Work
The Caretakers
Bronze
70 x 38 x 48 cm
During the Covid-19 pandemic Joep van Lieshout went on a sculpting frenzy. Much of the output draws on biblical themes, yet has a deeply humanitarian streak, dealing with the essence of life. The Caretakers is about respect for the dead and the last moment of intimacy before burial. These emotions supersede the individuality of the figurines who remain abstract. Moreover, they are literally framed by a cube-like structure which represents reason, social convention and organisational systems. This framework may feel like a cage or even a straightjacket, but its clear boundaries prevent grief, anger and frustration from taking over.
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Last Supper
Bronze or aluminium
100 x 51 x 47 cm
The last supper has been an important artistic subject for two millennia, from the second century catacombs of Rome, via Michelangelo and Da Vinci to Nitsch and Warhol. Its symbolic meaning is universally understood: a goodbye to life and the world as we know it. In AVL’s version every apostle has its own character: lethargically hanging in a corner, sneaking away or hiding under the table. The scene is framed by a cage-like structure that ties it together like a portable shrine, but also implies restriction, either physically or mentally.
Available in Bronze and Aluminium.
Last Supper (2020) was part of the following exhibition(s):
Arena, Nosbaum Reding, Brussels (BE), 2023
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Last Supper
Fiberglass
530 x 273 x 250 cm
The last supper has been an important artistic subject for two millennia, from the second century catacombs of Rome, via Michelangelo and Da Vinci to Nitsch and Warhol. Its symbolic meaning is universally understood: a goodbye to life and the world as we know it. In AVL’s version every apostle has its own character: lethargically hanging in a corner, sneaking away or hiding under the table. The scene is framed by a cage-like structure that ties it together like a portable shrine, but also implies restriction, either physically or mentally.
Last Supper (2020) was part of the following exhibition(s):
RE_NATURE, Future of Work, ‘s-Hertogenbosch (NL), 2021
The Rebellion, Luxembourg Art Week, Luxembourg (Lux), 2023
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Cage
Steel
570 x 250 x 245 cm
Cage consists out of three steel cages, which have been pressed together and pulled apart. This process has transformed the rational and strict geometry of the original cages to become an organic and fictile-looking sculpture that immediately questions the notion of freedom.
Atelier Van Lieshout’s work often refers to systems in which mankind functions today. This work too considers those systems and encourages the viewer to reflect on the role of mankind within the societal, political and economic systems. Humans now wish to free themselves from the exact same systems, hoping to break free from what they have brought upon themselves.
Cage (2017) was part of the following exhibition(s):
‘Vrijplaats bij MIJ‘, Museum IJsselstein, IJsselstein (NL), 2019
‘Façade‘, Middelburg (NL), 2017
Welkom in Leiden!?, Leiden (NL), 2020
For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com
Exhibitions
The Engineer’s Bedroom, Brutus, Rotterdam (NL)
‘Disco Inferno’ is a never-ending Gesamtkunstwerk that is constantly evolving: its latest development is The Engineer’s Bedroom or ‘Joep’s underbelly’ which will open to the public June 23rd at Brutus.
This addition to the installation is where the engineer of ‘Disco Inferno’ lives in his work, creates his inventions and sits at his drawing board and workshop to build his dreams. This ‘‘underbelly’’ is equipped with brand new, cheap tools, marching soldiers from China and a state-of-the-art laboratory fully equipped to grow medicinal mushrooms, to create tinctures, pills and healing ointments. This is the engineers sacred dream space that includes a video-cage-bed with images of his demolition activities. This ‘‘underbelly’’ may be seen as a portrait of the artist’s.
To learn more about ‘Disco Inferno’ check out Hans den Hartog Jager’s article in the NRC or the Brutus website.
Opening hours
Thursday – Sunday: 12:00h – 18:00h
‘Welkom in Leiden?!’, Singelpark Leiden (NL)
2 September 2020 – 1 September 2023
The artworks of “Welcome to Leiden ?!” explore the theme “borders” in the broadest sense of the word, with the human experience as the point of departure. What does a border do to people? And what does a border mean them? During ones walk through the Singelpark, the works present the viewer with a variety of boundaries: psychological and inner boundaries that limit us unnoticed, biological boundaries such as the natural size of a group, borders that lie outside our daily vision, such as those of Europe, the recognizable and threatening visual language of border surveillance, and the boundaries within systems and ideologies and how one can break out of them.
The theme “borders” also immediately remind one of the refugee crisis. Who do we admit, who do we exclude, and why? However, boundaries are also needed to be able to live in freedom: to think and do whatever we want. Freedom for one therefore simultaneously means a restriction for the other. It is within the field of tension between usefulness and necessity, that concept of the “Welcome to Leiden?!” exhibition finds its origin.
Atelier Van Lieshout artworks on view: Cage (2017).
‘The Disciplinator’, MAK Museum, Vienna (AT)
22.06.2005 – 02.10.2005
Two large AVL projects – “The Disciplinator” and “The Technocrat” – are presented in the MAK. “The Disciplinator”, a gigantic cage-like construction for 72 inmates, transforms the MAK Exhibition Hall into a modernlabor camp, designed to achieve maximum profits through rationalism. The 24 sleeping units are intended for use in three shifts, an example of bizarre perfection calculated to eliminate any type of friction. Especially because the AVL refrains from making any kind of moral statement, the “Disciplinator” communicates an unadulterated vision of the horrors of the principle of exploitation. The installation “The Technocrat” – a closed cycle consisting of food, alcohol, excrement and energy – is also meant to engender provocation through extreme rationalism. In this system, the human (“burgher”) functions as a biological cogwheel that drives an entire machine park, generating raw material for the production of biogas that in turn is used to cook food and produce alcohol (since the 1,000 burghers needed for the smooth running of the Technocrat must be kept happy and subdued). “The Technocrat” offers an ironic commentary on the situation of modern humans in a highly technological society that only gives the appearance of guaranteeing endless possibilities and total freedom.
With the generous support of the Mondriaan Foundation, Amsterdam.
MAK Museum, Vienna, Austria
Atelier Van Lieshout artworks on display: Alcoholator (2004), Disciplinator (2003) and others.
‘Vrijplaats bij MIJ’, Museum IJsselstein, IJsselstein (NL)
From the 8th of June until mid-October, Atelier Van Lieshout is part of the exhibition Vrijplaats bij MIJ at Museum IJsselstein (NL). The museum hosts a group show with a different societal focus every year. This year’s exhibition is about the concept of freedom, the longing for freedom and places where rules are practically non-existent.
The works by Atelier Van Lieshout come from multiple series and eras: from the utopian and dystopian communities ‘AVL- Ville’ and ‘Slave City’, to the most recent project ‘CryptoFuturism’. The selection of works represent the different ways how Atelier Van Lieshout views free states and how we can reach better futures.
The artwork Cage (2017) is part of the exhibition and represents a deconstructed, distorted cage; a disfigured prison that symbolizes the human longing for freedom. Other artworks on display are: Arschmänner (2004), Walking Stick Hourglass (2018), AVL M80 Mortar (1999)
Participating artists at Vrijplaats bij MIJ: Atelier Van Lieshout, Frank Koolen & Kasper Jacobs, Johan Grimonprez, Hito Steyerl, Rob Voerman, Leonard van Munster, David Bernstein, Manon van Hoeckel, Ursula Jernberg, Merapi Obermayer, Su Tomesen, Rogeria Burgers, Henk Wijnen, sven signe den hartogh, Jonas Wijtenburg en Fedor van Rossem.
For more information: www.museumijsselstein.nl (website in Dutch)
‘PUNK+DANS+KUNST’, SCHUNCK*, Heerlen (NL)
Atelier Van Lieshout’s first video work Cage is currently on display as part of the exhibition PUNK+DANS+KUNST (Punk, dance and art) at SCHUNCK*. The exhibition presents the subversive creativity and the physical, ironic language used in Hail reflected in the work of contemporaries of Michael Clark and Charles Atlas’s day, as well as among modern-day artists active in visual art and dance, music and pop culture, with their rebellious expressions. Some of the angry movements are timeless. Guest curator and choreographer Karin Post has put together a modern-day collage of movement, image and sound, which traces the influence of punk sub-culture and its ‘angry movements’ in dance and visual art.
‘Back to the future?!’, AVL Mundo, Rotterdam (NL)
‘Façade 2017’, Middelburg (NL)
July 14 will see the opening of Façade 2017, where you can see Cage (2017) by Atelier Van Lieshout. Huis presents the audience with a deconstructed, distorted cage; a disfigured prison that symbolizes the human longing for freedom.
In addition, Atelier van Lieshout captured the deconstructive process of Huis in collaboration with filmmaker Sonia Herman Dolz. The straight-edged cage was pushed apart with the use of heavy, self-made machines – i.e. a large drop hammer and hydraulic press with pressure. This film will be on display at CBK Zeeland, Middelburg.
Façade 2017 will run from July 14th until November 5th 2017
For more information about the locations and other artworks on display please see the CBK Zeeland website:
http://www.facade2017.nl/