They are heavy, placid substances, sitting on the ground, attempting not to evoke. Lying by the side of the pool, feeling the weight of the sun, tingling and lusting after ones with quick moves.
 
Their goal is their physicality, a pure expression of themselves, making their own forms, taking their own space. Relying on insular decadence of reticence, leaving people to the speaking, expressing themselves rather through action and influence.
 
Of this world and in this world. Rotting mind of a delusional heir articulated through vivid descriptions of chamber rooms and textiles. Just imagine them in a palatial hall.
 
Large transparent plates occupy the floor. They contain concrete, water, and steel. The plates are hoarding space, hardly leaving room to wander. At times they are pushing the visitor to the wall or provoking him to loose balance. They are low, malevolent looking objects, changing appearance during the course of the exhibition. The process of mutual agitation between the water, concrete, and steel will affect their colour and internal texture. Together they perform a bodily presence, slowly creeping up on the visitor. A physical urge is coming from them, as though they are trying to ingest their surroundings.
 
Through this assimilation the sculptures find literary kinship in Nabokovs short story ‘Venezia’, which entertains the idea of being seduced into entering paintings and merging with their material qualities, as well as with Callois insects, who summoned the environment into their own bodies, often to the detriment of being cannibalized by their peers. This bodily drive reminds us that for the world to change, the revolution has to be an erotic one, coming from feeling, from the physical relationship.
 
In this exhibition of Olga Balema there is no longer a distinction between object and subject. What remains is a surroundings in which an on-going exchange and transformation takes place.

The work of Van der Niet, Hauser and Deen appeal to our aesthetics. In short - they are beautiful, and they fit very well together by association. That would in itself be a wonderful reason to make a show, in which their work complements each other.
However, it is even more interesting to see how their different working methods and disciplines affect each other and how their works come together in their aim for a metaphysical experience. Thus, in the works of Van der Niet trivialities get a certain self-esteem, in Hauser’s work a narrative can be read in the interstices of an image sequence and in the works of Deen the added value of an orchestrated collective can be felt.
 
The work of Krista van der Niet emerges from a dreamlike state of mind, whereby her imagination brings the things around her to life. In a paused moment and in complete calmness she looks at the small everyday objects that seem to surround us only in passing and to which we give little thought. It’s at these moments that Van der Niet remains still. She seems to glide along the lightness of things and wants to grasp the beauty of the pure object. Her ideas form at this juncture and in a seemingly rational manner she draws sketches of animate sculptures as an ode to the objects. During the making process the objects form a synergy, gain a metaphysical layer of meaning or clash in such a way that you see them in an entirely new context.
 
Here her sensitive qualities for composition, colour and proportion are very clearly visible. She moulds and styles the smallest details through which a clarity and directness in the image is realised. In all its clarity the image becomes timeless and at the same time accessible. She is the guiding factor for the viewpoint of the audience, in order to convey her perception. At this moment the sculptor becomes a photographer and you stand still together with her.
The sculptural and monumental quality of her work continues in her choices of the format and texture of her prints and their frames. These are essential components for conveying her work. A frame is not only for protection, but also an opportunity to further express the attention and love for the resulting image. Hereby the representation gains further value.
 
She herself has said that she’s not communicating any important weighty messages, but you could dispute this. The deference of time and oasis of stillness you are met with upon viewing her work ensures a slowed down pace, and confronts you with your inattention and impatience. It is a headsman that creeps up on you and lets you know that from within yourself it’s difficult to estimate a value of things.
 
Van der Niet has exhibited at different national and international venues in recent years, among which are Foam, het Bijbels Museum, Cobra Museum, Coming Soon Galerie (France), ACF Amsterdam and Buitenplaats Beeckestijn. Among others she works (has worked) in assignment for VPRO-Gids, KesselsKramer, Stadsschouwburg Journaal, Stadsschouwburg Utrecht, Theater aan het Spui, Volkskrant Magazine and Arts Holland Magazine.
 
The essence of Edwin Deen’s work corresponds well with the work of Krista van der Niet, although its appearance is different. Through graceful and visually alluring installations, sculptures and work based on experiment, we gain insight into his interest in the psychological processes around the signification of everyday objects and basic materials.
 
Edwin is a modern-day beachcomber: gathering trivia and assembling collections are essential aspects of his working methods. Within his collections of futile objects, each element gains value from the new context in which it has been placed; not only as a result of the presentation of its entirety (the collection) in an art space within which the viewer is ‘on the lookout for meaning’, but above all because the collection upholds the beauty of each element. He intervenes here and there by removing labels from the products whereby the aforementioned basic materials prove to have a pure form; this reinforces the potential comparison of the value and significance of an object in different contexts.
 
For the exhibition at LhGWR, among other things, Deen has made a ‘Local Collection’. The surroundings of LhGWR are turned inside out in search of a site-specific collection. He also exhibits some previously made Local Collections. Through the presentation of this collection of collections, a new layering emerges in the context of the trivia.
 
Alongside his installations and sculptures Deen also makes work based on experiment with which he approaches the qualities of objects from a physical perspective. Deen seeks to bring about a transformation that is both physical and visual. The precise result of this experiment is never predefined; now and again they even fail. The aim is to capture an aesthetic result, and thereby delve into the visual qualities of the experiment. At the same time he also aims to expose the hidden talents of an object he believes to have identified.
 
Edwin Deen graduated in 2009 from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, where he works as a teacher and mentor for the foundation course since 2011. With his graduation work he won the Art Olive Award in 2009, and a year later he received the Crazy Curators Award for a series of small installations. In the last couple of years he has exposed work at, among others, W139, Galerie Juliètte Jongma, Museum Beeckestijn, Ampelhaus (Oranienbaum), Studio Zeta (Milan) and Galeria Fundacja Atelier (Warsaw).
 
Photographer and visual artist Koen Hauser has been known for some time for his distinctive mix of works that manifest in the domain of visual arts, fashion and applied photography. The approach of his work varies from purely aesthetic to highly conceptual, within which he often makes references to the iconic visual language of historic photography; together with his natural eye for styling and his love for the mysterious and estranging, this forms the core of his oeuvre that has a specific metaphysical dimension.
 
Hauser’s love for collections has a great resemblance to that of Deen. In Hauser’s work, loose elements also enter into a dialogue with one another. Where Deen explores the relations between objects and contextual references, Hauser searches for the story between a sequence of images. Due to his background in fashion photography, he deploys with ease an approach from his audience compelled by the works aesthetics, to then subsequently draw them into the actual circumstances of his work.
 
In this exhibition full of objects, this is how he introduces humankind, but uses the body to tell the story. He presents his slideshow Amethyst, which in a painful and simultaneously poetic way discerns the process of human decay. Fatally each slide exposes a purple layer of amethyst below the grey skin of a fashion model – despite the gemstone’s mythical healing qualities.
 
Hauser graduated in 1996 from the Rijksuniversiteit in Leiden with a master’s degree in social psychology, and then went on to complete an education in photography at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. Following this education, he taught at the same art school and also at the Willem de Kooning Academie in Rotterdam. He received several grants from the Fonds BKVB and exhibited at engaging venues such as Het Stedelijk Amsterdam, Het Nederlands Fotomuseum, Nederlands Historisch Museum, Seelevel Gallery, Galerie van Zoetendaal, Galerie 37 Spaarnestad, Vlaams Cultuurhuis de Brakke Grond, GEM Den Haag and Institut Néerlandais (Paris).
 
His work has been published in an array of interesting magazines such as Avantgarde, Avenue, l’Officiel, Blend, Spoon Magazine, Esquire USA, Capricious, Under/Current, Volkskrant magazine, Oog, Mr Motley, Kunstbeeld and Foam magazine.

Press Release
‘United We’
Me is out, we is in!
 
Exhibition about collectivity with work by Frank of Klingeren, Potential Estate, Conditional Design, Itay Ohaly, gerlach en koop, Pratchaya Phinthong invited by gerlach en koop and Ante Timmermans and a program on collective forms of learning, living, working and creating.
 
14 April - 14 July 2013
Opening: Saturday 13 April, 5 pm
Location: Hogewal 1-9, The Hague
www.stroom.nl
 
In May last year Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad published an article with the headline ‘Me is out, we is in’. Cooperations, guilds and societies are springing up all over the place. When the major institutions around us – banks, pension funds, social security, schools – are failing, why don‘t we just step up and do it ourselves, and better? This is the driving force behind this renewed belief in collectivity. There are changes in the air, but what is really happening on the ground?
 
’United We‘ will investigate the how, what and why of collective forms of organization and collaboration. Stroom sets out do this with artists, designers, architects, thinkers and doers.
 
’United We‘ is the third exhibition within Stroom Den Haag’s ’Upcycling‘ program on new perspectives of value creation. One of the earlier projects was the opening of a Time/Bank, a platform where goods and services are exchanged without the use of money.
 
With ’United We‘ Stroom enters a new phase in this ’Upcycling‘ research and presents alternative models of management, organization and collaboration. This time the focus is not on the individual or on the mere management of the status quo, but on a new form of collectivity. Is there a future possible where it is not all about growth, power and profit, but where added value is created by the collective?
 
Partners in ’United We' include:
tLectorate for Change Management in The Hague and Brandstof, partner of the London-based The School of Life. The program is made possible in part by: Mondriaan Fund, DOEN Foundation, Creative Industries Fund NL.
 
Note for the editor:
For more information please contact Hildegard Beijersbergen-Blom at Stroom Den
Haag, press@stroom.nl, +31-70-3658985