In 2014 Outset Netherlands supported the production of new works for four solo exhibitions in the series Perpetual Precedents at P/////AKT Amsterdam. The series is aimed at developing new Outset-supported works for four one-month exhibitions, all revolving around the concept of materiality as value. For this series artists Daniel Vom Keller, Ingmar König, Paul Geelen and Astrid Mingels were invited to create new works for an exhibition. These artists share an investigating approach towards the use, re-use and appropriation of materials, textures and structures, leading to a new understanding of material and context. They are all in some way questioning the material they work with.
The first exhibition in this series was by Daniel Vom Keller (1987, Münsterlingen, Germany) who graduated from the Rietveld Academy in 2012, and lives in Amsterdam and Zurich. Vom Kellers’ works frequently refer to architectural elements and materials, although extracted from their original context mainly seem to question their appearance. For his exhibition Rear Views he produced a new series of works that make full use of the space and have resulted in a room-filling installation, distinguished by a fair amount of absurdity and a sensible approach to the tactility of its subjects.
ON VIEW: 18th January – 16th February 2014
Ingmar König (1988) presented his work in the solo exhibition Detourist. With his constellations König brings together various ingredients in new ways, disrupting established correlations between medium and message. König encompasses a scientific vision with a playful attitude, resulting in visible renderings of his thinking process. He deliberately chooses to show his works in a seemingly narrative way, often referring to cinema and theatre: a story for those who are looking for a story, but one that is disrupted and taken apart in fragments.
ON VIEW: 8th March – 6th April 2014
For his exhibition Æon Flux Paul Geelen (1983, Weert, Netherlands) has built a construction that allowed water from the canal at the back of P/////AKT to enter the space to a few tanks and aquariums. The themes Geelen addresses are timeless and universal: how things affect each other and change, how one single act or thought gives birth to another. As a result his work never seems to be quite finished, but only to have come to a temporary stand still when presented in public. Another aspect of his work involves an investigation in how people respond when confronted with something unexpected or out of place. For example by constructing a fake elevator in a space where it makes no sense at all (only to find out that most people simply accept it and even spend time waiting for the elevator to arrive and the doors to slide open).
ON VIEW: 25th April – 24th May 2014
The works in Astrid Mingels’ exhibition Unfixed Exchange function within the system of speculative currency. Her practice consists of an investigation of objects and utensils surrounding her and their value. By bringing together seemingly unrelated objects, she associatively looks for meaning by creating a certain order. By combining objects and materials she aims for an outcome of more than the mere sum of their parts, and attempts to add a surplus value, thereby employing the rhetoric of the economic system and its marketing tools.
ON VIEW: 14th June – 13th July 2014
