CHRISTIAN VAN DER KAAP (live): Viktualienhaus, 2013

Friday, January 25, 2013

Viktualienhaus, 2013

I'll be working with a very special greengrocer in München coming March. I met them about a year ago. It might sounds silly, but the way they presented their exotic fruits and vegetables was very remarkable to me. For me, their love for the produce and the way their goods kind of presented themselves to the customer (like the potatoes on the scales and bananas on the shelves) seemed analogous to the way I imagine a perfect artwork being 'transacted'. The new work (the chosen medium: a functional website) will be made largely with their input. I took this picture when I was there:

Artist statement

Christian van der Kaap (Enschede, NL 1989) likes to ask other people to make his work. But not to be seen as lazy, the artist invests in this precarious relationship by committing to their work, language, voice and handwriting. Meaning that every time we recognize his work we see the hand of someone else. By doing so he tries to implement himself and then dissolve into an existing production. It aims to show how we rely on others. Uncovering themes as loneliness (in his recent magazine about loneliness called C.I.N.V.U), independence, talent and uncertainty. The work is often described as a language between people who may not fully understand each other, but where an effort is made anyway. But while making use of other peoples words, the work remains close to his life and personal experience. This and things you do and don't understand empower the artist (inspiring others) to keep making.