Some of you might know, some might not, but around a month ago I started working at Kunstpodium in Tilburg, The Netherlands. It is a platform that up until this year worked with fourth year students from art academies across Europe in the so-called Apprentice Master project. Here, twenty exhibitions were held last year across several Dutch art venues where a renowned artist, the master, sets up an exhibition with and coaches the students, the apprentices. The program is pretty unique in the Netherlands. Starting next year, we will start working with new graduates instead of graduating students, so there can be more focus on the artistic and professional development of young artists after the academy.
With this background information in mind, four of the best students from the last season were nominated for one last ‘Best Of’ exhibition that will take place in Kunstpodium T from 13 July to 27 August. One of them would be selected as the winner of the Jan Naaijkens Prize, which would be awarded on the opening night on the 13th of July. As now an employee of this art institute, I got a very close insight of the artworks by the artists, that I got to know quite well, and of course I was there on the opening night too.
First I had the honour to provide the crew with a delicious dinner in the wonderful garden. Pictured here are the four nominated artists Maureen Jonker, Nuni Weisz, Chris Rijk and Machteld Steukers, as well as two performers, a volunteer and the managing director. After having filled our bellies, it was time for the panel of judges, consisting of four esteemed art professionals from the Brabant art scene, to announce the winner. But all in time – first I would like to show you the work of the four competing artists, because the artworks are all wonderful in their own way.
Maureen Jonker (Helmond, 1994; HKU) works in the grey area between photography, painting and installation, combining these media and placing them next to each other. From this blend she creates an illusory environment, where the two-dimensional and three-dimensional come together. Jonker explores the relationship between the human body as prop or as an attribute and shows the sculptural approach of the body inside the self-created environments, thus using the human body as a layer of reality. The live registration of a human body, stretched and posed for a long time. Without the use of photo editing programs she keeps the effort of human activity and unevenness in her self-created environments.
The work of Chris Rijk (Woerden 1995; HKU) is provocative, avant-garde, controversial, feeding the discourse, pro-anthropocene, post-digital, non-conformist and unmistakably contemporary. The work is lighthearted but thoughtfully layered and drags art and kitsch together to question the value and legitimacy of the path of arts he has chosen to walk.
Starting from the love for everyday and functional materials, Machteld Steukers (Diepenbeek, BE, 1993; PXL MAD Hasselt) wants to dwell on their temporality and how she can make sure that this can be cherisched and preserved. How can the love and attention, that she gives them, be present for eternity? How can the context of an object change by merely changing its matter? Styrofoam made out of porcelain will no longer have the same function? This interaction is the common thread running through her work.
Nuni Weisz (Caracas Venezuela/Israel 1985; HKU) made a very impressive installation in one of the four rooms, where visitors were invited to play (with) the works. Most impressive in this room (in my opinion) is a giant paper circle attached to a wooden wall, with a small device that people can use to make it work like a barrel organ. The visitors are invited to turn the small crank and make the paper scroll in the installation play a lovely tune. In addition to these works, she also showed a wooden piece in the garden where two people are invited to make music; one person puts their head into a hole in a tree trunk and the other person plays a composition so the person inside the trunk can hear it.
Nuni’s installation is poetic, understandable and lighthearted. It was no wonder she was chosen by the judges as the winner of the Jan Naaijkens Prize. She wins a stipend of €750 and a solo exhibition in TAC Eindhoven in early 2018. I briefly spoke to her after she was announced as the winner and she was very much blown away and humbled. She told me that she wrote the musical composition for the big round installation (in the left corner of the picture) herself, and that she would love to make a giant forest with similar works that combine music and art where the visitors can immerge themselves in.
Nuni receives the prize from jury member and artist Paul Bogaers.
The exhibition will be open until Sunday 27 August and can be visited on Saturdays from 13.00 to 17.00, on Sunday 30 July and 27 August from 9.30 to 14.00 during the Dwalerij market and by appointment. The new Apprentice Master season will start in October.
Linda Köke 