Jeanneworks, Typologies & Capacities

Works, Typologies and Capacities

Neue Geschelshaft Bildende Kunst, Berlin, Jan 2004

Duration: 01.05.2004 - 13.06.2004, 17.11.2007-01.04.08
Location: Neue Geschelshaft Bildende Kunst, Berlin, De Paviljoens, Almere
Participants: 5
Visitors: people who visited the exhibitions
Number of Events: 2

The exhibition 'Tätig Sein', held at Berlin's New Society for Fine Arts (NGBK), focused on changes in our working environment and therefore also our daily life as a result of forced capitalization. Whatever we do, we do it under the aspect of its utilization. This statement implied that economic action was more and more driven by the logic of the market, which is described in traditional economics as external economy. Insofar as this also concerns art, it is no surprise that it strongly incorporates this theme. In particular, as a background, the Bohemian ideal of certain and not alienated work - in essence a counter-model for the capitalistic principle of the division of labour - is just confirmed as standard.

For this exhibition Van Heeswijk took a closer look into the working relationships underlying the various projects. Works 1993-2004, Typologies and Capacities (2004) constructs a map illustrating these relationships among participants in her projects over a period of twelve years. For her this was the first step into the process of reflection on the way her work comes into being and the networks it generates. The map created by Maurits de Bruijn can be read as a biography, showing the diversity of her themes and the people involved. It has three parameters: the project, the duration of the project, and the number of people or institutions involved in the project. Connections between projects and the people/institutions are colour- coded to represent the capacity or capacities a participant brought to a project. The typologies of participants, such as artist, writer, community worker, are each assigned a specific type of potato - totalling twenty-six different kinds of potatoes, each with its own unique qualities. The potatoes bear names like Picasso, Fabula, Berber and had qualities like 'strong-mindedness', taste ranges like 'story' and 'grown abroad' (Morocco). For this model twenty-six potato varieties refer to the knowledge and skills of the people involved. Besides a graphic map there was also a three-dimensional potato model. The coloured connections showed the work each individual performed. During the exhibition the work changed: under the effect of time, air and moisture the potatoes sprouted and started to develop their own network. The index and the map formed the starting point of the website www.jeanneworks.net (also designed by Maurits de Bruijn), released in its current form in February 2006.

related blogposts