Three artists involved in the Carlton Arms Hotel residency program, have currently collaborated in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Opening for the site-specific installation will take place Friday, February 24th, 6-11PM.
UNTOUCHED – in search of a primal sense of being
February 24th – March 25th, open Saturdays 3 – 6 PM or by appointment.
Opening reception: Friday, February 24th / 6 – 11PM
Bloklandstraat 190, Rotterdam, NL
Untouched is a site-specific installation by set designer Marijke Brinkhof (Rotterdam) and interdisciplinary artist Alex Wolkowicz (New York), featuring drawings by Jon Barraclough (Liverpool).
Commissioned by Stad in de Maak, an association that has been set up to take on the redevelopment of vacant properties in Rotterdam, the intervention takes place in an empty apartment in the north of the city.
Inspired by romanticism in literature and art of the19th Century, the artists use common household materials and objects to transform the ground floor apartment of a 1950’s building into an environment that evokes the feeling of being alone – possibly with a loved one – in a place once abandoned, in communion with nature. The work also explores feelings of childhood wonder and forbidden play amongst lines of freshly washed laundry, of hiding under blankets and dreams of discovering uncharted territory.
Working with texture, sound and lighting, the artists reflect on what it means to be in touch with the natural world in an attempt to bring nature back home… Adding another voice to their collective exploration, the artists invited Jon Barraclough to add site-specific drawings as a prelude to the environment.
Brinkhof and Wolkowicz became aware how their intervention with the structure of the space – it’s walls, floors and windows reflect nature’s destructive, restorative, nurturing and all consuming forces. The process sparked the realisation that any attempt at escapism brings us back to ourselves. We leave a mark, subtle to severe, simply by existing.
The drawings
It’s unusual to see large scale works in such a confined space as a corridor. But this constraint offers a special kind of circumstance that defies being able to take the long view. Jon’s drawings are organic and in a state of growth and movement that references both cellular and visceral manifestation. The subject enters the corridor through an opaque window then morphs and undulates with life once inside.
Marijke Brinkhof created room 14B at the hotel in 2015. She have recently spent some time renovating the room and adding new features.
Alex Wolkowicz created room 8D in 2012.
Jon Barraclough, room 2D / 2014.
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