1. Schitteren in Afwezigheid 2001
Silkscreen 120 x 85 cm (poster only)
Text about the longing to stand out in absence,
designed as a distorted fax message by Mevis en van Deursen.
2. de Volkskrant (Dutch national newspaper) I'm, Always Right! 2000
On September the 28th the readers of the Volkskrant were surprised to find a second front page in the middle of their newspaper. The cultural segment opened with a replica of the days front page, only all the texts had been replaced with quotations from the writings of Dutch Writer W.F.Hermans. The paper opened with the text:'I'm, Always Right' The title of one of his books. All the texts, including the weather forecast and the advertisements were excerpts taken from his books. The text evoked a sense of estrangement reminiscent of the surrealistic effects Hermans likes to make use of in his novels.
Special thanks to De Volkskrant and Roosje Klap
4. The day that became 2002
Another day that became portrays a man who's self constructed identity becomes to live by putting on a white suit. The suit is a replica from an image he took from a Playboy magazine in the early seventies. By wearing the white suit during his walks trough the city he becomes someone else.
5. Scripted spaces 2000
I recreated the city by airing all the radio's stations I could receive. The result is a ethereal urban landscape shaped by the murmur of myriad simultaneously played radio broadcasts. By doing so, Rotterdam which is socially en geographically a fragmented city due to the extensive bombing of the second world war becomes one. The drawing next to the radio's is a written transcript of hours and hours listening to the radio landscape of Rotterdam. It's a portrait of me as a listener.
6. Most popular names 2003
It’s an Amsterdam tradition to put a name of some kind on the gables of warehouses and houses on the canals. On the Prinsengracht, for instance, there are places with the names of Dutch provinces on them. In the eastern harbour area there are warehouses with the names of the distant countries from which they get their goods on them.
In the Reinwardtstraat in East there are also names on gables. Working with artist Geerten Verheus on a commission from the Amsterdam building association, I provided 42 of the new houses in an old area with the 42 most popular baby names in Amsterdam in 2002.
The top boy’s name for that year was Mohammed, while Sarah was the most popular girl’s name. The collection of names like Yassine, Thomas, Alicia and Fleur shows the cultural diversity of the city and at the same reflects an image of the present time.
7. Souvenirs of Protest 2007
A collection of authentic and reconstructed Dutch protest signs since the last 130 years.
The The Dutch weekly newspaper 'De Groene Amsterdammer' celebrated it's 130 year anniversary at the public theatre of Amsterdam on the 27th of October. The magazine notorious for its independent voice asked me to create an installation on the theme: Every opinion counts. Does every opinion count?
I collected photographs with images of protest signs from several news and picture archives. After making a selection I carefully reconstructed the signs of the photographs. Next to this I was able to use authentic signs of 'Greenpeace', the Amsterdam squatters movement and 'The International institute of social History'.
The protest signs I selected contained contrasting opinions. There were signs of the 70's where woman demanded equal rights. In the 90's there were signs of fathers who claimed the right to see their children. Signs against Islam and fascism, against the identification law and signs like the where Nixon is asked to sign now!
