Installation ‘SYNCHRONICITY’ in BIGART 2025 exhibition
Slotervaart AMSTERDAM 26-9 to 28-09
Photo in the former barn now my studio
My new art installation ‘Synchronicity’ is part of the BIGART 2025 exhibition in the former Slotervaart hospital in Amsterdam.
Big Art 2025 – September 26 till 28, 2025
For more information and tickets…
About Synchronicity
Dualities
Within yourself
In relation to others
The individual versus the collective
Can the sense of self only be achieved in relations to others?
Socrates versus Buddha
East versus west
The mind versus the soul
Self-knowledge versus no self
The standard and questioning it
Take a load off
The rocking cradles invite you to lie down; yes you the adults.
Encouraging you to take a break from your life, your work, or your worries.
Let yourself be rocked.
What presents itself?
Are you awake?
Are you asleep?
Do you feel like you are sleepwalking?
It’s amazing to be here on this planet. Yet we are in a daily battle with distractions, some welcome but foremost unwelcome. The story of our society is called economy. And in this fairytale we are defined as walking wallets. We only exist when something goes in or out of our wallet says Dutch Researcher and author Kees Klomp.
But at the end of life we celebrate all what was human about you. It’s not about what you thought you needed to buy or what you owned, but it’s all about what you valued and where you gave meaning.
Scientists have shown that all crises are caused by human acts. Climate change, biodiversity loss and polution all stem from the strive for economic growth. Does our consumerism result in an exhausted planet and exhausted people. This story seems worn out. Aren’t we in dire need of new narratives?
What matters most to you? Can we go from need driven to value driven human beings in sync with nature and our planet?
Let’s dream it up, together
“Synchronicity” refers to a meaningful coincidence
(Carl Jung, a founding father of modern day psychotherapy, around 1930)
Installation ‘VIRIDITAS’ in exhibition ‘SHIFT’ at new MOYA – MUSEUM OF YOUNG ART
Oosterhout 11-5 to 17-08
Photo: Marit Hazebroek in the workshop of Marjet Röling
My art installation ‘Viriditas’ is part of the opening exhibition ‘SHIFT’ in MOYA – MUSEUM OF YOUNG ART in Oosterhout. MOYA at a brand new location in the converted Sint-Antoniuskerk, designed by Pierre Cuypers. Cuypers also designed Amsterdam Central Station and the Rijksmuseum.
SHIFT – May 11 to August 17, 2025
For more information and tickets…
About VIRIDITAS
When it comes to our planet, the earth, can you say that you are a good temporary resident? Like all other living organisms, we are programmed for two things; the preservation of the individual and the preservation of the species. We also know that our brains cannot cope with and cannot oversee a time span of more than 70 years. Is our programmed brain even capable of responding to the global problems that can no longer be denied?
Three design classic chairs adapted into rocking chairs that invite you to take a seat. Do we still have time for that or should we take the time for it? Do we calm our soul or do we allow ourselves to think about what is really being asked of us?
SURVIVE YOURSELF at Art The Hague 2024
Unraveling oneself
Photo: Marit Hazebroek in the workshop of Marjet Röling
SURVIVE YOURSELF – Art The Hague
My art installation, SURVIVE YOURSELF will be shown during the art fair Art The Hague 2024 from October 2nd till October 6th, in booth 26 of CuratedArtWork
SURVIVE YOURSELF is an invitation to sit down on the rocking chair and take the words dangling above your head into consideration; embrace any possible discomfort, soothe your soul, or be curious, peel off layer-by-layer what resides in your mind and body.
I myself moved between worlds, disciplines, and quite literally physical locations. Moving out of the city, where I was born, raised and worked to the countryside, made me rethink my values, my knowledge and with that my self.
‘I doubt, therefore I am’ – Descartes
IRENIC vases
My series of IRENIC vases, which come to be through my collaboration with Cor Unum Ceramics will be also be included in the CuratedArtWork presentation during Art The Hague
My visual art anchored in a century-old craft, with the ‘Irenic’ vases series of five new artworks.
Irenic: aiming at peace (from the Greek word eirene, peace)
Photo: Liesbeth Disbergen in my studio
YOU ARE A FEAST FOR MY SENSES, 2023
photo: Dana Savic
Legends & Legacy
Cor Unum celebrates 70th anniversary with extensive plate collection
Ceramic studio Cor Unum is lavishly celebrating its 70th anniversary with an exhibition in the beating heart of Milan during the Salone del Mobile, from 18-23 April 2023. For this, Cor Unum asked no fewer than 70 young and renowned creatives to design a plate with the theme Legends & Legacy. Never before has Milan showcased work by so many designers, artists, architects and other makers in one exhibition in a colourful ensemble of plates from Alessandro Mendini to Claudy Jongstra.
Cor Unum’s curator Lotte Landsheer was looking for a way to celebrate seventy years of the ceramics studio’s history, taking the dinner plate as a starting point and asking everyone with whom it has collaborated to create a design which was applied to the plates with transfers. “All the makers have the same carrier, but the designs could hardly be more varied,” she says.
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YOU ARE A FEAST FOR MY SENSES, Birgit Verwer 2023
About being seen and to stay amazed.
To acknowledge the value of people, recources and the planet; intergenerational.
We all can promote that, you and me, (Cor Unum =) one heart
_______________________________
YOU ARE A FEAST FOR MY SENSES, 2023
Part of the exhibition
Legends & Legacy – Cor Unum Ceramics 70 years
during Salone del Mobile 2023 in Milan
Location:
Alcova April 18 – 23, 2023
Viale Molise 62, Milan
Photo: DSL Studio
For those not going to Milan or wanting to see the plate collection again: the exhibition Legends & Legacy opens at Cor Unum in Den Bosch on 25 May 2023. The plate will also be for sale in my webshop and at the Cor Unum Ceramics shop in Den Bosch. Afterwards, the exhibition will travel on to Dutch Design Week Eindhoven and Big Art Amsterdam, among others.
Visit my webshop to purchase your plate ‘You Are a Feast for My Senses’ here…
Art installation ‘Final Rehearsal (ESPRIT DE CORPS)’
Curator Marie Jeanne de Rooij presents fifteen artists who live, work or have been trained in the Netherlands. Artists who are innovative and visionary, who do not shy away from experimentation and who surprise.
In short: artists who are real forerunners (voorlopers in Dutch). The artworks display a diverse selection of contemporary art. In addition to ‘real’ sculptures, the works explore the boundaries of diverse art disciplines such as bio-design, video art and robotics.
Participating artists: Atelier Van Lieshout (AVL), David Bade, Cecilia Bengtsson, BuroLdR, Iliada Charalambous, Ivan Cremer, Bram Ellens, Groenewoud/Buij, Bob Hendrikx, Marjan Laaper, Silvia Martes, Ingrid Mol, Zeger Reyers, Lennart Lahuis, Birgit Verwer
The art installation ‘Final Rehearsal (ESPRIT DE CORPS)’ is exhibited for the first time during the VOORLOPERS art exhibition, at Soestdijk Palace, Baarn, the Netherlands.
May 13th till August 5th, 2022
Check Soestdijk Palace website for more information…
Final Rehearsal (ESPRIT DE CORPS), 2022
“Do we still have time for a final rehearsal? Can we pass on our planet with propriety to the generations to come?
For future generations, we must keep the rudder straight to preserve a habitable and livable planet. But where do we go, which direction to take?
We all have to do it, together and collaboratively, even if we have different perspectives, sometimes back to back, consultatively, and put your shoulders to the wheel.”
The art installation Final Rehearsal (ESPRIT DE CORPS) is inspired by the late nineteenth-century so-called ‘lice benches’ (public seating double benches: sitting back-to-back) in The Hague, which can still be found on the Lange Voorhout, right in front of the former Royal work palace Lange Voorhout.
This version, a composition of the ‘do-it-yourself’ bench Panca by the renowned Italian designer Enzo Mari, is made of wind-sawn Douglas wood from Royal Estates De Horsten in Wassenaar.
click image to see more
present the series:
Irenic
My art anchored in a century-old craft, with a series of five new art pieces. In collaboration with the experts at Cor Unum ceramics in ‘s-Hertogenbosch (NL) we developed a vase, inspired by the form of vase I worked with during my artist in residency in China.
Only through the close collaboration with, and the work ethics and values of the people at Cor Unum, my new series of Irenic* vases came to be.
*Irenic: aiming at peace; from the Greek word ‘eirene’ (peace)
LINDA. NEVER EVER FIT THE MOULD
My Irenic vases are featured in the October 2021 issue of LINDA. magazine (208), including the picture of Irenic III – NEVER EVER FIT THE MOULD.
Making ceramics is a craft and one of the oldest art forms in the world. The first painted and decorated vases from far before our era give us an idea of the daily life of that time.
The fact that we have this knowledge is due to the almost indestructible nature of pottery. It may break into shards, but will survive the test of time. It can withstand the elements and the harshest conditions.
What if our current pottery turns up at an archaeological site hundreds of years from now? What will future generations learn about us? In the series ‘Irenic’, contemporary personal and social issues are both title and work of art.
About the ‘Irenic’ series
In my work I make use of existing materials, shapes and objects trouvés. The titles of my artworks are always as important as the artwork itself.
During my artist-in-residence in China, I found a fitting vase among hundreds of different existing shapes and moulds, which could be both a medium and a carrier of my art, which caused title and the work itself to become symbiotic.
In the series “Irenic”, contemporary personal and social issues are both title and the work of art.
ENCOMPASS – new Artist Book 2021
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ENCOMPASS
Artist book
By Birgit Verwer
Limited edition of 100
ISBN: 9 789 090 352 404
- Language: English
- Risograph printed cover on ecoFIBRE metapaper
- Pamphlet stitched
- 48 pages on wood-free, acid-free and chlorine-free produced paper
New art installation ‘Viriditas’ at Big Art 2021 exhibition (09/30 – 10/03)
New art installation ‘Viriditas’ exhibited at the 2021 edition of Big Art. Viriditas was on view at a unique location with monumental industrial buildings at the Hembrug in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. A former ammunition factory hall is the backdrop for XL and XXL contemporary artworks.
Thursday September 30 – Sunday October 3
Check BIGART.NU for more info…
Viriditas, 2021
When it comes to our host, planet earth, do you believe that you are being a good guest? Like all other living organisms we are programmed for two things only; perpetuate the indivdual and perpetuate the species. We also know that our brain can’t handle and oversee a timespan of more than 70 years. Is our programmed brain capable to act on the global issues that can no longer be ignored?
Three designclassic chairs turned into rocking chairs that invite you to take a seat. Do we still have time for that or should we make time? Do we soothe our souls or allow ourselves to think about what is really being asked of us?
‘Viriditas’ is a reminder of the importance of our connection to nature and comes from the Latin words for ‘GREEN’ and ‘TRUTH’. (Hildegard von Bingen, 12th century AD)
click image to see more