02 may 2024, Wouter van den Eijkel
Art Island 2024: homeward bound with a vial of snail slime
The third edition of Art Island is just around the corner. This upcoming Pentecost weekend (17-19 May), presentations by 37 participants can be admired on Forteiland off the coast of IJmuiden. In addition to galleries, Art Island is once again focusing on non-profit organisations. This year, De Ateliers has a special presentation on the Human Nature/Animal Nature theme.
Considering the golden rule of real estate – location, location, location – it's questionable whether an art fair on an island is a good idea. IJmuiden, an island, and contemporary art are not exactly a natural combination. But an interesting one. The 19th-century fortress is on the UNESCO World Heritage List and housed German soldiers during the occupation, who drew on some of the walls. Standing on the fort looking west, you see only the North Sea. Turn around and you face the immense industrial complex of Tata Steel.
Juliette De Graaf, Party Animal, 2024, Josilda da Conceição Gallery
Not only that, but it's the only fair where all visitors are personally welcomed by the director. Frits Bergsma, who organises Art Island together with Jacko Brinkman and walks to the jetty where the ferries dock every half hour to greet visitors. In short, the fort and its location alone are worth the visit.
Kimball Gunnar Holth, Stutter Painting - 1C, 2023, Galerie van Gelder
For galleries, Art Island differs from other fairs. The island is used as an event and meeting location, so there are fixed cupboards all around. The walls aren't straight, nor are they pristine white, and the works of art cannot be perfectly illuminated. Gallery owners have to be inventive. Art Island is also priced more favourably than other fairs, giving gallery owners the chance to experiment. "As a result, there are lots of solo and more daring presentations. At other fairs, the commercial aspect plays a more important role, resulting in ‘safer’ presentations," says Bergsma. "For example, Ellen de Bruijne asked her son (and artist, ed.) David to put together a presentation with work from nine recently graduated artist friends, and Galerie van Gelder is presenting a solo presentation by Kimball Gunnar Holt."
Dirk Zoete, Galerie Maurits van de Laar
Where Art Island started three years ago as an exclusive Amsterdam affair, galleries from other cities, such as Maurits van de Laar and Dürst Britt & Mayhew (The Hague), Kunsthandel Meijer (Utrecht) and Mieke van Schaik (Den Bosch), are participating again this year, as they did last year. The programming of non-profit organisations is also being continued. For this edition, Bergsma and Brinkman approached the post-academic artists' institute De Ateliers for a presentation. Dominic van den Boogerd programmed four former participants under the Human Nature/Animal Nature theme. The title is borrowed from a neon work by Bruce Nauman from 1983. In the circular light sculpture, the words LIFE and DEATH, PLEASURE and PAIN, KNOW and DOESN'T KNOW flash on and off separately. In the middle, the words HUMAN, ANIMAL, and NATURE are blinking. "The question raised by Nauman's artwork – how do our behaviours distinguish themselves from those of other species – resonates in the work of Rinella Alfonso, Paul Geelen, Thomas Swinkels and Wieke Wester," writes Van den Boogaard in the accompanying publication.
For example, L'Origine d'Original (2014) by Wieske Wester (participant from 2007-2009) shows orange carrots in a glass jar as seen from above. Because of the title's playful reference to Gustave Courbet's infamous close-up of the female genitalia L’Origine du Monde (1866), the association with male genitalia is an obvious one. Wester's representation is humorous yet grim, just as reproduction is a natural part of life, yet surrounded by taboos.
Paul Geelen, Untitled (Ghostwriter), 2017, audio recording, photo courtesy the artist
Snail slime
Paul Geelen (participant from 2012 to 2014) takes you into the world of the vineyard snail. He recorded the creatures using special equipment and we can hear them munching and slurping away, even though they're usually on the menu themselves. This creature also holds the key to the secret of eternal youth. When a Chilean farmer discovered in the 1980s that his hands became softer from the moisture secreted by snails and the healing and rejuvenating effects of the substance on human skin were scientifically proven, he began a snail farm. An extremely lucrative idea, as the slime has become an essential ingredient in anti-wrinkle creams. Geelen collected the stuff and offers visitors a free vial of 1 millilitre, so you go home with eternal youth in your pocket.
Art Island is taking place this year from 17-19 May at Forteiland IJmuiden. Admission ticket information and practical information, such as ferry departure times, can be found at art-island.nl.
