For the series of wooden sculptures Geest (2023), Lunenburg takes inspiration from historical timber construction techniques (‘vakwerkbouw’). The woven membrane of these houses is full of incantations and signs, such as the ‘donderbezem’, intended to protect residents against storms or lightning strikes, diseases, spirits like ‘the Witte Wieven’ and other ghost-like beings. In ’Geest’, Lunenburg plays with the woven quality of this architecture and prompts questions about the tension between protection and exclusion conveyed by these folk symbols.
In Warding Window and Geest, Lunenburg explores the windows, doors, roofs, and walls of historical rural architecture. Through sculptures, photographs, and drawings, he delves into themes of power and superstition that linger in the shadows of these architectural elements. His inspiration stems from Anglo-Saxon and Viking farmhouses, with a focus on the transition between interior space and the outside world.
Within his multidisciplinary art practice, Bart Lunenburg (b. 1995, NL) researches themes related to architecture and its history, urban design, and architectural heritage. The artist approaches buildings and cities as if they had a memory of their own. Lunenburg works with photography and video as well as with sculpture, drawing, and spatial installations. Usually, these different modes of expression have a similar starting point — he often creates scale models to develop his research.
Bart Lunenburg graduated in photography from the HKU in 2017, and his work received attention both in the Netherlands and abroad. In 2022, Lunenburg is exhibited in group shows at Atelier NŌUA (Bodø, NO), Kunsthal KAdE (Amersfoort, NL) and Museum Catharijneconvent (Utrecht, NL) and with a solo presentation at Buitenplaats Doornburgh (Maarssen, NL). Past presentations include FOTODOK / Casco Art Institute (Utrecht, NL), Garage Rotterdam (Rotterdam, NL); Fotografiska (Stockholm, SE); R SPACE (Ljubljana, SL); Museum Flehite (Amersfoort, NL), P/////AKT (Amsterdam, NL); Prospects at Art Rotterdam; and Unseen Photography fair. In 2018 he was nominated for the KF Hein Stipendium, and in 2021 — for the Foam Paul Huf Award. His work is in the collections at a.o. AMC, BPD, Ekard Collection, Reyn van der Lugt, Stichting StrandLinks and various private collections.