A space that creates space. A space in which two forms of art meet and create a symbiose. The combination of image (Martijn Duifhuizen) and sound (Kees Wisse) creates space. Space in which you may be yourself, space cut off from the world, where you feel safe and in which you are followed by silence. Everyone will experience the space differently and will evoke different emotions. For me the experience was an encounter. A real encounter with Alexandra de Breejen. On March the 17th I started as curator of the Symposion in Gorinchem 2015 where I collaborated closely with Alexandra. However we had no time for a real encounter until now, although we worked so hard. Due to the space the silence was automatically filled with energy, new energy to continue during the hectic of the Symposion.
– Menna Kruiswijk, curator Sympsion Gorinchem 2015 –
Speech curator Menna Kruiswijk, Saturday 6 June 2015, Grote Kerk Gorinchem
icon - h 30 cm × w 25 cm - velvet, gold leaf 23,75 carat on powder coated stainless steel
no title - h 80 cm × w 80 cm x d 4 cm - acryl and velvet on powder coated stainless steel
the last supper - velvet and pure gold 24 carat on powder coated stainless steel
Contemplation is a word where many people imagine things and try to keep up with them. A lot of artists have been fascinated by this phenomenon over the centuries. Also Kees Wisse has been inspired by this in his composition 'Sei still mein Herz'. Together with us he enters a space where time, distance and movement examine and describe this miraculous phenomenon in a beautiful, spiritual dance. Horns close by and far away remind us of dimensions the heart is longing for and the organ invites us, quietly and breathing confidentially, to loosen us from all the templates and preconceptions. 'Contemplation as a friend, contemplation as a host'.
- Egmont Swaan, composer, Amsterdam -
Often the abstract minimalistic art works of Martijn Duifhuizen force you to contemplate. At a first glimpse many people will think: 'What is this? I don’t see anything!' Others are touched instantly by the powerful austerity that makes you contemplate it. When you take your time, you will discover how Martijn’s work will excite your spirit: contrasts, movements, searching for a balance and contemplation getting visible and tangible. From your own reference framework the associations arise. Always there is serenity. Tranquility that confronts you with you as a being and your environment. Sei still mein Herz…
- Dick Bouwma, owner gallery 9, Amsterdam -
In 1915 Kazimir Malevitsj (1879-1935) exhibited in St. Petersburg his revolutionary painting Black Square. In Russia it hung on the place where the icons traditonally were hung: at the upper corner of the space. The Black Square is in Malevitsj in white. With the white he indicated 'the nothing, 'the infinite', 'the white cosmic space'. He saw black as a window of the infinite space, a transition of the tangible world into the non-tangible world.
Icons are called windows of the heaven. The Black Square and the Holy Supper have the same impact on Martijn Duifhuizen. The focus is being changed and you enter a new dimension, a preludium. It makes you longing for the piece of music...
The last Supper is a classic theme in art history. Martijn has reduced the entity to an abstract essence in fields of black and gold. At first glance the nuance seems gone. Black and gold, nothing else. But it is precisely the light absorbing effect of the black and the frame with the light reflecting pure gold that creates an impressive variation. No field is the same.
