22 may 2023, Wouter van den Eijkel
Through Bone and Marrow
The Dutch proverb ‘through the marrow and bone’ refers to an experience that stays with you. That is precisely the intention of Through Bone and Marrow, a group exhibition by curator Maarten Spruyt that pokes into the open wounds of our time and kicks off a new aesthetic that accommodates decay and discomfort. Through Bone and Marrow is an ominous total experience of sculptures and sound art that is experienced alone.
The Rotterdam-based project space Brutus describes itself as an artist-driven playground. “A place where art can be seen that confronts, disrupts and stimulates. Work by major names is interspersed with yet-undiscovered talent and all art disciplines are covered, from sculpture to performance and from drawing to video.” In this respect, Through Bone and Marrow hits the bull's eye, because the group exhibition that Maarten Spruyt put together with work by 20 artists – a good mix of established names and upcoming talent – is just that: stimulating and confronting. Through Bone and Marrow is definitely not a feel-good show, but one that gets under your skin, forcing you to think about the state of the planet and how we interact with the world around us. It's a wake-up call with soft alarm bells.
Mirte van Laarhoven, Immersive Creatures
A new aesthetic
Through Bone and Marrow is about new or alternative connections between humans and nature and humans and technology. “We live in a changing world and that will affect us for a while,” says Spruyt over the phone. The exhibition can be interpreted as a search for a new aesthetic that accommodates discomfort, imperfection and the beauty of decay. This new aesthetic is mainly found in mixed forms that combine techniques and media. In Maartje Korstanje's sculptures, for example, insects, fossils and flora flow seamlessly into one another, while Vladimir Zbynovsky brings stone to life by intimately combining the material with glass, and Jan Eric Visser incorporates his own waste into his work.
The beauty of decay is perfectly supported by the spaces at Brutus, where it is cold and dark and the paint is peeling from the high walls. As a visitor, you wander through the exhibition on your one, making Through Bone and Marrow an overwhelming sensory experience that makes us rethink our relationship with technology and nature, while providing the occasional bright spots. The show takes up most of Brutus' 6000 m2 of space and although the artists make the most diverse work, it feels like a whole. The latter is the merit of curator Maarten Spruyt, who constructs his exhibitions as associative stories in which atmosphere plays the leading role. “I am good at telling a bigger story, spinning a bigger web around something, thereby creating a bigger work of art.”
Spruyt made a name for himself as curator of exhibitions at the Van Gogh Museum and Centraal Museum and has been curating the annual fashion exhibition at the Kunstmuseum in The Hague since 2006. In 2020, he curated the exhibition Chapter 3Hree at HEM. “Chapter 3Hree could only be seen for a short time due to the lockdowns, but one of the people I showed around was Joep van Lieshout (the driving force behind Brutus, ed.). Through Bone and Marrow basically builds on Chapter 3Hree.”
Zimoun, 2017
A single organism
The title of the exhibition was not chosen randomly and Through Bone and Marrow feels like a single organism to visitors, a vertebrate organism in the form of four installations specially created for the exhibition by Zimoun, Maarten Vanden Eynde, Frank Bruggeman and Mirte van Laarhoven. “An open nerve has pain points, which is why vertebrae are needed,” explains Spruyt. aldus Spruyt.
Ossip, 28-4-2017 kriek, 2018, Galerie Ramakers
The show also features an excellent mix of household names and up-and-coming talent. An established name like Ossip shows his full potential in an installation. “Ossip is a very sensitive man and that is also reflected in his work. It’s not just gloomy, but that only becomes clear once his work is part of an installation.”
The installation Sick of the Wires by young artist Quintus Glerum is also on display. Glerum's work was added to the exhibition along with that of three others after Spruyt had seen it in The New Current during Rotterdam Art Week. “I wasn't able to take all of Chapter 3hree's work with me, but these artists' work blend seamlessly with the new aesthetic.” In Sick of the Wires, we see a skeleton of a hand – controlled by computers – tapping with boredom on a table. Glerum understands why his work was added. “At the various school desks, I reflect on my learning curve as a maker and show my frustrations with technology, but as an extension of this, it is also about the space that technology occupies in our lives and in society. That aligns well with the theme of the exhibition.”
Quintus Glerum, Sick Of The Wires, electronic installation consisting of four desks, robotics, electronics
Through Bone and Marrow can be seen at Brutus in Rotterdam until 25 June.
For visitor information, visit brutus.nl
