JEANNE VAN HEESWIJK, ROLF ENGELEN, SIEBE THISSEN, FRANS VERMEER AND INNBETWEEN
Jeanne Van Heeswijk consistently works in collaboration with other people, either conceiving projects with artists or developing socially committed and interactive projects for public spaces. These usually take place outside art institutions, but her works invariably engage with issues central to artistic practice, such as the role of the artist and the borderline between social engagement and art. In addition to her community based projects, performances like Acte de Presence-Sans Valeur (2000) - for which she was employed by the Moderna Galerija Ljubljana as a museum guard for the duration of a exhibition — address the function and responsibility of the art institution.
A Paper House (2001) is a sculptural collage made in collaboration with Rolf Engelen, Siebe Thissen and Frans Vermeer. Somewhere between a document and a homage, it brings into the museum texts posters, pictures and photographs relating to the culture of squatting in Rotterdam. Squatting - the act of appropriating an unoccupied building or piece of land - is a strategy that refuses to abide by the rules governing property in capitalist society. Van Heeswijk and her colleagues tell the story of squatters and their activist fight against housing shortages through the appropriation of many layers of posters that have been illegally posted over the years on a kiosk in the center of Rotterdam. When the kiosk was demolished, Rolf Engelen rescued them and built them into a symbolic shelter in the gallery. In each showing of the work, new materials from the context in which it is exhibited – with its local housing problems and squatting practices – are incorporated, making the work resonate in ways both general and specific. Although a paper house suggests something fragile, able to offer little protection to the homeless, the artists transformed this precariousness into strength by using the peeling layers of weathered paper to evoke resistant, alternative voices calling for a more just world.-B.V./E.F.
http://www.jeanneworks.net/index.htm
http://www.the-artists.org/ArtistView.cfm?id=47EE7D0D-C954-495A-AA53B81594C3D7F7
http://www.wearetheworld.nl/artists/vanheeswijk.html
http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/atelier/2004-July/000075.html
Jeanne van Heeswijk (Born 1965 in Schijndel, The Netherlands),
Rolf Engelen (Born 1964 in Nijmegen, The Netherlands),
Siebe Thissen (Born 1960 in Tilburg, The Netherlands),
Frans Vermeer (Born 1960 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands)
Innbetween: Christine Schöffler (Born 1970 in Vienna, Austria),
Peter Blakeney (Born 1973 in Ottawa, Canada)
Based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands
A Paper House, 2001, 2004
Posters, documents, video, sound Courtesy Jeanne van Heeswijk, Rolf Engelen, Siebe Thissen,Frans Vermeer, Innbetween: Christine Schöfler and Peter, and all participants
Poster Kraak Spreekuur (place that counsels people about methods of squatting)
Posters, documents, video, sound Courtesy Jeanne van Heeswijk, Rolf Engelen, Siebe Thissen,Frans Vermeer, Innbetween: Christine Schöfler and Peter, and all participants
Poster Kraak Spreekuur (place that counsels people about methods of squatting)
Illegal TDK party in squatted factory hall TDK Photo credit Jasper van der Made
Villa Van Wilton
Security systems
'Guide for those who want to enter hostile territory'
'Guide for those who want to enter hostile territory'
Utopia? Gerd Arntz, 1969
Jeanne Van Heeswijk consistently works in collaboration with other people, either conceiving projects with artists or developing socially committed and interactive projects for public spaces. These usually take place outside art institutions, but her works invariably engage with issues central to artistic practice, such as the role of the artist and the borderline between social engagement and art. In addition to her community based projects, performances like Acte de Presence-Sans Valeur (2000) - for which she was employed by the Moderna Galerija Ljubljana as a museum guard for the duration of a exhibition — address the function and responsibility of the art institution.
A Paper House (2001) is a sculptural collage made in collaboration with Rolf Engelen, Siebe Thissen and Frans Vermeer. Somewhere between a document and a homage, it brings into the museum texts posters, pictures and photographs relating to the culture of squatting in Rotterdam. Squatting - the act of appropriating an unoccupied building or piece of land - is a strategy that refuses to abide by the rules governing property in capitalist society. Van Heeswijk and her colleagues tell the story of squatters and their activist fight against housing shortages through the appropriation of many layers of posters that have been illegally posted over the years on a kiosk in the center of Rotterdam. When the kiosk was demolished, Rolf Engelen rescued them and built them into a symbolic shelter in the gallery. In each showing of the work, new materials from the context in which it is exhibited – with its local housing problems and squatting practices – are incorporated, making the work resonate in ways both general and specific. Although a paper house suggests something fragile, able to offer little protection to the homeless, the artists transformed this precariousness into strength by using the peeling layers of weathered paper to evoke resistant, alternative voices calling for a more just world.-B.V./E.F.
http://www.jeanneworks.net/index.htm
http://www.the-artists.org/ArtistView.cfm?id=47EE7D0D-C954-495A-AA53B81594C3D7F7
http://www.wearetheworld.nl/artists/vanheeswijk.html
http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/atelier/2004-July/000075.html