Marijke van Warmerdam
Close by in the distance
20 years of films and much more
29 October 2011–22 January 2012
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
Museumpark 18-20
NL-3015 CX Rotterdam
The Netherlands
www.boijmans.nl
Marijke van Warmerdam (1959) is part of a generation of artists from around the world who have explored the potential of film as an artistic medium. Since the 1990s she has created a filmic oeuvre comprising various media: film, photography, sculpture, installations and, recently, painting. For Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen the artist has made a selection from her oeuvre together with Jan Debbaut.
Frozen poetry
Sustaining a moment in time, for example in film loops or in circular camera movements, is a central concern in the work of Marijke van Warmerdam. This freezing of time and space can be seen in her 16mm and 35mm films such as ‘Handstand’ (1992), ‘Skytypers’ (1997), ‘Le retour du chapeau’ (1998) and ‘In the distance’ (2010). She often chooses everyday subject matter such as cycling with no hands, a floating feather, aeroplane exhaust against a blue sky or a girl doing a handstand. Most of her films have no sound. Marijke van Warmerdam does not tell stories in her works but relies upon the visual power of the motif. Marijke van Warmerdam’s work has been described as ‘light yet sharp’ and ‘purely visual.’
Biography
Marijke van Warmerdam lives and works in Amsterdam and Karlsruhe. Her work has been included in many important international exhibitions including the biennales in Venice, Sydney, Berlin and Gwangju and Documenta X in Kassel. She has exhibited several times at Art Unlimited during Art Basel. Van Warmerdam has had exhibitions at the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, the Migros Museum in Zurich, the ICA in Boston, MuHKA in Antwerp and currently at Magasin 3 in Stockholm. Her work is represented in numerous international collections including the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and latterly in Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.
Publication and more
The exhibition will be accompanied by a richly illustrated book entitled ‘Close by in the distance’, published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, with contributions by various authors (ISBN 978-3-86335-080-2). It will be available in the museum shop from October. Filmmaker Rudolf Evenhuis has made a documentary about Marijke van Warmerdam, which can be seen in the museum. A shortened version can be seen from the beginning of October on the online video channel arttube.boijmans.nl.
SNS REAAL Fonds is the chief sponsor of the exhibition ‘Marijke van Warmerdam – Close by in the distance’. The exhibition is supported by Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, sponsored by Breeman Talle Fonds. The publication is supported by the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture (Fonds BKVB). The film works of Marijke van Warmerdam have been preserved and digitized by EYE Film Institute Netherlands.
Note for editors
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