Atelier Van Lieshout

COR-ten steel
1300 x 430 x 400 cm

The Whale rests on the shore, not unlike the catch brought in by the whalers of centuries past. The majestic animal will not be dissected for blubber to fuel lamps or grease machinery, however, as it’s made of steel. It appears more similar to a barge, than a marine mammal.

The Whale is Atelier Van Lieshout’s salute to nature’s power, human technological ingenuity and the ways these often clash. Moreover, it’s a life-size reference to Moby Dick, the world’s most famous whale. In Joep van Lieshout’s view, Moby Dick is a tale of revenge and the struggle of man, personified by Captain Ahab vs. nature. It’s rather telling that in the end, man – who considers himself above nature -is defeated by the forces he tries to control and master.

Van Lieshout’s The Whale is Ahab’s nemesis and Old Testaments Jonah’s organic prison rolled into one. The animal has outsmarted its pursuers, but has also partly become them by transforming into a welded steel hulk. Holes in its side allow people to look into its belly, where one sees a figure in the middle of the whale. This could be Jonah praying for his salvation or a present-day Ahab pondering his warped relationship with nature.

The Whale (2022) was part of the following exhibition(s):
‘Arts Le Havre‘, Le Havre (FR), 2022

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com

Bronze
60 x 50 x 39 cm

For a long time already rats have played a role in culture and science. Where the animals often invoke a sense of fear and horror, Atelier Van Lieshout would like to stress their positive sides. They are considered highly intelligent, are adaptive if the environment changes, agile and sensitive, and very able to take care of themselves. And of others. A friend that looks out for its peers and gives them a little squeeze when needed.

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com

Mixed media
50 x 48 x 197 cm

Body Armour (2021) was part of the following exhibition(s):
Kelder, BRUTUS, Rotterdam (NL), 2022
EHBO, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam (NL), 2021 – 2022
Fake Me Hard, BRUTUS, Rotterdam (NL), 2021

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com

Mixed media
160 x 130 x 215 cm

Fake Me Hard, BRUTUS, Rotterdam (NL), 2021

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com

Mixed media
89 x 87 x 92 cm

Sad Weelchair (2022) was part of the following exhibition(s):
Le Voyage, Le Portique, Le Havre (FR), 2022
Kelder, BRUTUS, Rotterdam (NL), 2022
EHBO, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam (NL), 2021 – 2022

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com

Mixed media
62 x 80 x 183 cm

The Madonna and child Michelangelo carved from marble in 1505 is a melancholic sculpture. Maria’s sad look betrays her knowledge of her child’s future and the toddler Christ hangs at her knee as if grasping at the last scraps of childhood. Atelier Van Lieshout’s Green Madonna exudes the opposite atmosphere to Michelangelo’s masterpiece. The child has combatively raised itself up and the mother is determined to protect her progeny – so much so in fact, that she has merged with her weapon that calls to mind Soviet workers’ tools. Their camouflage makes them unseen and changes their nudity into a sort of body painted armour. Both stare like militant proletarians in old Soviet posters confidently in the same direction, into a future situated somewhere beyond the viewer.

Green Madonna (2021) was part of the following exhibition(s):
EHBO, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam (NL), 2021 – 2022

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com

Fiberglass, steel
120 x 120 x 202 cm

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com

Foam, fiberglass
85 x 100 x 222 cm

The Developer (2021) was part of the following exhibition(s):
Fake Me Hard, BRUTUS, Rotterdam (NL), 2021

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com

Foam and fiberglass
95 x 110 x 235 cm

Body Armour (2021) was part of the following exhibition(s):
Fake Me Hard, BRUTUS, Rotterdam (NL), 2021

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com

Mixed media
180 x 160 x 199 cm

Life and death go hand in hand in operating theatres. It’s where the medical belief in engineerability clashes with the unpredictability and irrationality of fate. It’s also the place where the sins of human kind are visited upon the individual, be it a disease or deformation resulting from environmental pollution or ailments caused by fastfood and a rushed life.

In Operating Table with Devil the natural order of things has been deeply disturbed. A baby performs its own ceasarian not unlike the monsterous extraterrestials in Alien while the mother gives birth to a grown man. Freudian sexuality, fear of the future and the utter failure of scientific rationality come together in this surrealist sculpture.

Operating Table with Devil (2021) was part of the following exhibition(s):
Kelder – Obsessions, BRUTUS, Rotterdam (NL), 2022
EHBO, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam (NL), 2021 – 2022

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com

Mixed media
137 x 95 x 200 cm

Patients can be made as comfortable as possible using improvised means. So the chair has been angled and the headrest wrapped. The cuspidor for blood and rinsing water is so large it cannot be missed.

The duty dentist has a mobile practice to work with that is more akin to a workshop than a medical treatment setting. The parts originate from home decoration or DIY centres. Pulled teeth are collected in jam jars so new dentures can be made from them at the dental lab.

Dental Wheel Chair (2021) was part of the following exhibition(s):
Le Voyage, Le Portique, Le Havre (FR), 2022
Kelder – Obsessions, BRUTUS, Rotterdam (NL), 2022
EHBO, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam (NL), 2021 – 2022

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com

Mixed media
104 x 89 x 169 cm

Sportzone(2021) was part of the following exhibition(s):
Le Voyage, Le Portique, Le Havre (FR), 2022
Kelder, BRUTUS, Rotterdam (NL), 2022
EHBO, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam (NL), 2021 – 2022
Fake Me Hard, AVL Mundo, Rotterdam (NL), 2021

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com

Mixed media
175 x 190 x 360 cm

Crucifix (2021) was part of the following exhibition(s):
Fake Me Hard, AVL Mundo, Rotterdam (NL), 2021

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com

Mixed media
310 x 238 x 196 cm

Anatomy Lesson (2021) was part of the following exhibition(s):
EHBO, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam (NL), 2021 – 2022
Fake Me Hard, BRUTUS, Rotterdam (NL), 2021

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com

Steel
Diverse measurements

Happy End of Everything’ includes a bar, a smoking table and a cooking installation where people can eat, drink and smoke without limits. However, each part of the installation is also destructive. The cooker contains an ‘Incinerator’, an incinerator with such a high temperature that everything evaporates. The drinks and smoking table contains a ‘Drop Hammer’ that shatters everything into dust. The final component is the ‘Pyrolyzer’, a mobile refinery that makes diesel and oil from collected plastic waste.

Happy End of Everything (2020) was part of the following exhibition(s):
De Afbreekeconomie, Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam (NL), 2020

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com

Mixed media
Diverse measurements

Fasces consist of bundles of rods bound by a red leather strap, sometimes including an axe with its blade sticking out. As a symbol, the fasces originated in Etruscan civilisation and was passed on to ancient Rome where it represented a magistrate’s power and jurisdiction. The rods symbolised the ‘power to punish’, the axe stood for the ‘power over life and death’ and the strap signified the ‘power to arrest’.

The fasces were later adopted by numerous governments and authorities. In 1792, the First French Republic used the fasces as a symbol for its political entity. A century later the bound rods and axe were included in the US Senate seal. In the early 20th century, the fasces became identified with Benito Mussolini’s authoritarian regime in Italy. The term ‘fascism’ is derived from this word.

Fasces are all about strength in unity. A single rod may be brittle and weak, but bound together in an orderly manner they become unbreakable. Atelier Van Lieshout’s versions of the fasces, however, lack strength and order. The rods used are of inferior quality and the thing is sloppily assembled. The organising system is obviously a failure, resulting in laughable weakness and a pompous display of impotence. These fasces are a parody of the symbol that represents a system geared towards domination, but historically bound for implosion because of inconsistency, irrationality and infighting.

Fasces (2021) was part of the following exhibition(s):
EHBO, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam (NL), 2021 – 2022

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com

Bronze
115 x 95 x 80 cm

In western art, monkeys and apes are often depicted as naughty, shameless animals with no self-control and overactive libidos. They are the devil’s henchmen or even the latter’s incarnations. In 17th-century painting, chained monkeys symbolised mankind imprisoned by lust.
However, in Joep van Lieshout’s view, apes represent raw energy and a zest for life. They tried to shackle the old alpha male and oust him from his place, but he broke free from expectations, obligations and the churning wheels of time in order to rule supreme. Even though he is subject to fate and has to accept any unlucky roll of the dice, he is still on top of his game and unwilling to give up without a fight.

Destiny (2021) was part of the following exhibition(s):
Art Rotterdam, Galerie Ron Mandos, Rotterdam (NL), 2023
Form Follows Energy, LAGO / ALGO, Mexico City (MX), 2022

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com

Mixed media
115 x 60 x 149 cm

An incubator is a world unto itself. The child in the cocoon is monitored and kept alive by machines that protect the baby from possibly malevolent outside influences. An incubator locks a child up, yet this prison is also a sign of love.

Atelier Van Lieshout’s Incubator is an improvised one. The materials used such as sewer pipe and switches have been randomly sourced and the device has also been carelessly slapped together. However, this does not detract from the good intentions with which the device was designed and built.
This incubator is related to the sensory deprivation chambers Joep van Lieshout built from 2007 onwards. The artist would prefer to create a life-size incubator for himself: a safe haven in a hostile world. In an incubator, all life’s functions can be left to the protective shell and the ‘child in the incubator’ can be peacefully left to their own mind.

Incubator (2021) was part of the following exhibition(s):
EHBO, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam (NL)

Mixed media
135 x 70 x 175 cm

The drama of all-consuming love: you can’t live with or without one another. The other’s absence makes you vulnerable to poisonous influences from the outside world. These are kept at bay when you are linked to your other half, yet this locks you into a bubble with a limited quantity of oxygen. The breath of life you gift each other keeps getting less beneficial and, over time, even becomes deadly.

Friends is one of the first sculptures from the Sacrifice series. The latter depicts the gamut of human characteristics and emotions during crises. Cruelty and revenge go hand in hand with self-sacrifice, illumination and deep love. Life revealing itself as a surrealist succession of contradictions.

The man and woman in Friends are still surviving together. That their closed system is untenable and just as fatal as the danger their hazmat suits protect them from, is irrelevant to them.

Friends (2021) was part of the following exhibition(s):
EHBO, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam (NL), 2021 – 2022

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com

Mixed media
76,5 x 51 x 152,5 cm

This anaesthesia device is contained in a metal frame that makes the unit so strong and indestructible that you could even drop it from a plane into a war zone. Once on the ground, the control valves can be opened to administer the correct proportion of oxygen, laughing gas, ether and halothane – a drug on the World Health Organization’s list of essential drugs. This analog system functioned in hospitals until the introduction of digital equipment and demanded a great deal of knowledge and skill from the anaesthesiologist.

Besides aiding surgery, the Strong Anaesthetic Apparatus is also a sculptural composition in which the volumes have been carefully attuned for the perfect harmony and beauty. The baby blue frame is both innocent and antiseptic: a suitable colour for a device that provides numbing, relief and – ultimately – unconsciousness.

Strong Anaesthetic Apparatus (2021) was part of the following exhibition(s):
EHBO, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam (NL), 2021 – 2022

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com

Mixed media

This Tandtechnisch laboratorium [dental lab] is a world away from the high-tech workshops that currently turn out tailor-made dentures – some of which even use 3D printers. Here making dentures is still a craft. It is reminiscent of the very first false teeth to be found, that date back some 2,500 years, these were discovered in Mexico and were made by mounting wolf teeth onto human jaws. Recycled teeth and molars are combined into a utilitarian sculpture that not only determines whether or not someone can eat, but also which smile they have to project at the world.

The yellow bin adjacent to the workbench is from Atelier Van Lieshout’s 1990’s Soft Edge series. This recycling, comparable to that of the human ivories, illustrates Joep van Lieshout’s rejection of the sacredness attributed to art. The work is not unassailable and definitely not too good to continue as a footnote to another work.

Tandtechnisch Laboratorium (2021) was part of the following exhibition(s):
EHBO, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam (NL), 2021 – 2022

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com

Mixed media
87 x 10,5 x 200 cm

The most famous oracles are those in Greek mythology with the Oracle at Delphi at the pinnacle of fame. People journeyed from all over to ask the gods for advice which they were provided courtesy of a priest who served as a conduit.

Atelier Van Lieshout’s Oracle can be rolled to the person asking for advice on casters: a mobile service for modern consumers. The stylised flower pattern on the sculpture’s base, which is vaguely reminiscent of art nouveau decorations, provides the suggestion of connection between nature and the higher powers hidden within. However, it is a poor disguise for a dummy that can be manipulated to your heart’s content. Essential to this is that the oracle clearly doesn’t speak from the mouth, but from a hole in the belly. If the message it provides proves incorrect then this can always be put down to inferior interpretation.

Oracle (2021) was part of the following exhibition(s):
Le Voyage, Le Portique, Le Havre (FR), 2022
EHBO, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam (NL), 2021 – 2022

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com

Bronze

The deposition of Christ has been a popular theme in art since the 9th century. So much so that it has become an archetype, symbolising sorrow, regret and grief. Typically, the dead body of Christ is supported by the virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene, who lower him to the ground.

In Atelier Van Lieshout’s version the cross is mounted on a frame, lifting it off the ground as if it is controlled by a puppet master in the sky. The mourners attempt to counteract this force, but seem to realise they have lost their loved one to a higher force.

Descent from the Cross (2021) was part of the following exhibition(s):
EHBO, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam (NL), 2021 – 2022

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com

Composite
690 x 310 x 255 cm

Everything that everyone does in their own life is the voyage: We come from somewhere, we are here now and we go elsewhere.

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com

Fiberglass, steel
300 x 160 x 300 cm

Since the beginning of modern society, rats have played a role in culture and science. The animals often revoke a sense of fear and horror. Atelier Van Lieshout however would like to stress the positive sides of the rat. They are considered highly intelligent, are adaptive if the environment changes, agile and sensitive, and very able to take care of themselves. Considering these positive notions, one could easily see the human side of the animal. The rat could be envisioned as the animal of the future; an animal that will always be here; an animal that we should look upon as a friend instead of a foe. Just like the artist himself.

Rat (2019) was part of the following exhibition(s):
‘De Verleiding‘, Bosch Parade, ‘s Hertogenbosch (NL), 2022
‘Tij, Tijd, Tijdelijkheid‘, IJsselbiënnale, (NL), 2021

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com

Fiberglass
512 x 210 x 225 cm

Atelier Van Lieshout’s sculptures always start with the sketches Joep van Lieshout makes hundreds of every month. Over the past six years, a rhino increasingly kept cropping up. Van Lieshout saw himself in it. He also only has two modes: rest and contemplation or relentless forward motion.

The sculpture he subsequently created of a giant rhino with a labyrinthine structure drilled into it ended up in his studio due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the postponement of KadS. Van Lieshout used the lockdown to turn out dozens of sculptures at high speed, often with Christian themes. The descents from the cross and the last supper depict and comment on the values of human existence that were so constrained by the virus.

Surrounded by religious iconography Van Lieshout suddenly realised: that rhino is the place for Moses, the prophet who led the Jews to the promised land and received God’s ten commandments on Mount Sinai. He fitted the sculpture with a heavy, armoured door that locks from the inside so you can hide in the belly of the beast. Once rejuvenated, you can come storming out with your own version of the stone tablets.

However, the sculpture isn’t just for solo use. It provides room for four or five people. Metal rings on the wall suggest hedonistic rituals could take place. The sculpture’s bronze appearance reinforces the impression of it being an idol. Typical for Atelier Van Lieshout’s tendency to be ambiguous, the rhino is an armoured warrior and a sacrificial animal in one. An incubator for high ideals and a breeding ground for the most base instincts.

Mozes (2020) was part of the following exhibition(s):
Kunst aan de Schinkel, Soledad Senlle Art Foundation, Amsterdam (NL), 2021

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com

Mixed media
109 x 120 x 193

The Dutch aren’t big on flying the flag. Some feel the national tricolour has been claimed by the right-wing, for others it brings to mind a colonial past that doesn’t inspire pride. Hence the burn marks on the flag behind Telephone Guy, a rag unceremoniously tied to an undersized flagpole. He is also hauling an outdated telephone in a pretty but useless velvet sleeve and wearing a gasmask that won’t improve the quality of his communications. His shamanistic outfit underlines the symbolic, irrational nature of all messaging; closer to a spirit whisperer than a modern day logistics officer. Telephone Guy is a giant on clay feet, bogged down in the national identity debate.

Telephone Guy (2021) was part of the following exhibition(s):
Fake Me Hard, AVL Mundo, Rotterdam (NL), 2021

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com

Bronze

The eagle, owl and vulture are three of the many birds that have symbolic meaning as heraldic charges, but their degree of popularity varies greatly. The eagle is by far the most frequently employed heraldic bird. It was already used by the Holy Roman Empire and now graces the US’s Great Seal, the Albanian flag and the coat of arms of countries varying from Panama to Namibia. The owl was the primary symbol of Athens, its image the eyecatcher on the Greek drachma as well as part of the heraldry of aristocratic families. The vulture is the least appealing of the three. The scavenger plays a minor role in Iceland’s coat of arms and can be seen in Mali’s national seal, although some people argue the bird is a dove in flight.

The eagle symbolises strength while the owl stands for wisdom. The vulture’s opportunism is a considerably less attractive trait, but it is complementary to the other two. Together, the three birds are like the trio of monkeys from Japan: see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. They don’t represent the morality of an ideal state, but reflect the reality of politics where the three forces interact.

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com

Fiberglass, steel
82 x 64 x 173 cm

This combination of a crutch, a wooden leg and training wheels is too much of a good thing. Individually these prosthetics support the physically challenged, but merged they prove to be wholly ineffective, an obstacle rather than an aid. Prosthetic is a perverse mutation of good intentions and the rationalist drive to always keep improving. It wouldn’t be out of place in a surrealist painting as a symbol of impotence. The sculpture is part of the Atelier Van Lieshout’s series Sacrifice, which presents war and destruction as a maelstrom of human essence, chaos, creativity providing the option of rebirth: new, yet perhaps not so improved.

Prosthetic (2021) was part of the following exhibition(s):
Fake Me Hard, AVL Mundo, Rotterdam (NL)

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com

Mixed media
125 x 180 x 270 cm

One of Joep van Lieshout’s earliest sculptures, conceived in 1983, is an operating table that doubles as a chopping block with drains to recycle body fluids and concealed stilettos to cut the patient’s vertebra if necessary. Life saving easily turns into torture and execution. Our faith in the agents of rational science is questioned, as is the value of human life itself. A couple of Ebola outbreaks, the HIV crisis and a Covid-19 pandemic later, and Atelier Van Lieshout’s Salvation spells out a not so different future. Doctors are crusaders, priests and shamans all rolled into one: part healer, part executioner. Nurses provide care and sexually charged consolation.

Salvation (2020) was part of the following exhibition(s):
Form Follows Energy, LAGO / ALGO, Mexico City (MX), 2022
Fake Me Hard, AVL Mundo, Rotterdam (NL), 2021

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com

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

Mixed media
110 x 150 x 225 cm

This figure brings to mind pictures of soldiers dying in trenches or concentration camp prisoners caught on barbed wire fences. In their dying moments they all mimic Saint Sebastian’s posture as depicted in Christian iconography since the 9th century. Atelier Van Lieshout’s version of the arrow-pierced martyr is not tied to a stake or a tree, but hung from a frame, like a puppet manipulated by rules of human design. However, the structure doesn’t consist of neat beams held together by uniform bolts and screws, but is rather intuitively thrown together. It’s a form of expressionist sculpture, signifying a value system out of whack.

Bas (2021) was part of the following exhibition(s):
EHBO, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam (NL), 2021-2022
Fake Me Hard, AVL Mundo, Rotterdam (NL), 2021

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com

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.

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com

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

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com

Mixed media
64 x 90 x 196 cm

A computer-controlled hourglass turns over fast, running empty in mere seconds. Time is gone before you had a chance to blink twice. This makes this hourglass useless to attach any sense of time calculation to. Time slips through our fingers like sand and valuable minutes are lost.

With this work Atelier Van Lieshout deconstructs time, redefines our idea and understanding of time and takes away the certainty of time moving forward.

Down the Drain Clock (2018) was part of the following exhibition(s):
World Expo 2020, The Netherlands Pavilion, Dubai (UAE), 2020

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com

Aluminium, steel
195 x 55 x 120 cm

Seven Digit Clock questions our concept of time and subsequently destroys our trust in this established system. Nothing is certain, time is running back and forward, fast and slow or is the clock really trying to say something ..?

A program especially made for Atelier Van Lieshout controls the panels of the clock. Seconds sometimes last for years, years last for minutes and every now and then words appear instead of a series of numbers. The figures of Seven Digit Clock have deliberately been given an audible rhythm. The work rattles and clicks and but the moments of silence say just as much.

Seven Digit Clock (2018) was part of the following exhibition(s):
World Expo 2020, The Netherlands Pavilion, Dubai (UAE), 2020

For enquiries: please contact Atelier Van Lieshout via info@ateliervanlieshout.com