Makers on materials

20 April 2024 T/M 3 November 2024

Wool, cotton, fique, linen, rubber and silk take centre stage in this group exhibition. Seven international, contemporary artists find inspiration in these natural materials and they invite you to come and discover their passion, their stories and of course the works resulting from them. ⁠ ⁠

About the exhibition

The six materials are spread across six rooms, immersing you in a new, unique story in each space. The makers: Christien Meindertsma, Thierry Oussou, Rosana Escobar, Caroline Bach, Asli Hatipoglu and duo Marjo van Schaik and Dasha Tsapenko have all made one natural material their own, being strongly influenced by their origins and habitat. 'Makers on materials' shows where their fascination comes from, what the material means to them and how their works were created.

Video: Blickfanger

“I believe that to understand complex systems of our society, we need to look at social issues from different perspectives.”

Asli Hatipoglu, silk

Wool - designers Dasha Tsapenko and Marjo van Schaik found each other in a fascination for the 'gunya', a traditional Ukrainian wool shepherd's coat. They then used the coat as a canvas for subjects such as discarded Dutch wool and the bombed-out seed bank in Ukraine.

Cotton - cotton is one of the biggest exports of Benin, the native country of artist Thierry Oussou.His installation 'Equilibrium Wind' shows the origins of cotton and challenges the unequal distribution of the material's yields.

Fique - fique is mainly encountered in the form of simple coffee bags, but once the material was known as 'oro blanco' (the white gold).Rosana Escobar therefore delved into fique and explored its possibilities through traditional Colombian techniques.

“Using the classic shepherd’s coat as a template, we tell stories of local materials, natural components and living organisms.”

- Dasha Tsapenko, wool

Flax - Dutch designer Christien Meindertsma completely mapped the flax cultivation on six hectares of land in the Dutch Flevopolder and used the materials she found there to develop various products.

Rubber - Artist Caroline Bach grew up in the French city where the Michelin tyre factory was founded. She delved into the origins of rubber, from which four wearable artworks emerged, each representing a step in the rubber production process.

Silk - With her installation 'Bombyx Mori', Asli Hatipoglu evokes both wonder and questioning. After all, silk arises naturally, but what influence do humans have on the production process?