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BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht
BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Pauwstraat, Utrecht, Netherlands

 Exhibition

23 January–20 March 2005

BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht  

Gerrit Dekker: About no below, no above, no sides

After more than a fifteen-year-long voluntary withdrawal from the structures of the art world, Gerrit Dekker presents his work in a solo exhibition. Dekker’s deliberate choice not to participate in the mechanisms of the art system was grounded in a sincere desire to distinguish art as a concentrated, intimate creative process from the mechanisms of power. This retreat, however, did not mean abandoning art: on the contrary. Although he no longer referred to himself as a visual artist, Dekker insistently kept engaging with aesthetic practice, exploring its various potentials in everyday life. The title of the exhibition refers to a metaphor Dekker uses when describing a loss of orientation (when there is “no below, no above, no sides”) as a sign of his profound engagement in traveling, meeting people, or producing art. In this context, Dekker “collected” subtle gestures from his experiences: ephemeral situations, personal relationships with people, and remnants of “traveling and staying over” in the form of photographic images, mostly on slides. Stored in a tower built out of grey boxes (the slide-holders), together the images form an archive of non-intrusive, quotidian, strangely familiar moments. The slide tower becomes a starting point for an exhibition that explores potentially new meanings of the past as a prerequisite to begin “moving forward.”

Gerrit Dekker (born 1943, lives and works in Arnhem) presented his work in the project Now What? Dreaming a better world in six parts organized by BAK in 2003. In 1988, it was shown at the Museum of Fine Arts in Chandigarh, India in an exhibition with which he brought the more public period of his work to an end. Gerrit Dekker is also known as the long-time artistic partner of Ben d’Armagnac (1940-1978), with whom he produced numerous works and performances from 1966-1975.

The exhibition has been realized in collaboration with Jan Brand, head of kaAp, the General Studies Department of ArtEZ in Arnhem, Alex de Vries, and Catherine Hennegan (image digitization and editing). The exhibition has been financially supported by ThuisKopie Fonds.

Publications

book
Gerrit Dekker. About no below, no above, no sides

Program

22.02.2005, 20.00 hrs: a conversation between artist Gerrit Dekker and art historian Marga van Mechelen at BAK.

Made possible by

Suggestions from the archive

Learning

10 May, 12.00–12 May, 18.00 2023

Complaint Making: Setting Up Conflict-Positive Spaces for Community Building Praxis

Vishnu would like to share feminist governance tools (FGT) focused on three of many tiers in community building praxis. FGT is based on the values of equity with an emphasis on creating psychologically safe environments, drawing on the use of consent. Decision-making processes, setting up conflict-positive spaces, and complaint-making as diversity work will form the body of this three-day training. Rooted in Vishnu’s autho-ethnographic practice, this work will explore the power dynamics that impact decision-making processes.

Performative

10 May, 12.00–12 May, 18.00 2023

The Diamond Mind II

In this dance training, the people will use a one-minute film of their own movement as material for a booklet—a sixteen page signature—that distributes their presence, their gesture, as an act of EQ. 

Learning

3 May, 12.00–4 May, 18.00 2023

Too Late To Say Sorry? 

A bad apology can ruin a friendship, destroy a community, or end a career. In this workshop, we will investigate the impact of apologies on our relationships and our worlds. Why and how do we make apologies? What can giving and receiving apologies teach us about values and integrity? Should you apologize for something you don’t really feel sorry for? We will explore conflict and how we like to be in conflict with others. We will dive into our own boundaries. We will seek to understand how honoring limits becomes an act of building (or freeing) better worlds capable of holding so many, many more of us.

Learning

28 April, 12.00–29 April, 18.00 2023

Huisje, Boompje, Beestje (D.A.F.O.N.T.)

In this rare masterclass, retired teacher and artist Glenda Martinus teaches participants a thing or two about painting with Microsoft Word. Martinus shares tips, tricks, and secrets on how to use this software to its unexpected potential as a drawing tool. Participants learn how to draw three basic objects—a house, a tree, and an animal—in a seemingly innocent exercise that perhaps contains more layered social commentary. Drawing the worlds we desire does not require expensive tools or education, simply a curiosity to understand how the monster’s tools can topple the house of the master.