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26 march 2024, Flor Linckens

Between art and artificial intelligence: the humanoids of Hans van der Ham

Facing Humanoids, Galerie Stigter Van Doesburg

Until 13 April, Galerie Stigter Van Doesburg in Amsterdam is presenting a solo exhibition of Hans van der Ham titled ‘Facing Humanoids’. In this exhibition, the Dutch painter, sculptor, curator and pianist delves into what it means to be human in an era where we ourselves are becoming increasingly humanoid.

Van der Ham was born in Eindhoven in 1960. He initially studied classical piano at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and the Utrecht Conservatory, followed by degree at the Rotterdam Academy of Fine Arts (which is now the Willem de Kooning Academy) with a focus on painting. After that, he was primarily active as a sculptor and curator for several decades. Together with a patron from Rotterdam, he founded Garage Rotterdam, where he worked as a curator and artistic director until 2015. During this period, he also continued to create works on paper, using gouache or ink. Starting from 2010, he gradually returned to painting, although he did not exhibit his work in the first few years.

Hans van der Ham, The secret in the old barn, 2024, Galerie Stigter Van Doesburg

In a 2015 interview with Ernest van der Kwast, the artist likened the painting process to retrieving a dream that still vaguely resides in the back of your mind.

Van der Ham: “On the flat surface, within that rectangle, you can evoke an entire world. I start off with a smooth layer to get rid of the white base. That’s a kind of fear I've then overcome (laughs), and then I add some colour that could form a background. That already suggests some kind of world. Then something happens, and [the process] enters a subconscious level. Something appears, a potential starting point, but almost never in a literal way. That would mean it comes from a place of reason, and that’s exactly what I don’t want, because then you’d end up with an illustration of an idea. If it doesn’t relate to reality, then it connects more to your inner self.”

Hans van der Ham, Untitled, 2022, Galerie Stigter Van Doesburg

The mysterious paintings of Van der Ham rarely reveal themselves directly. The artist's practice is nourished by various influences, including literature and (art) history. In 2018, he curated an exhibition for Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam. In ‘ANIMA MUNDI’, he explored our tendency to attribute human qualities to inanimate objects in contemporary society, by which we are effectively animating these objects. Van der Ham emphasised that this inclination is not unique to the present and he drew parallels with the Ancient Greeks, Renaissance thinkers, and tribal communities, who often had spiritual or emotional reasons for this. At the same time, he relates this tendency to changes in how we view matter in a period marked by technological transformation in the form of robotics and artificial intelligence.

In the ‘Facing Humanoids’ exhibition, currently on view at Galerie Stigter Van Doesburg, Van der Ham continues to explore this theme, focusing on the blurring boundaries between humans and humanoid robots. These paintings invite viewers to ponder what it means to be human in a time when we ourselves are becoming increasingly humanoid — through the use of smartphones and, if Elon Musk has his way, implanted Neuralink brain chips.

Van der Ham’s work has been included in the collections of the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, AkzoNobel, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Museum Beelden aan Zee, the Royal Library, Rabobank and KPMG. Van der Ham has also created several sculptures for public spaces, such as the piece unveiled in 2022 at the corner of Mathenesserlaan and Breitnerstraat in Rotterdam. Later this year, his first monograph will be released by Jap Sam Books.

The ‘Facing Humanoids’ exhibition by Hans van der Ham will be on display at Galerie Stigter Van Doesburg in Amsterdam until 13 April 2024.

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Flor Linckens

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26 march 2024, Flor Linckens

Between art and artificial intelligence: the humanoids of Hans van der Ham

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