We are proud to present a duo presentation by Margriet van Weenen and Esther Kokmeijer + a new video work by Anouk Kruithof

During the exhibition the new video work ‘Lick it, leak it, like it’ by Anouk Kruithof will be presented in the gallery. A video that merges fleshy sensuality with an unsettling commentary on resource scarcity and environmental crisis. In this semi-erotic performance video, a series of individuals gather by the seashore, facing the endless expanse of the ocean, their eyes fixed on tiny ice sculptures clutched in their hands. Each sculpture is like a popsicle but uniquely absurd, containing frozen fragments of plastic litter, remnants, and waste collected from the sea by Kruithof herself.

Esther Kokmeijer, To Measure the Deepness of the Blue Hour, Mixed media, 50 x 50 cm

Where the Sky meets the Sea, meets the Ice

— ESTHER KOKMEIJER

In her new exhibition ‘Where the Sky meets the Sea, meets the Ice’, Esther Kokmeijer shows work that reflects on the deep urge to discover, order and represent the world’s geographic and natural phenomena. She presents work from three ongoing series: ‘Facing Antarctica’, ‘Terra Nullius’ and ‘Cyanometers’. Kokmeijer presents a series of analog instruments to measure ‘nature’, in an attempt to measure and grasp its natural environment. This ongoing series is inspired by the analog instrument ‘Cyanometer’ of Swiss scientist Horace-Bénédict de Saussure (1740-1799). To measure the blueness of the sky, de Saussure used papers dyed in graduated shades of blue and ordered them in a color circle which he carried climbing Mont Blanc. Alexander von Humboldt used this instrument for scientific research during his expeditions. Kokmeijer makes contemporary Cyanometers, reflecting on our intrinsic desire to quantify and understand the world around us. Among these cyanometers are ‘To measure the darkness of the night sky’, ‘To Measure the Illumination of the Moonlight’ and ‘To Measure the Gradation of the Sunrise and Sunset’. For Esther Kokmeijer creating the colour wheels, feels like a sublime way of interacting with the environment to merge with it and measure the immeasurability of some natural phenomena. Also Kokmeijer presents the work ‘Terra Nullius — Ownership and Pioneering on Ice’ that forms its origine in a political approach. Since the signing of the Antarctic Treaty in 1959, Antarctica has been a preserve for peaceful purposes, scientific investigation, and environmental protection. It is a continent without a native human population, without any weapons, and without any ownership. Although technically not owned by anyone, Antarctica now plays a more significant role on the world stage than ever before.

Kokmeijer started to collect historical and current maps of Antarctica illustrating the various — sometimes overlapping — territorial claims. The maps are made for different purposes by different nations and with various information like mineral deposits, terrain type, bedrock topography, and historical claims. As a statement in support of protecting and preserving Antarctica’s pristine condition, Kokmeijer used correction tape to obscure all details on maps of Antarctica — and more recently, parts of the Arctic, specifically Greenland and Spitsbergen — prompted by the challenges facing the contemporary world. Another work Esther Kokmeijer presents is ‘Facing Antarctica’, an installation featuring a monastery cabinet filled with over forty globes, all oriented with the South Pole facing the viewer. By altering the conventional perspective of the world, Kokmeijer seeks to grant Antarctica a greater sense of significance and magnificence, challenging traditional cartographic representations that often place the region at the margins. This shift in viewpoint invites viewers to reconsider the continent’s role in the global landscape — both geographically and symbolically. In the installation ‘Meet me where the Sky Embraces the Earth’, empty globe frames form a landscape of endurance and strength.

ICEBERG Page 106 number 12, 22 cm x 27,5 cm 2023-2024 acrylic paint & Fotoafdruk op Fuij Crystal DP II (lambda) gemonteerd op dibond

The mountain we trust. The current we are.

— MARGRIET VAN WEENEN

For the exhibition The Mountain We Trust. The Current We Are., Margriet van Weenen has curated a selection of works that relate to the Arctic, drifting iceberg, desolated nature and exploration. In her work Van Weenen employs a range of photographic and painting techniques. Her work is characterized by exploring the blurred boundary between these two media, combined with a strong conceptual approach.

‘ICE AGE IS COMING’, explores themes related to the Arctic. This artistic research project investigates the various connections between the northern Dutch coast and the Arctic, using the landscape as both a material and a site for research and presentation. Drawing on archival data, field research, and insights from climate and geological institutes, van Weenen examines the impact of past and present climatic shifts. The series references the last Ice Age, which shaped the Wadden Sea through rising sea levels. At the same time, it reflects on the present, where our existence is threatened by melting ice, and the future, where the potential disruption of the Gulf Stream could trigger a new Ice Age. For this project se made a sea voyage from Spitsbergen to Harlingen. Where the series Sailing Home in Conversation with Louise A. Boyd originated from.”

In this van Weenen reflects on the legacy of polar explorer Louise A. Boyd, who undertook numerous Arctic expeditions in the 1930s—a remarkable achievement for a woman in that era. Boyd captured hundreds of photographs, many of which continue to serve as valuable resources for contemporary polar research. Through her work, van Weenen pays homage to Boyd, while simultaneously activating, revealing, and making Boyd’s archives visible.

 

This connects to the series ‘ICEBERG, page 106’ where van Weenen references a 1960s practice of marking dangerous icebergs with paint. Through this body of work, she continuously repaints the same iceberg over and over on a found photograph, highlighting the ever-changing nature of icebergs and the tension between permanence and impermanence in the Antarctic landscape.

The work, Secret Mountain, an imaginary hike, starts from a collection of vintage photographs that Van Weenen found in various places. The collection features images of nature, mountains, caves, and landscapes. They were taken by random people during hikes in the past. She has also photographed extensively during her own hikes. The photos come from different times, various places, and were captured using different photographic techniques. The combination of images creates a documentation of a journey and a landscape that never existed, a quest for a mountain that only exists in memories: Secret Mountain. Yet it exists, for it was once photographed."

Bio

Margriet van Weenen (1983) explores the connections between media such as photography, painting and sculpture, taking artistic research and the existing as the starting point, works within artistic research using a wide range of media, often starting from photography and existing elements. Her works often move between photography and painting. She creates installations that explore themes surrounding the duality between materialization and the metaphysical, as well as the construction and deconstruction of landscapes. Van Weenen is fascinated by raw, rugged, and cold landscapes—nature free from culture. At the core of her work is the changing landscape and the role of humans within it. She seeks images that emphasize the absence of humans, referencing geological eras in which humans played no part, or imagining a future where humans may no longer be present. Time, travel, and observing nature are essential to her artistic process, making her work a reflection of the ongoing tension between nature and human influence. But also the landscape within you, as a human. We are the landscape, the landscape is within you.

Van Weenen lives and works in Noordhorn, Groningen. She studied at Minerva Academy (2006) in autonomous visual arts with an emphasis on photography and earned her master's degree at the Frank Mohr Institute (2009) in the advanced painting department.