Atelier Van Lieshout

Aluminium
60 x 40 x 470 cm

For the near future, Atelier Van Lieshout foresees the emergence of a new tribal world, a primitive society where production takes centre stage. This world will see a return to farming and industry – which currently both have been banished from our society – and a re-establishment of our relationship with materials – which now has been lost. In this new world, ethics will be of little importance. Instead, rituals will be re-valued, and will offer the tribes of the future guidance.

Atelier Van Lieshout is taking an advance on this future, and is creating all necessary equipment for the imaginary tribes, ranging from items of worship and sacrifice to objects for daily use, dwellings and machines. All these artworks together make the huge Gesamtkunstwerk that is New Tribal Labyrinth.

Musicians (2023) was part of the following exhibition(s):
Arena, Nosbaum Reding, Brussels (BE), 2023

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

Acrylic Resin
123 x 101 x 218 cm

Image courtesy of GRIMM Gallery, by P. van Rooij

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

Acrylic Resin
70 x 75 x 110 cm

For the near future, Atelier Van Lieshout foresees the emergence of a new tribal world, a primitive society where production takes centre stage. This world will see a return to farming and industry – which currently both have been banished from our society – and a re-establishment of our relationship with materials – which now has been lost. In this new world, ethics will be of little importance. Instead, rituals will be re-valued, and will offer the tribes of the future guidance.

Atelier Van Lieshout is taking an advance on this future, and is creating all necessary equipment for the imaginary tribes, ranging from items of worship and sacrifice to objects for daily use, dwellings and machines. All these artworks together make the huge Gesamtkunstwerk that is New Tribal Labyrinth.

Fiberglass, wood
715 x 725 x 850 cm

The steam hammer was invented in Manchester in 1837 and gave the industrial revolution a massive boost. Once an example of high-tech, it is now a stark reminder of obsolescence. Steam Hammer House contains a kitchen, office, bathroom and toilet. It’s a place of work where man and machine become one.

Steam Hammer House (2014) was part of the following exhibition(s):
‘Let’s Get Physical’, Atelier Van Lieshout, Rotterdam (NL), 2020 – 2021
‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’, Ruhrtriennale, Bochum (DE), 2015
‘Vrijstaat’, Kasteel Keukenhof, Lisse (NL), 2014

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

Fiberglass
575 x 390 x 220 cm

This vice is part of New Tribal Labyrinth series, for which AVL sculpted ‘monuments to machines’. This specific tool has been enlarged to impractical size. It confront us with the West’s now defunct manufacturing industry that has been replaced by a service economy. It’s unclear whether it is part of a post-apocalyptic survival strategy or a nostalgic reminder of authentic labour.

Vice (2014) was part of the following exhibition(s):
‘Let’s Get Physical’, Atelier Van Lieshout, Rotterdam (NL), 2020 – 2021
‘Vrijstaat’, Kasteel Keukenhof, Lisse (NL), 2014

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

Acrylic Resin
85 x 85 x 170 cm

For the near future, Atelier Van Lieshout foresees the emergence of a new tribal world, a primitive society where production takes centre stage. This world will see a return to farming and industry – which currently both have been banished from our society – and a re-establishment of our relationship with materials – which now has been lost. In this new world, ethics will be of little importance. Instead, rituals will be re-valued, and will offer the tribes of the future guidance.

Atelier Van Lieshout is taking an advance on this future, and is creating all necessary equipment for the imaginary tribes, ranging from items of worship and sacrifice to objects for daily use, dwellings and machines. All these artworks together make the huge Gesamtkunstwerk that is New Tribal Labyrinth.

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

Fiberglass
155 x 87 x 223 cm

The Food Reaktor is part of the farm of the future, designed to feed the world’s growing population. In this machine with its partly visible interior, organic materials are combined to produce new edible products.

Food Reaktor (2013) was part of the following exhibition(s):
‘Let’s Get Physical’, Atelier Van Lieshout, Rotterdam (NL), 2020 – 2021
‘The CryptoFuturist and The New Tribal Labyrinth’, Pioneer Works, New York (USA), 2019
‘SlaveCity’, De Pont, Tilburg (NL), 2016
‘Future Fictions’, Z33, Hasselt (BE), 2014 – 2015

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

Aluminium
160 x 115 x 210 cm

Joep van Lieshout’s fascination with systems and organs is apparent in his most recent installation, Cradle to Cradle (2009). This art work takes its name from the popular Cradle to Cradle manifesto by the American architect William McDonough and the German chemist Michael Braungart. Cradle to Cradle is based on the concept that waste is food. This means that old materials are used to form new products without loss of quality or waste products. This principle is taken to the extreme in AVL’s installation.

Cradle to Cradle consists of an anatomical theatre, a semi-industrial slaughterhouse and a high-tech operating room. Bones, skulls, muscle groups and organs lie on robust, brightly lit tables. Various flayed bodies hang from rails. This machine recycles people. In a model of efficiency, the organs are used for transplants, while the flesh, fluids, fat and bones are processed into meat. The remainder is used to harvest energy.

Uomo Analyticus (2013) was part of the following exhibition(s):
‘SlaveCity’, De Pont, Tilburg (NL), 2016

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

Steel, wood
2350 x 600 x 420 cm

Central part of the Saw Mill/Cheese Maker is the hand-powered Saw Mill. The Cheese Maker, an extremely crude, organic, rustic, indestructible barrel made from a tree trunk and used for curdling, is an extension to the Saw Mill. Both machines are connected to a central axle, driven by a tread wheel which is to be operated by humans. The Cheese Maker is also connected to the Milking Machine, which provides the milk for the cheese, directly from the cow, creating a closed circuit. The cheese production process is rudimentary, unhygienic, smutty even, making the Cheese Maker both an addition to and a denial of the modernist ideology of the Saw Mill, which represents the utopia of building a new world, of cooperation, of efficient, clean production. Generally, the process of making cheese is also a very hygienic one, but in this case bacteria get a free rein and everything will be sticky and smelly.

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

Aluminium
Diverse measurements

Caen has been subject to a very tumultuous twentieth century: a city on the frontline, its citizens being faced with difficult choices, either to stay but possibly lose their lives or leave all they know and care for and head out into an unknown future. For the Place Saint-Saveur, Atelier Van Lieshouthas created a sculpture that symbolizes this ever-present human dilemma: the choice between the known and the unknown, between security and insecurity, between tradition and progress.

For Place Saint-Saveur, we proposed a sculptural group consisting of human-like shapes, symbolizing the ‘Bourgeois de Caen’. The group appears to be huddled together, like a line of figures that flow over in each other like a Laocoon, sometimes realistic, sometimes abstract. The figures are not heavy, however, but light, airy; people will be able to see trough them and walk between them.

The figures symbolize the different emotions that people go through in a time of conflict: heroism, fear, rebellion, survival, flight, compassion, cowardice, joy, loneliness – a mass of humans, insecure, doubtful and chaotic. Opposed to this, the statue of Louis XVI seems to symbolize security, power and order. At the same time, however, his image is a leftover from the Ancient-Regime.

Fiberglass
285 x 188 x 195 cm

The Burghers symbolizes the ever-present human dilemma: the choice between the known and the unknown, between security and insecurity, between tradition and progress. The monumental sculpture draws from a universal and timeless theme: what does one do in an emergency situation? The figures, huddled together like a Laocoon, represent the different emotions that people go through in a time of conflict: heroism, fear, rebellion, survival, escape, compassion, cowardice, joy, loneliness – a mass of humans, insecure, doubtful and chaotic.

The Burghers (2013) was part of the following exhibition(s):
‘Poly Pluto Pluri’, Galería OMR, Mexico City (MX), 2017

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

Steel
182,5 x 115 x 60 cm

In this series of Atomic lamps, Atelier Van Lieshout evokes the energy created by the atom splitting, paradoxically serving comfort while posing a threat to the planet’s safety. It recomposes the light source with a spatial geography of cylindrical volumes in folded sheet steel cut in different sections. Using this system of mobile pendulums or unwavering volumes, it renews the art of physically spreading light waves, determining the beams’ direction by calculating the segment and the height. It is the director of a spectacular light show in space using magic and the chasing-projector effect, like on stage.

More info via Carpenters Workshop Gallery

Fiberglass, styrofoam, rope
360 x 195 x 130 cm

Lebensborn literally means ‘fount of life’. It was the name of a breeding programme for Hitler’s elite troops, the SS. Young Arian women were matched with Nazi officers at special homes to create a race of supermen. More than 20,000 children were conceived this way. AVL’s Lebensbron is a set item created for the performance of Wagner’s Der Fliegende Hollander at the Schauspielhaus Hamburg. It constitutes a sacrificial chopping block dedicated to a new people.

Lebensborn (2013) was part of the following exhibition(s):
‘Let’s Get Physical’, Atelier Van Lieshout, Rotterdam (NL), 2020 – 2021
‘Future Fictions’, Z33, Hasselt (BE), 2014 – 2015

Fiberglass
77 x 131 x 178 cm

Location: Private Collection

Steel
1800 x 1000 x 1050 cm

Steel, produced in blast furnaces, was the most important product of the Industrial Revolution, and has laid the foundation of our current wealth. Therefore, Atelier Van Lieshout realized the artwork Blast Furnace. Blast Furnace, a majestic machinery measuring 12 by 24 by 11 meters, seems to grow like an organic organism. The steel monster evokes an image of the archetypical industrial relicts of the early 20th century, which is given a new, utopian meaning by Atelier Van Lieshout. Blast Furnace will be driven by manpower and simple mechanics. Floors and alcoves will be installed in the innards of the machine: a living room, a kitchen, a bedroom. Human activity takes place throughout the entire installation. It is as if the Tribe of the Metalworkers consciously choose to become one with the furnace, and to live amidst the noise, dirt and dust. Instead of wanting to return to Nature, this tribe wants to return to Industry, to raw materials, to simple products, to social cohesion.

Blast Furnace (2013) was part of the following exhibition(s):
‘Blast Furnace’, Art OMI, Ghent (USA), 2019 – 2021
‘The CryptoFuturist and The New Tribal Labyrinth’, Pioneer Works, New York (USA), 2019
‘The Butcher’, La Friche Belle de Mai, Marseille (FR), 2013

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

Aluminium
690 cm x 300 cm x 270 cm

Insect Farm (2012) is a sleek modernist sculpture and a component of a high tech model of a futuristic farm reconnecting with its primitive nature. It is designed to breed insects for consumption, as a high protein and low carbon footprint food alternative, one that is already consumed by the majority of the non-western world. The project is both utopian and pragmatic, seeking a solution for feeding the increasing world population. It is part of the artist’s New Tribal Labyrinth series, connecting the past, present and future, and man and machine with basic materials of life.

Insect Farm (2012) was part of the following exhibition(s):
‘Future Fictions’, Z33, Hasselt (BE), 2014 – 2015

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

Fiberglass
400 x 400 x 100 cm

Steel, wood
267 cm x 104 cm x 108 cm

For the near future, Atelier Van Lieshout foresees the emergence of a new tribal world, a primitive society where production takes centre stage. This world will see a return to farming and industry – which currently both have been banished from our society – and a re-establishment of our relationship with materials – which now has been lost. In this new world, ethics will be of little importance. Instead, rituals will be re-valued, and will offer the tribes of the future guidance.

Atelier Van Lieshout is taking an advance on this future, and is creating all necessary equipment for the imaginary tribes, ranging from items of worship and sacrifice to objects for daily use, dwellings and machines. All these artworks together make the huge Gesamtkunstwerk that is New Tribal Labyrinth.

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

Fiberglass
Various designs

The Unlimited series are sculptures of swimming sperm, representing the life force of all beings. This signifier plays a recurring role for Atelier Van Lieshout’s artistic practice. Only one sperm in 150 million achieves the fertilizing goal; the beginning of everything. Unlimited reflects Darwinian social ideas and the need for survival in all aspects of our lives, whether biological or corporate.

Unlimited (2012) was part of the following exhibition(s):
‘The CryptoFuturist and The New Tribal Labyrinth’, Pioneer Works, New York (USA), 2019
‘SlaveCity’, Zuecca Project Space, Venice (IT), 2016

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

Steel, wood
320 x 190 x 190 cm

Huge change is no longer in the past or future but in the present. Our society as we know it and have known to be safe is fast-changing. Value systems of yesterday are no longer relevant. A new civilization is ahead of us. This ideological society offers choice; are we able to find alternate ways of living, another model or are our days counted? The changing climate, growing poverty, wars an more are only expanding. This movable nomadic dwelling unit provides shelter from this disconcerting situation. The armored shelter is made from old steel plates recuperated from demolished boats together with other leftover material from our current society. The material due to its previous life is crooked, damaged and irregular. There is no straight edge to be constructed from these disastrous supplies. The Cabin looks like an improvised defense / attack apparatus made by a local blacksmith in order to have a better chance of survival in times of revolution and civil war. Inside you find an improvised toilet, woodstove, and benches. It is virtually indestructible.

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

Steel
550 x 370 x 578 cm

The New Tribal Labyrinth wants to reinterpret and revalue the factories and installations of the Industrial Revolution, by creating large scale sculptural/technical installations, made in an improvised style with contemporary materials: blast furnaces and foundries, refineries and chemical installations textile mills and ceramics workshops. At first sight, it is not directly clear if these are part of a post-apocalyptic survival strategy, or instead represent a new utopian way of durable production.

Naphta Cracker is production unit that shows the complex process of making plastics. At the same time it wants to tell more about the value of this specific material, as plastics are made in a complicated way and out of scarce raw materials. Made in a neo-industrial style, it is hard to define in what era the artwork dates from: post-apocalyptic, Soviet, or an earlier past?

Naphta Cracker was part of the following exhibition(s):
Oil – Beauty and Horror in the Petrol Age, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg (DE), 2021 – 2022

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

Fiberglass, wood
286 x 163 x 147,5 cm

Dynamo is a self-supporting unit that functions as a mobile hotel room. The interior is not much larger than a double bed and is equipped with the basics: a mattress, sheets, blankets, a nightlight and an electricity outlet.

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

Fiberglass, wood
580 x 295 x 340 cm

Temple serves as a retreat for the farmer, for contemplation and worship. It is a sheltered space, half underground and covered with grass and sand. Inside is a statue of a Funnelhead, a frequently recurring theme in the works of AVL. Funnelhead is a symbol for the human state, being force-fed physically as well as mentally.

Temple, 2012 Funnelhead, 2012 Barbaar, 2012

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

Fiberglass
415 x 350 x 330 cm

This series of three monumental canons shows different techniques developed throughout the past century. Ranging from the artisanal look of the WWI canon to the stylized WWIII canon. these monumental heroic works indirectly refer to Joep’s depiction of a terryfying vision of the future with food scarcity, war and epidemics.

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

Clay, metal
40 x 30 x 37 cm

In the fictional narrative of the “New Tribe” that has settled inside the Blast Furnace, new rituals and ritual objects emerge, such as this “strong men stew” pot employed for adulthood initiation rites. The stove is filled with a stew made of snakes, monkeys, insects, humans, intestines, mush‑ rooms, plants, and unrecognizable ingredients. A person has to walk backwards, take something from the pot, and eat it. If the person fails they have to wait one more year to join adulthood.

Strong Men Stew (2012) was part of the following exhibition(s):
‘The CryptoFuturist and The New Tribal Labyrinth’, Pioneer Works, New York (USA), 2019

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

Fiberglass, steel

The free market economy is driven by individual self-interest. Supply and demand interact, making prices go up or down. An equilibrium automatically arises that benefits all. Adam Smith dubbed it ‘the invisible hand’ in 1776. In today’s and tomorrow’s economy the individual is being played in much the same way.

The Invisible Hand (2012) was part of the following exhibition(s):
‘De Verleiding’, Bosch Parade, ‘s Hertogenbosch (NL), 2022
‘Let’s Get Physical’, Atelier Van Lieshout, Rotterdam (NL), 2020
‘Market Forces’, HERO Gallery, Amsterdam (NL), 2018
‘The Invisible Hand’, Parc Tournay de Solvay , Brussels (BE), 2016

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

Mixed media
165 x 148 x 155 cm

The New Tribal Labyrinth is an ongoing series of work in which recurring themes like the organization of labour, the structures of power and revolution are linked to the end of the worlds´ resources and subsequent self sufficiency. It suggests a new world order, a society inhabited by imaginary tribes. This world will see a return to farming and industry – which currently both have been banished from our society – and a re-establishment of our relationship with materials – which now has been lost. Rituals will be re-valued, and will play in important role in society once more. Thus, objects for farming, industry and rituals are the three main bodies of work of this huge ”Gesamtkunstwerk”.

Additionally, New Tribal Labyrinth provides ritual objects, totem-like sculptures and dwellings for the tribes of the future. These include large scale projects like The Original Dwelling,  as well as smaller totems, icons and images of worship, like The Farm, which was the starting point of the New Tribal Labyrinth.

The Farm (2011) was part of the following exhibition(s):
‘The CryptoFuturist and The New Tribal Labyrinth’, Pioneer Works, New York (USA), 2019
‘SlaveCity’, De Pont, Tilburg (NL), 2016

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

Bronze, steel
109 x 80 x 80 cm

Dwelling is an imaginary tribal dwelling; the work takes humankind back to its origins, recalling a primitive state of being with the shape of a horse head. The sculpture is part of the New Tribal Labyrinth, an ongoing series of work in which recurring themes like the organization of labour, the structures of power and revolution are linked to the end of the worlds´ resources and subsequent self sufficiency. It suggests a new world order, a society inhabited by imaginary tribes. This world will see a return to farming and industry – which currently both have been banished from our society – and a re-establishment of our relationship with materials – which now has been lost. Rituals will be re-valued, and will play in important role in society once more. Thus, objects for farming, industry and rituals are the three main bodies of work of this huge ”Gesamtkunstwerk”.

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

Fiberglass
315 x 120 x 183 cm

The New Tribal Labyrinth is an ongoing series of work in which recurring themes like the organization of labour, the structures of power and revolution are linked to the end of the worlds´ resources and subsequent self sufficiency. It suggests a new world order, a society inhabited by imaginary tribes. This world will see a return to farming and industry – which currently both have been banished from our society – and a re-establishment of our relationship with materials – which now has been lost. Rituals will be re-valued, and will play in important role in society once more. Thus, objects for farming, industry and rituals are the three main bodies of work of this huge ”Gesamtkunstwerk”.

Location: Collection of LAM Lisse (NL)

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

Aluminium
158 x 70 x 104 cm

The New Tribal Labyrinth is an ongoing series of work in which recurring themes like the organization of labour, the structures of power and revolution are linked to the end of the worlds´ resources and subsequent self sufficiency. It suggests a new world order, a society inhabited by imaginary tribes. This world will see a return to farming and industry – which currently both have been banished from our society –  and a re-establishment of our relationship with materials – which now has been lost. Rituals will be re-valued, and will play in important role in society once more. Thus, objects for farming, industry and rituals are the three main bodies of work of this huge ”Gesamtkunstwerk”.

Fiberglass
90 x 90 x 310 cm

Steel
33 x 30 x 172 cm

Constructed of heavy steel plates, Jewel celebrates industry and Brutalism, the architectural movement defined by exposed concrete and blocky, geometric forms. It is a functional sculpture, and forms part of AVL’s Nouveau Brutalism series.

“It’s about man’s most primeval needs” – Joep van Lieshout

Enquiries via Carpenters Workshop Gallery

Bronze
33 x 29 x 25 cm

Friends is part of the “New Tribal Labyrinth”-series. This series of works reflects on our extremely advanced and complex society, in which over-consumption and limited raw materials play a crucial role. In the near future, this contraposition will see an emergence of various new cultures. Once supplies are exhausted society will see a harshening of relations between people and an increase of their survival instinct. The question is whether such radical changes, which are coupled with violence but which may also lead to a new improved society, are good or bad.
Where groups of people start organizing themselves in tribes instead of countries and nationalities, a new tribal world order will occur. In the meantime AVL will create objects, installations and equipment for this imaginary tribe: monuments to be worshipped, cannibalistic sacrificial equipment, daily objects and designs.

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

Fiberglass, leather
108 x 80 x 75 cm

The title of this chair is a corruption of the architect Le Corbusier. Joep van Lieshout: ‘Actually, this work is a badly executed Le Corbusier. I stared with the best intentions and with a really clean and neat work in mind, but unfortunately rounded forms kept on creeping in.’

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

Fiberglass
100 x 90 x 222 cm

Contemporary humans have increasing numbers of possessions, but perhaps these things possess them. They’re in danger of becoming an extension of their cars, computers, mobile phones and other tools. Buffel symbolizes this dubious relationship. Humans merging with their prison; animate and inanimate objects become one.

Buffel (2011) was part of the following exhibition(s):
‘Utopia‘, Château Saint-Maur, Saint Tropez (FR), 2022
‘Let’s Get Physical’, Atelier Van Lieshout, Rotterdam (NL), 2020
‘The CryptoFuturist and The New Tribal Labyrinth’, Pioneer Works, New York (USA), 2019
‘Poly Pluto Pluri’, Galería OMR, Mexico City (MX), 2017
‘The Invisible Hand’, Parc Tournay de Solvay , Brussels (BE), 2016

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

Fiberglass
145 x 140 x 340 cm

“Panta Rhei” or “everything flows”, said the Greek philosopher Heraclitus some 2,500 years ago. He meant that nothing remains the same because time constantly puts everything in a new perspective. The thinkers in AVL’s Panta Rhei are force-fed through a funnel and their excrement forms the pillars they stand on. They are the embodiment of circularity: all is constantly renewed, with slight changes.

Panta Rhei (2011) was part of the following exhibition(s):
‘De Verleiding’, Bosch Parade, ‘s Hertogenbosch (NL), 2022
‘Let’s Get Physical’, Atelier Van Lieshout, Rotterdam (NL), 2020 – 2021
‘The Invisible Hand’, Parc Tournay de Solvay , Brussels (BE), 2016
‘Vrijstaat’, Kasteel Keukenhof, Lisse (NL), 2014

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