Publication

PROJECT 14 THE LIMITS OF BORDERLINES MARGINALITY MARGINS AND PERIPHERIES

Jan Van Den Dobbelsteen

17-11-19 > 26-01-20.

Interdisciplinary artist Jan Van Den Dobbelsteen created the installation ‘The limits of borderlines marginality margins and peripheries’ especially for the context and space of PARTS Project. The work is part of his all-encompassing search for the essence of things, spaces, and sounds – a non-linear journey where each question raises another.

Point of departure is his position as an artist: in medias res (see statement). This Latin expression can be loosely translated as ‘in the middle of things’, and is used to indicate that a story starts without introduction, i.e. somewhere in the middle, or even at the end. Van Den Dobbelsteen transforms the space of PARTS Project into a warehouse full of indefinable objects, amorphous shapes that interact with and relate to other materials and sounds. By experiencing the installation you are drawn into the complex universe of Van Den Dobbelsteen. It is a frozen moment in his search for the fundamental: not an answer, but a starting point for new questions.

The rich and unique oeuvre of Jan Van Den Dobbelsteen (Aalst-Waalre, 1954) spans four decades and is rooted in minimalist painting. However, where minimalist painters are concerned with the painting technique itself, Van Den Dobbelsteen departs from his metaphysical ideas about the hidden powers in all matter. In his search for the fundamental, he does not limit himself to certain materials, mediums, or disciplines. His body of work includes a.o. music, paintings, sound experiments, video art, and architecture. In this way, Van Den Dobbelsteen steadily explores the essence of things, sounds, and spaces – in medias res. Rejecting chronology, he attempts to reach the fundamental by combining disciplines and allowing each answer to become yet another question.

Van Den Dobbelsteen releases the majority of his sound works and (experimental) vinyl records on his own label Cosmic Volume. His work was awarded a.o. the Prix de Rome (1987) and Bernardine de Neeve Prize (2015). Van Den Dobbelsteen obtained his MFA at the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht and lives and works in Eindhoven.

On the occasion of the exhibition Jan Van Den Dobbelsteen releases the vinyl record ‘The limits of borderlines marginality margins and peripheries’ as Cosmic Volume nr. 135. The 10inch record was made for PARTS Project in a limited edition of 100 copies. It will accompany the project publication.

 

Read here Jan Van Den Dobbelsteen’s Statement ‘In medias res’
Read here the opening speech of Leonor Faber-Jonker (in Dutch only)

 

Review on Jegens en Tevens (in Dutch only)
Review on Villa Next Door 2
Review on Chmkoome’s blog (in Dutch only)