KUNSTHAL LIGHT

Since 2011, ‘Kunsthal Light #’ has been the Kunsthal’s talent development programme for young, fledgling artists. TheseSince 2011, ‘Kunsthal Light #’ has been our talent development programme for ‘modern muralists’, urban illustrators, cartoonists and conceptual artists who are given the opportunity to create a site-specific work for the Kunsthal. Regular components of the project are the processes of making and installing the work and engaging in conversation with the visitors. An Artist Talk with the artist is also part of the presentation. After a period of about ten weeks, the work is repainted or dismantled. All that remains is the experience and a personal publication. From our own experience we have learned that the programme can be a steppingstone to more recognition and success for many of the participating young artists, sometimes even internationally. In 2018 there were three editions of Kunsthal Light thanks to a special contribution by the Mondriaan Fund. For 2019, new editions of Kunsthal Light are on the programme.

KUNSTHAL LIGHT #19: DUBBELGANGER

Willem Besselink
10 December 2018 – 3 March 2019
_{Partners: Mondriaan Fonds}

With the exhibition ‘Doppelganger’, the Kunsthal Rotterdam presented a site-specific installation by the Dutch artist Willem Besselink. The exhibition – part of the ‘Kunsthal Light’ programme – reflected the artist’s thought process. For this installation Besselink drew his inspiration from the architecture of the Kunsthal, designed by Koolhaas, and from the building structures and materials of HAL 6 in particular. Some details of the building, such as the angle of inclination of the floor and the turned supports of the roof structure, formed the points of departure for this installation (1:1 scale) that radically transformed and emphasised the structure of the space. Visitors suddenly found themselves standing amongst some of the building’s architectural structures that they would normally have passed without noticing.

KUNSTHAL LIGHT #18: playgrounds

Nazif Lopulissa
14 July – 28 October 2018
_{Partners: Mondriaan Fonds}

In his work, the Rotterdam artist – and winner of the Henri Winkelman Award 2018 – Nazif Lopulissa (1991) researches the visual language of objects, locations and situations from his everyday life. ‘Playgrounds’ is a personal exploration of an important phenomenon from his childhood. For Kunsthal Light #18 Lopulissa presented a series of works systematically researching playgrounds and translating the results to the canvas. To Lopulissa, playgrounds are spaces where elements such as form, appearance, function and use seem to be constantly contradicting each other. Lopulissa takes details from the playground and turns these into abstracted and unrecognizable patterns. He zooms in on railings, fencing, bars and rubber tiles and paints these on top of each other in abstract compositions.

KUNSTHAL LIGHT #17: thinner spirits

Gijs van Lith
27 January – 13 May 2018
_{Partners: Mondriaan Fonds}

For his installation during Kunsthal Light #17, the Dutch artist Gijs Van Lith took the architecture of the Kunsthal’s ‘display window’ as the point of departure. Large, loose canvasses were draped over the horizontal supports in the space. Van Lith playfully distorted our expectations and fundamental understanding of what a painting could and should be.

Although Gijs van Lith’s (1984) main focus is on painting, his body of work also entails sculptures and installations. His work is all about the creation, materiality, and the actual act of painting. In his paintings he explores ideas about physicality, spatiality, status and colour.

KUNSTHAL LIGHT #16: NO PLACE LIKE HOME

Ari Bayuaji
18 March – 28 June 2017
_{Partners: Mondriaan Fonds}

The Indonesian-born Ari Bayuaji (1975) lives in Canada and travels all over the world as an artist. While on the road he collects materials and draws inspiration for new work from cultural customs and practices. For Kunsthal Light #16 Buyuaji moved into Gallery 6 for two weeks, turning the long and narrow slope with display window function into a ‘home’ for himself, visitors and random passers-by during that period. With three-dimensional sculptures, paintings, drawings and photos he made an installation with many references to the different locations in the world he visited, employing materials that people would normally use for building their homes.

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KUNSTHAL LIGHT #15: IN THE ABSENCE OF LIGHT

Pim Palsgraaf
21 september 2016 t/m 5 maart 2017

KUNSTHAL LIGHT #14: SIC SEMPER

Inge Aanstoot
30 april t/m 21 augustus 2016

Inge Aanstoot (1987) has made an impressive wall painting for Kunsthal Light #14, populated by human figures, self-portraits and a large variety of animals. It invites the viewer to discover the narrative that lies hidden between the brushstrokes. Inge Aanstoot is fascinated by the selective and subjective way in which people deal with information and interpret history to suit their purpose. In the Kunsthal she selects who and what appear in her ‘historical’ wall painting by association. Thus she writes history herself, paradoxically in the exactly the same way as history is always written. Aanstoot criticises the history textbooks by shifting the frame, but the frame still remains.

KUNSTHAL LIGHT #13: VREEMDE GEWOONTES

Susanna Inglada
15 januari t/m 10 april 2016
_{Partner: Mondriaan Fund}

For Kunsthal Light #13, the museum’s display window is taken over by theatrical, dark characters created by artist Susanna Inglada (Spain, 1983). She has drawn these figures in the space provided using charcoal and paint. Inglada likes to work without a fixed frame or canvas. This allows her the freedom to construct lively scenes, her creations serving as the players and props in a theatrical performance. Inspired by the culture and politics of her homeland Spain, Inglada creates her own world using symbols of violence and power, with the figures appearing to respond to each other.

KUNSTHAL LIGHT #12: ENCOUNTER – INSTALLATION 2015

Aura Rendón Benger
12 september 2015 t/m 13 januari 2016
_{Partners: Mondriaan Fonds}

Aura Rendón Benger (1989-) graduated from the Koninklijke Academie voor Beeldende Kunst in The Hague in 2014 with large objects of kite material filled with air. When they are positioned, filled and suspended, these ponderous and at the same time light ‘beings’ occupy the space. The long narrow space of the Kunsthal showcase was the ideal location for the recurrent themes in Rendón Benger’s work such as distance, proximity, intimacy and the role of the public. Rendón Benger played in her interactive installation with childlike joy and sensual experiences of visitors who clashed with the objects as they made their way through the space.

KUNSTHAL LIGHT #11: CURATING THE COLLECTION (1992 – 2014)

Tim Hollander
7 juni t/m 30 augustus 2015
_{Partners: Mondriaan Fonds}

For edition 11 of Kunsthal Light, Tim Hollander scrutinised the components with which an exhibition is presented to the public, acting in the role of both artist and curator of the exhibition. Digging around in the depot and archives of the Kunsthal, he brought to light ‘hidden treasures’. With collages of ground plans, sketches and routing designs and using plexiglass covers, socles and paint colours, Hollander made a presentation of the ‘collection’ that the collectionless Kunsthal does not have.

KUNSTHAL LIGHT #10: SHADOWS OF A DOWNFALL

Thera Clazing
7 maart t/m 24 mei 2015
_{Partners: Mondriaan Fonds}

Thera Clazing graduated in 2014 from the Fine Art department of the Utrecht School of the Arts. Using latex and charcoal, she draws and paints on walls endless, desolate landscapes with skeletal structures of animals. The viewer is left to guess at what has taken place. The painted objects present a possible story full of suspense, anticipating a lugubrious twist. You suspect the existence of characters without anyone being present. Clazing’s work for Kunsthal Light #10 showed an oppressive loneliness and made viewers feel what they could not see.