-Olsson, Leonardo Scarin, Diane Mahín, Julia Sterre Schmitz, Io Alexa Sivertsen, my mother and my grandfather. Thank you, without you it wouldn’t have been the same.

Give a flour, drawing with felt tip pen, 700 x 1000 mm, installation view on NEST x MELKWEG EXPO, 2020.

In a longing for halvah, one of the oldest delicious Middle Eastern sweets made on a flour base, I found myself enclosed in a search for its ingredients. The iconic AH BASIC flour that my mother and grandmother use for his heavenly sweet is impossible to find these days. Sold out or with a maximum amount per customer.

For my graduation work, I am inspired by halvah – its grainy texture, its sand color and soft shining surface. And it consists only of flour, butter and sugar. Traditionally, women prepare halvah at funerals, as this is the ceremony it is mainly associated with. Halvah, with its warm, sweet and nutritious value, comforts. Eaten together, the weight of sorrowing sadness becomes bearable.

Physically unable to get the iconic flour, I draw. Not being able to share art normally in these pandemic times, I imagine a moment of exchange through an open call asking for flour. To embody the intimate relation between the audience and my work with halvah, in an act of exchange with the ones offering flour.

installation with loam and furniture, 2019.
Photography Io Sivertsen.

social sculpture made out of metal situated in between an art institution and a playground used by the children around the neighborhood, Helena van Douverenplantsoen 3 (The Hague), 2019.

The building at the Helena van Douverenplantsoen 3, also called The Helena, a former high school now hosts the artist-run-gallery Billytown and the artist initiative Stichting Ruimtevaart. The Helena is located at the borders of the city center and Schilderswijk, one of the known neighbourhoods in the Hague housing many different migrant communities. Wandering around the neighborhood, I sensed a particular ‘fourth wall’, a social and cultural distance that seemed to divide the neighborhood from the established art institution The Helena. The two worlds seemed to move almost independent, separated and unaffected.

Being touched by this so-called invisible fourth wall, I wondered if the kids from the neighborhood had ever been invited to the art institution, if they would have ever felt the freedom to enter the building at all actually. With recreating a functional and recognizable replica of one of the swings from the playground, I hoped to engage with the neighborhood communities in a natural and honest way. My cultural background, skin color and gender enabled me to playfully move around the so-called fourth wall through personal engaged encounters. Making a life size replica of the swing with metal, was an opportunity to ask for help from boys chilling around the playground. With putting myself in a vulnerable position – it was truly impossible to install the swing myself – I hoped to establish a first contact based on care and support.

The resulting encounters were of a kind and engaged nature. We talked, sometimes for hours, about (art) school, their lives and my life as an (female) artist and DJ. Funnily, many really hadn’t expected me, a small woman, to be able to build such a heavy metal construction. Over the course of a few days, we bonded more than I could’ve imagined. And, indeed, most of the children and youngsters hadn’t set a foot in The Helena. They were curious nevertheless, interested to know what the building was and what the people working in it were doing. They accepted my invitation to show them around with great enthusiasm. In turn, it was a true joy to guide them around the exhibition and The Helena. And, at times, they would even enter The Helena on their own, wandering through the exhibition and enjoying the art works.

This social sculpture embodies an act of movement, metaphorically swinging the neighborhood over the imaginative fourth wall inside The Helena and swinging the art audiences out of its safe dwellings into the real world.

In turn, replication, recognizability and representation enabled sincere and engaged encounters. My functionable and site-specific handmade object in-between a sculpture and a playset, placed in-between the art institution and the playground, was built as a means for communication and engagement. More than the object itself, the encounters and the shared stories should be seen as ‘the work’. My swing, a social sculpture, took place in the social realm, and was built around social engagement and the participation of the audience.

See you on the other side, metal, 300 cm x 320 cm x 350 cm, 2019. Installation photo from the group project 'A Funeral for Street Culture' by Metro54 and Rita Ouédraogo hosted by Framer Framed, Amsterdam (2021). © Eva Broekema / Framer Framed.

sculpture with wood, plastic, cardboard and wool, 2016.

photograph, 2017.

3,5 x 5,5 m
commissioned poster for Cairo Liberation Front, 2017.

installation, 2018.

installation in loam and furniture in elevator,
Helena van Douverenplantsoen 3 (The Hague)
2019

sugar tabletop, sugarcanes as table feet, rice paper wrapped little fruit delicacies on pomegranate flavored plates of ice
collaboration with Annastina Eyjolfsdottir, 2019.