Freedom / Vulnerability, 2012

A marriage between Christian Albert Lucien van der Kaap, born 25.04.2989 in Enschede and Marina Elenskaya, 07/16/1983 born in Krasnodar, Russia in the English Reformed Church of the Begijnhof in Amsterdam 11.00 gather, 11.30 service

Making public that I was going to marry my girlfriend, people in my surrounding responded to telling us they wanted to be a part of it. A strange reaction in our opinion, because isn't marriage usually a bond between two people? Is the public present not merely a witness and apart from that share no active role in this. Why then their spontaneous reaction? I can only say how much I appreciate it and how it has inspired me as an artist to look at what this commitment means. How can our intimate promise inspire a community?

The 5th of may, Dutch liberation day it will be about belonging. Behind the busy Spui square, we will join in the Begijnhof to gather in silence. We let others speak, present and play to help us shape our intimate bond. It’s about freedom and vulnerability.

With: Margriet van der Kooi, Rory Pilgrim, UNDA foundation, Raphael Langmaier, Elsbeth Ciesluk, Isfrid Angard Siljehaug, and others

C.I.N.V.U | Magazine about loneliness

C.I.N.V.U. [si ay ɛn vi yu]

CALL: There are many magazines focussed on niche markets. Yet there isn't one of them dedicated to loneliness. That's about to change. You can work together with artist Christian van der Kaap to create an artwork in the form of a magazine that wants to show the creative force of loneliness. Do you feel addressed? Visit the website (Dutch only) and send your contribution to: parfumisme@gmail.com and include [C.I.N.V.U] in the subject header.

Supermarket Artfair, Stockholm 2012

The Zoldermuseum presents 'Give a little bit, 2012'
a work in collaboration wit Yeb Wiersma at the
Supermarket Artfair in Stockholm, Sweden

supermarketartfair 2012
zoldermuseum

Univocally, 2012

Univocally, the project we are working on hard to complete just got sponsored by the Materiaalfonds and Stichting Stokroos.

Univocally, 2012

The first out of seven...

http://gerb95.ru/

Dichtbij.nl

Taken from a billboard in Russia, where neither word nor letter looked familiar, this striking but unidentifiable logo of a company seems to bear a universal language. The action portrayed by the stylized hands seems as though its promoting a symbolic but ambiguous gesture from a maker to a receiver. The receiver present in the logo seems to gladly acknowledge the wholehearted gesture. The viewer on the other hand, invited to witness this transaction, remains uncertain of its significance. I liberated this image from it's original context and delivered it to the dutch website www.dichtbij.nl [English: 'nearby'] a website directing its visitors to local news and advertisements by use of their given postal codes. The website agreed to place this logo for a short amount of time on every page regardless of the visitors present location. Exploring the notion of empathy between a sender vs. receiver and a local vs. universal context.

Univocally, 2012

The presentation Univocally is an investigation into the ethics of cooperation and a reflection on contemporary crafts. Finally not ambiguous and multi-interpretable title. Since my first solo exhibition (SOLO: the maker ain't so lonely as before, 2010) I have aimed to produce work conducted by others. Driven by the theme of loneliness, I have invited craftsmen to make work attributed to an insecure and unfamiliar situation. The voice of the craftsman which has become known as merely executive, is asked to reassert itselves in the arts and towards the viewer. The open dialogue between artist and maker produces an unpredictable voice that appeals to the public even though it might not be fully understood. As a result of an intimate collaboration in which I restored an old mould for a porcelain producer in Krasnodar, Russia a series of seven (of which six hand painted) bells are created. 'Univocally' expresses their understanding of the production process, where all employees are required to look in the same direction in order to deliver a successful product. Indicating my desire as an artist to enter into an existing production, we speak from one mouth and explore the form and sound of a bell. As a result, various voices inside and outside the arts together create a single presentation. A sound for those who like to relate to art but are uncertain about their contribution.

More Soon...