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9 September - 7 October 2006
Karin van Dam
Mops and incense
Installation/ drawings/ photographs
Opening on Saturday 1 April 16-18 pm
Gallery Opening Weekend 9 and 10 October
Wednesday - Saturday 12-17 pm
1st Sunday of the month 14-18 pm
Karin van Dam has often used components that are known to us as building materials- such as ponds, wells, isolation materials, scaffolds, chutes, rope, clips, gauze and sticks.
Through the connection that they enter into, with each other or with their environment, they acquire a new meaning. Ways and means of city-building are at the root of many of her works.
The visual aspects (the stratification of buildings, the lay-out of streets) are just as important as the underlying parts, for instance sewerage systems and pipes.
In China however, where in the spring of 2006 she was an artist in residence of the Chinese European Art Center in Xiamen, Karin van Dam went searching for lighter materials- and for ways to wrap them and join them together.
This lightness and fragility were found in kites, rice bags, flags and pieces of cloth she saw hanging in the streets everywhere- a miraculous world of quick and intuitive construction.
At the same time she was disconcerted by the alarming speed with which China has turned to building, with its bamboo scaffolds as supports. She associated the sights with quickly piled up toys that are likely to collapse just as quickly.
The present exhibition consists of a large installation, a number of photographs and drawings.
The installation has been put together from Chinese rags (made from textile by-products) and red incense coils used in temples. Ropes and other means of connection play an important visual part.
A walk through and around the installation produces both a physical and a surreal experience, intensified by our lack of familiarity with its parts.
When in China Karin van Dam was surprised also by things that were related to her work. The photos that she made of them, just as some of the images in the many books that she has put together, then served as a motive for her work.
For the first time she will now show some of these photographs as autonomous works.
Karin van Dam works >>
Karin van Dam CV >>
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