Mercatorplein
Naast de expositie op 24 en 25 maart werd tevens een buiten-expositie georganiseerd op het Mercatorplein in Amsterdam West, welke de gehele maand maart open zal zijn voor publiek. De opening hiervan vond plaats op 8 maart op Internationale Vrouwendag om 17:00 uur, welke werd ingeleid door Stadsdeelvoorzitter Fenna Ulichki. De beelden hiervan zijn gecureerd door ‘Vrouwen van West’. Een 10-tal ondernemende vrouwen uit Amsterdam West die samen het dialoog zijn aangegaan rondom de kunst die zij gepresenteerd hebben gekregen. Kiekie hoopt om zo op straatniveau het gesprek aan te wakkeren en kunst toegankelijker te maken voor een breder publiek.
De expositie is nog de gehele maand te bewonderen op het Mercatorplein.
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How long have you been working together?
We started working together as a duo in 2017.It's a 100% collaboration.In fact, we both do everything that comes with our profession.Together we came up with concepts, photographed, directed and even painted together.
Of course we each have our own talents and we don't literally always sit next to each other.Focused on photography; when our concept is ready, Arjan is often the first to come up with a lighting plan (based on the idea), after which we fine-tune the light together.And after photography, Polina usually picks up image editing.On set, we actually both press the button.Sometimes we take turns and other times we both hold a camera at the same time and shoot from different angles and focal points.The division of tasks also goes further than just the technical implementation.Think of making cups of coffee, choosing a playlist for the day or giving each other some rest.Moreover, we live together, so this form of division of labor continues 24/7 (think of a renovation of our farm or the maintenance of the garden).
In short, no two days are the same.Our photography is not only about the supposedly all-important moment of pressing the button, but also about the dialogue with the subject (whether it is a person or a still life).This dialogue is very important to us and the guiding thread in our lives.Dialogue expresses itself as the conversation we have together, with each other, before we write out the concepts on paper (for example when we are asked to come up with a theater poster), as well as the dialogues with the people who appear in front of our lens.A conversation can fall into words, but sometimes also into a few glances or non-verbal communication.As well as the interaction we enter into with a still life before it is captured on screen forever.We are viewers.We shoot with our eyes even before we have made the physical print.
How did the work 'Eidetic Memory ' come about?
We went in search of our own joint, collective memory.What started as an investigation into our being together has ended up in exactly this project.Our roots are very far apart, but our love feels close.Love for each other and love for our work.This series is a for the time being unending investigation into that.We try to create moments and seasons, seasons in which we could have run into each other.Reconstructions of memories or even of old family photos where we are.As an investigation into a certain experience and whether this experience is still true years later or has been distorted by our mind.Have our paths crossed before, without our conscious knowledge? What comes first, the photo you see years later or your memory of a certain moment?
The work Eidetic Memory is a layered installation of different aspects of us (perhaps collective memory) translated into a two-dimensional plane.
Are you currently working on new projects?
Eidetic Memory is an ungoing project for which we are still making new works.In the first series of Eidetic Memory, we focused on faces and persons from our memory.We now plan to extend this to architecture and landscapes.We are also doing more and more research into the translation of 3-dimensionality to 2D and the use of different media in order to create more depth, mysticism and layering in our work.This is even literal depth lately; for example, we are exploring the field of 3D and the confluence between 3D and photography together with 3D artists.We also dive into our studio with paint, epoxy and brushes.The flat photographic surface is the door to another world for us, and we will continue to focus on this.
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"After studying Fashion & Textile at the Royal Academy in The Hague, illustrating actually came very naturally. I could express myself better in the 2D world than as a fashion designer, translating ideas on paper gave me endless inspiration. I started making free work and illustrating for fashion designers. When I was booked as a live illustrator for the Bijenkorf, Chopard and Montblanc, the ball started rolling. Currently I work as a visual artist and illustrator on commission."
"There is always something that stands out - an exciting glance, a special nose, an elegant clothing detail - for me it is about emphasizing unique beauty."
"I would describe my style as romantic expressionism. The work is characterized by picturesque textures and fast brush strokes in watercolor and ink. On the other hand, there are strong color contrasts and fine details. When painting live during events, I look at the appearance of the person and how someone moves. Something always stands out - an exciting glance, a special nose, an elegant clothing detail - for me it is about emphasizing unique beauty."
"Everything! For example modern dance, installation art by Olafur Eliasson and painting from the 20th century. Favorites are Kees van Dongen, Ilya Mashkov, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec's sketches in the brothels of Paris in the late 19th century."
"I study Set Design at the academy of Antwerp, it seems fantastic to me to be able to do scenography for dance performances. My colors and surfaces do not always remain on the flat surface, but they come to life in a space. The aspect of the I find human interaction with the work extremely fascinating. I am also working on the combination of illustration and interior. I am working on a tableware line, and I also think it would be great to make large murals for restaurants, homes and hotels."
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" Finding serene scenes in an environment where hundreds of thousands of people live, I love that."
"I've always been interested in making beautiful images. Photography is a logical consequence for me, I also wanted to make the image 100% myself."
"An image you make has to do something to you, otherwise it's just a picture"
"I always look for environments that feel overwhelming. I am actually always looking for places that put me in my emotions. Often there is a sense of loneliness or being lost in my images. It is a kind of search for the sublime and the beautiful."
"As a child, my sister and I could spend hours flipping through art history books and old folkloric, illustrated books that were in my mother's closet. I was always intrigued by the line work and composition of those illustrations, and the mystical and dark of the paintings from Romanticism. Especially Caspar David Friedrich, a Romantic painter, has greatly influenced my work as a photographer. His works are often also about loneliness, stillness, great nature and man as a spectator of the whole."
"I shoot an image because I am suddenly overcome by the beauty or violence of a certain place."
"I was actually looking for two images that are both universal and symbolic. In addition, the images had to tell a story, and also be a really good reflection of my spherical photography."
"I especially learned what influence landscape has on people, and how, for example, their culture and religion are partly formed from it. Because I am constantly looking for remote places to photograph, I come to places where nature still has a lot of influence. has on everyday life. People there have not yet armed themselves against the fierceness of nature, as we do in cities, but live even more with nature. I find it very interesting to see how people have found explanations in the form of gods and rituals that match the obstacles nature throws at them and opportunities it offers, but also how all of that has translated into the choice of clothing and adornment, so I think photography has taught me to see things in place a greater context, and make connections."
"Until now my work has mainly been my own journey of discovery and my relationship to the great world. In the future I want to work more consciously from a concept. Now the moment at which I shoot a photo often depends on what I come across I shoot an image because I'm suddenly overcome by the beauty or violence of a certain place. That has its charm, but I never know what I'm going to make, or when I'll shoot a good image. That can also be very frustrating When I work more from a concept, I can edit my work more and tell even more specific stories by making series."
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