Frank Havermans
Jasper Van Den Brink
Paul Van Rijswijk
Pia Wergius

BEST BEFORE…/ TENMINSTE HOUDBAAR TOT:
10.16–11.22.2003
Gallery

Occupying both our gallery spaces, the exhibit Best Before… brings together the work of four young Dutch artists, Frank Havermans, Jasper Van Den Brink, Paul Van Rijswijk et Pia Wergius, who were invited for a CLARK residency as part of an exchange with the De Overslag centre in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

As Mark Niessen, coordinator and curator of the De Overslag Centre said: To begin with, the title Best Before… refers to works created in situ. The fundamental ideas of temporality and “perishableness” as a universal concept have always been a source of inspiration for artists. The artists of today work in a society where time is being divided into ever-smaller fragments. The world of today demands, at an always-increasing speed, new ideas, new developments and new work.

Today will not keep until tomorrow…

For these artists – interested in contextual practices – whether through installation, urban intervention, actions or video, the experience of “elsewhere” becomes inspirational material and an opportunity to interrogate our relationship to the other. It should be noted that this exhibit is the second phase of a reciprocal project. Last June, De Overslag hosted the artists Catherine Bolduc, Patrice Duhamel, Paul Litherland and Eric Lamontagne.

The direction of De Overslag is determined by intuition; it does not stick to any simple, clear-cut concept. Its policy and programs arise from reflection and the exchange of ideas generated by these basic questions: what is art – or rather – what should it be? This direction is illustrated by the diversity of projects shown at De Overslag since it was founded in 1996. The exchanges about the possibilities and forms of the visual arts, the way choices are made, the kind of projects realized, the work and ideas of the artists involved, all of these contribute to the open nature of De Overslag.

M.N./NdeB. translated by PduB.