A carefully framed, fictitious situation which is, however convincingly real, is Edwin Zwakman’s answer to the over-whelming stream of images inundating us every day and simulating (as with the CNN broadcasts of the Gulf War) a reality which more often than not, proves to be a lie. Zwakman, on the contrary, resorts to tricks and fabricates lies in order to tell uncomfortable truths. Although power and authority are barely suggested here, and only subtly represented trough their stereotypes, the effect is all the more powerful. For these stereotypes are omnipresent and have been etched deep in our collective memory. Juxtaposing them with each other in contradictory settings, Zwakman awakens hitherto un-defined, yet somehow familiar anxieties, as it were, from the interstice between one image and another, as though through cracks opening op to vision of a veritable abyss.
Selected shows by Edwin Zwakman (1969, The Hague, the Netherlands) are: Modelled Nature in Contemporary Photography (2019) Kallmann-Museum, Ismaning, DE, Ludwig Galerie, Saarlouis, DE & Stadtgalerie Kiel, DE; Reality is not a Place, Neues Museum, Nürnberg, DE (2018); Light Box, Kunstmuseum Celle mit Sammlung Robert Simon, Celle, DE (2018); Het trage lage Land, Museum MORE Gorssel, NL (2018); Time Space Architecture, Cityscape Amsterdam, NL (2017); Step into my Office, Gimpel Fils Gallery London, UK (2016); A Gathering: Memory and Reconstruction, Pujiang Overseas Chinese Town Ten-years Public Art Project Shanghai, CN (2016); A Place to be, Kunstfort Vijfhuizen, NL (2015); Reality is not a place, AKINCI, NL (2014), Las lágrimas de las cosas, Centro des Artes Visuales Fundación Helga de Alvear, Cáceres, ES (2014); Vanished Boundaries, OCT Art Museum, Shanghai (with Liu Jianhua, curated by Zhuang Huan 2011); HUG, Theater in Motion,Beijing (2009); Fake but Accurate, Huis Marseille, Amsterdam(2008); Iconic Target, Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen (2007); Maison Européenne de la Photographie Paris, France (2006); Fake but Accurate, Gimpel Fils Gallery, London (2005); Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, Schiedam (2003); Centraal Museum, Utrecht (2002); Taipei Biennial (2002) and more.
Selected shows by Edwin Zwakman (1969, The Hague, the Netherlands) are: Modelled Nature in Contemporary Photography (2019) Kallmann-Museum, Ismaning, DE, Ludwig Galerie, Saarlouis, DE & Stadtgalerie Kiel, DE; Reality is not a Place, Neues Museum, Nürnberg, DE (2018); Light Box, Kunstmuseum Celle mit Sammlung Robert Simon, Celle, DE (2018); Het trage lage Land, Museum MORE Gorssel, NL (2018); Time Space Architecture, Cityscape Amsterdam, NL (2017); Step into my Office, Gimpel Fils Gallery London, UK (2016); A Gathering: Memory and Reconstruction, Pujiang Overseas Chinese Town Ten-years Public Art Project Shanghai, CN (2016); A Place to be, Kunstfort Vijfhuizen, NL (2015); Reality is not a place, AKINCI, NL (2014), Las lágrimas de las cosas, Centro des Artes Visuales Fundación Helga de Alvear, Cáceres, ES (2014); Vanished Boundaries, OCT Art Museum, Shanghai (with Liu Jianhua, curated by Zhuang Huan 2011); HUG, Theater in Motion,Beijing (2009); Fake but Accurate, Huis Marseille, Amsterdam(2008); Iconic Target, Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen (2007); Maison Européenne de la Photographie Paris, France (2006); Fake but Accurate, Gimpel Fils Gallery, London (2005); Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, Schiedam (2003); Centraal Museum, Utrecht (2002); Taipei Biennial (2002) and more.
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Tree Hugger Shanghai China 2010
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About
De keuze van... Otto Nan
'' Edwin Zwakman's photos look like images that you often see in everyday life, but are actually too boring to watch with attention. But when you look better, a world opens up at Zwakman: is it real, am I right? And does that only apply to this work of art or also when I walk through the city? "
Otto Nan
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Edwin Zwakman (1969, The Hague, the Netherlands) is currently showing his works in ‘Model’ at Rudolfium in Prague, with a.o. Thomas Demand, Lorenz Estermann, Antony Gormley, Thomas Schütte, Rachel Whiteread. Selected shows are: Reality is not a place, AKINCI (2014), Las lágrimas de las cosas, Centro des Artes Visuales Fundación Helga de Alvear, Cáceres, Spain (2014); Vanished Boundaries, OCT Art Museum, Shanghai (with Liu Jianhua, curated by Zhuang Huan 2011); HUG, Theater in Motion,Beijing (2009); Fake but Accurate, Huis Marseille, Amsterdam(2008); Iconic Target, Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen (2007); Maison Européenne de la Photographie Paris, France (2006); Fake but Accurate, Gimpel Fils Gallery, London (2005); Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, Schiedam (2003); Centraal Museum, Utrecht (2002); Taipei Biennial (2002) and more.
CV
18 October 1969, The Hague (NL)
1989–1993
Academie van Beeldende Kunsten,
Rotterdam
1992
Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main
1996–1997
Rijksakademie, Amsterdam
Solo Exhibitions
1997
Stedelijk Museum Bureau
Amsterdam, Amsterdam
1998
Galerie Akinci, Amsterdam
Spencer Brownstone Gallery,
New York
Förderkoje, Galerie Akinci, Art
Cologne, Cologne
1999
Ways of Worldmaking, Shed im
Eisenwerk, Zürich
Façades, Stedelijk Van Abbe
Museum, Eindhoven
2000
Under Construction, Gimpel Fils
Gallery, London
2001
De Paviljoens, Almere
2002
Woning, Centraal Museum, Utrecht
Crown Gallery, Brussels
Birner & Wittmann Galerie,
Nürnberg
Higashikawa Gallery, Hokkaido
2003
Stedelijk Museum Schiedam,
Schiedam
2004
My Backyard, Galerie Akinci,
Amsterdam
2005
Fake but Accurate, Gimpel Fils
Gallery, London
2007
Iconic Target, Ludwig Forum für
Internationale Kunst, Aachen
Tales from the Grid, travelling
exhibition organised by Q-Arts,
Derby
2008
Fake but Accurate, Huis Marseille,
Museum for Photography,
Amsterdam
Group exhibitions (selection)
1997
Fetishimage, Witte de With Center
for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam
(No)vacancies, Project in the public space / Myyrmäki Art Center,
Helsinki
Framed Area, Public Space,
Hoofddorp/Schiphol
1998
Dutch Photography 1850–1998,
House of Photography, Maly
Manezh, Moscow
1999
Insight-Out, Kunstraum Innsbruck
/ Kunsthaus Hamburg / Kunsthaus
Baselland
Aufnahmen, Österreichische
Galerie Belvedere, Vienna
Near and Elsewhere, The
Photographers’ Gallery, London
Play it again, Luzerner
Ausstellungsraum, Luzern
2000
Anywhere But Here, Artists Space,
New York
Still/Moving, Museum of Modern
Art, Kyoto
Home is where the heArt is,
Museum van Loon, Amsterdam
360º Köln, Public Space, Cologne
Bäckström, Hoch, Zwakman, Rena
Brandsten Gallery, San Francisco
Modell, Modell, Public Space/
Neuer Aachener Kunstverein,
Aachen
City Index, Kunst Haus Dresden,
Dresden
2001
The Peoples Art / A Arte do Povo:
20 Dutch Artists, Centra Eléctrica
do Freixo, Porto
Post-Nature, 49th Venice Biennial
Taking Care, SMART Project Space,
Amsterdam
Ways of Worldmaking, Mücsarnok,
Budapest
Constructed Realities, Grand Arts,
Kansas City / Gallery Helga de
Alvear, Madrid
2002
Moving Landscapes, Sala Uno,
Rome
True Fictions, Schloss Arolsen,
München/Ludwig Forum für
Internationale Kunst, Aachen
Raum Sichten, Architekturmuseum,
Basel
Say Hello, Wave Goodbye, Gallerie
Hohenlohe & Kalb, Vienna
Premio del Golfo Biennale,
La Spezia
Life in a Glass House, Stedelijk
Museum, Amsterdam
Great Theatre of the World,
Third Taipei Biennial, Museum of
Fine Arts, Taipei
Digital Art Lab, Holon, Jerusalem
Biennial
2003
Arkitektura Eszentrikoak, Koldo
Mitxelena Kulturunea, San
Sebastian/Donostia
Post-Nature, Istituto Tommy
Othake, São Paolo
Sightseeing, 4th Austrian Triennal
on Photography, Public Space, Graz
Architectural Allusions (with
Callum Morton), Gimpel Fils
Gallery, London
Space Between Us, Public Space/
Vane, Newcastle upon Tyne
2004
Olandu biuras – Contemporary Art
Projects from The Netherlands,
Episode 6 of ‘Who if not we…?’,
CAC Contemporary Art Center,
Vilnius
Contemporary Visions, Wäinö
Aaltonen Museum of Art, Turku
Living – Part I LAT (Living Apart
Together), ODApark, Venray
To find a house, SeARCH,
Amsterdam
Secrets of the 90’s, Museum of
Modern Art, Arnhem
Take Five! Huis Marseille Turns
Five, Huis Marseille, Museum for
Photography, Amsterdam
Safety and Peace! Order and
Freedom!, Moderna Galerija,
Ljubljana
2005
Slow Art – Dutch and Flemish
Contemporary Art, Museum Kunst
Palast, Düsseldorf
Traveling without Moving, Trafo,
Budapest
Constructed Moment, KW 14,
Den Bosch
Post_modellismus, Gallerie
Krinzinger, Vienna
Voisins officiels, Musée d’Art
Moderne Lille Métropole,
Villeneuve d’Ascq
2006
L’Esprit du Nord, Maison
Européenne de la Photographie,
Paris
NowHere Europe – Trans:it. Moving
Culture Through Europe, National
Museum of Contemporary Art
(MNAC), Bucharest
Post-Modelism, Bergen Kunsthall,
Bergen
Such Spaces as Memory,
Zentralbüro, Berlin
Different Realities?, Crown Gallery,
Brussels
2007
Spectacular City, NAi Netherlands
Architecture Institute, Rotterdam /
NRW-Forum, Düsseldorf
Las partes y el todo. Colección H+F,
Fondació Foto Colectania,
Barcelona / Bancaja, Valencia
Contour / Continuïteit, Heden en
verleden, Stedelijk Museum
Het Prinsenhof, Delft
Berlin_NL, Ambasade van het
Koninkrijk der Nederlanden
(Dutch Embassy Berlin), Berlin
2008
Nature as Artifice, Kröller-Müller
Museum, Otterlo / Pinakothek der
Moderne, München / George
Eastman House, Rochester (NY)
Awards/Stipends
1994
Förderpreis NRW, Düsseldorf
Startstipendium (Incentive Grant),
Fonds voor beeldende kunsten,
vormgeving en bouwkunst,
Amsterdam, 1994
1997
Jan van Heel Prize, Den Haag
1998 Aanmoedigingsprijs (Incentive
Prize), Amsterdams Fonds voor de
Kunst
1999/2001
Werkbeurs (Basic Grant),
Fonds voor beeldende kunsten,
vormgeving en bouwkunst,
Amsterdam
2000
Charlotte Köhler Prize, Amsterdam
2002
Higashikawa Overseas
Photographers Prize, Hokkaido
Premio del Golfo, Biennale la
Spezia
2005 Leverhulme Fellowship, University
of Derby, 2005
1989–1993
Academie van Beeldende Kunsten,
Rotterdam
1992
Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main
1996–1997
Rijksakademie, Amsterdam
Solo Exhibitions
1997
Stedelijk Museum Bureau
Amsterdam, Amsterdam
1998
Galerie Akinci, Amsterdam
Spencer Brownstone Gallery,
New York
Förderkoje, Galerie Akinci, Art
Cologne, Cologne
1999
Ways of Worldmaking, Shed im
Eisenwerk, Zürich
Façades, Stedelijk Van Abbe
Museum, Eindhoven
2000
Under Construction, Gimpel Fils
Gallery, London
2001
De Paviljoens, Almere
2002
Woning, Centraal Museum, Utrecht
Crown Gallery, Brussels
Birner & Wittmann Galerie,
Nürnberg
Higashikawa Gallery, Hokkaido
2003
Stedelijk Museum Schiedam,
Schiedam
2004
My Backyard, Galerie Akinci,
Amsterdam
2005
Fake but Accurate, Gimpel Fils
Gallery, London
2007
Iconic Target, Ludwig Forum für
Internationale Kunst, Aachen
Tales from the Grid, travelling
exhibition organised by Q-Arts,
Derby
2008
Fake but Accurate, Huis Marseille,
Museum for Photography,
Amsterdam
Group exhibitions (selection)
1997
Fetishimage, Witte de With Center
for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam
(No)vacancies, Project in the public space / Myyrmäki Art Center,
Helsinki
Framed Area, Public Space,
Hoofddorp/Schiphol
1998
Dutch Photography 1850–1998,
House of Photography, Maly
Manezh, Moscow
1999
Insight-Out, Kunstraum Innsbruck
/ Kunsthaus Hamburg / Kunsthaus
Baselland
Aufnahmen, Österreichische
Galerie Belvedere, Vienna
Near and Elsewhere, The
Photographers’ Gallery, London
Play it again, Luzerner
Ausstellungsraum, Luzern
2000
Anywhere But Here, Artists Space,
New York
Still/Moving, Museum of Modern
Art, Kyoto
Home is where the heArt is,
Museum van Loon, Amsterdam
360º Köln, Public Space, Cologne
Bäckström, Hoch, Zwakman, Rena
Brandsten Gallery, San Francisco
Modell, Modell, Public Space/
Neuer Aachener Kunstverein,
Aachen
City Index, Kunst Haus Dresden,
Dresden
2001
The Peoples Art / A Arte do Povo:
20 Dutch Artists, Centra Eléctrica
do Freixo, Porto
Post-Nature, 49th Venice Biennial
Taking Care, SMART Project Space,
Amsterdam
Ways of Worldmaking, Mücsarnok,
Budapest
Constructed Realities, Grand Arts,
Kansas City / Gallery Helga de
Alvear, Madrid
2002
Moving Landscapes, Sala Uno,
Rome
True Fictions, Schloss Arolsen,
München/Ludwig Forum für
Internationale Kunst, Aachen
Raum Sichten, Architekturmuseum,
Basel
Say Hello, Wave Goodbye, Gallerie
Hohenlohe & Kalb, Vienna
Premio del Golfo Biennale,
La Spezia
Life in a Glass House, Stedelijk
Museum, Amsterdam
Great Theatre of the World,
Third Taipei Biennial, Museum of
Fine Arts, Taipei
Digital Art Lab, Holon, Jerusalem
Biennial
2003
Arkitektura Eszentrikoak, Koldo
Mitxelena Kulturunea, San
Sebastian/Donostia
Post-Nature, Istituto Tommy
Othake, São Paolo
Sightseeing, 4th Austrian Triennal
on Photography, Public Space, Graz
Architectural Allusions (with
Callum Morton), Gimpel Fils
Gallery, London
Space Between Us, Public Space/
Vane, Newcastle upon Tyne
2004
Olandu biuras – Contemporary Art
Projects from The Netherlands,
Episode 6 of ‘Who if not we…?’,
CAC Contemporary Art Center,
Vilnius
Contemporary Visions, Wäinö
Aaltonen Museum of Art, Turku
Living – Part I LAT (Living Apart
Together), ODApark, Venray
To find a house, SeARCH,
Amsterdam
Secrets of the 90’s, Museum of
Modern Art, Arnhem
Take Five! Huis Marseille Turns
Five, Huis Marseille, Museum for
Photography, Amsterdam
Safety and Peace! Order and
Freedom!, Moderna Galerija,
Ljubljana
2005
Slow Art – Dutch and Flemish
Contemporary Art, Museum Kunst
Palast, Düsseldorf
Traveling without Moving, Trafo,
Budapest
Constructed Moment, KW 14,
Den Bosch
Post_modellismus, Gallerie
Krinzinger, Vienna
Voisins officiels, Musée d’Art
Moderne Lille Métropole,
Villeneuve d’Ascq
2006
L’Esprit du Nord, Maison
Européenne de la Photographie,
Paris
NowHere Europe – Trans:it. Moving
Culture Through Europe, National
Museum of Contemporary Art
(MNAC), Bucharest
Post-Modelism, Bergen Kunsthall,
Bergen
Such Spaces as Memory,
Zentralbüro, Berlin
Different Realities?, Crown Gallery,
Brussels
2007
Spectacular City, NAi Netherlands
Architecture Institute, Rotterdam /
NRW-Forum, Düsseldorf
Las partes y el todo. Colección H+F,
Fondació Foto Colectania,
Barcelona / Bancaja, Valencia
Contour / Continuïteit, Heden en
verleden, Stedelijk Museum
Het Prinsenhof, Delft
Berlin_NL, Ambasade van het
Koninkrijk der Nederlanden
(Dutch Embassy Berlin), Berlin
2008
Nature as Artifice, Kröller-Müller
Museum, Otterlo / Pinakothek der
Moderne, München / George
Eastman House, Rochester (NY)
Awards/Stipends
1994
Förderpreis NRW, Düsseldorf
Startstipendium (Incentive Grant),
Fonds voor beeldende kunsten,
vormgeving en bouwkunst,
Amsterdam, 1994
1997
Jan van Heel Prize, Den Haag
1998 Aanmoedigingsprijs (Incentive
Prize), Amsterdams Fonds voor de
Kunst
1999/2001
Werkbeurs (Basic Grant),
Fonds voor beeldende kunsten,
vormgeving en bouwkunst,
Amsterdam
2000
Charlotte Köhler Prize, Amsterdam
2002
Higashikawa Overseas
Photographers Prize, Hokkaido
Premio del Golfo, Biennale la
Spezia
2005 Leverhulme Fellowship, University
of Derby, 2005