Introduction
Marjolijn Dijkman
My practice consists of three parts that are closely interconnected: research projects that are carried out all over the world, site-specific interventions and initiatives such as Enough Room for Space.
ResearchTaking inspiration from Ortelius’ Theatrum orbis Terrarum’ (Theatre of the World), the first modern atlas, it is my aim to gain an insight into the way in which the world is organised. Not by means of abstract maps and purely geographical data, but by arranging photographic registrations of the world according to personal criteria. At the moment, the archive is made up of three ordering systems, viz. ‘Gestures’, ‘References’ and ‘Speculations’.
‘Gestures’ contains images that show traces and effects of human interventions. The images can be taken anywhere; they all emphasise that people, regardless of their geographical location, have similar ways of organising and designing their daily environment.
The ‘References’ archive makes us understand how (garden) architecture, business and private interiors, institutes such as the museum and recreation parks express their respective views of less than familiar locations and cultures. This part of the archive generates an atlas of the representation of geographical and cultural elements in new surroundings. The images are put at the location they represent.
‘Speculations’ is made up of images of spaces that represent a specific era, be it in the past or in the future. These systems are in a constant state of development and are extensively brought up to date when new images and categories have been obtained. One image can be included in different categories and systems and, in consequence of this, trigger opposite meanings. In close collaboration with designer Julie Peeters I made a series of independent publications and published contributions in magazines and catalogues.
ProjectsThe archive is a footing for site-specific interventions as well as a reflection of the many travels I undertake to realise interventions. By making temporary structural alterations, by reorganising objects and spatial characteristics I query the meaning and stratification of space. By recording the traces of other people’s actions, or by making a confronting gesture vis-à-vis the actual organisation of the space, these works reinforce the existent characteristics. Often these interventions query the effects of spatial organisation and make the tensions materialise that a specific order unconsciously arouses. Unlike the continuous archive, I realise 2 or 3 projects per year at the most. Preceding these interventions, I conduct extensive research into the location and involve the users of the place. As a consequence, winding up the reactions and completing the work proves a huge operation. The interventions are done either individually or in close collaboration with other artists. Given the scale of the works assistance or cooperation – in every which form – is nearly always required to realise the productions.
InitiativesProceeding from the wish and the necessity to collaborate with others to further develop my thinking and working methods, I initiated several collaboration projects. In 2005 I set up
Enough Room for Space (ERforS) together with Maarten Vanden Eynde. The organisation ERforS sets up projects that are based on unexpected relations between official bodies and locations. Starting point of the collaboration is overlapping investigation of the individual participants. As a way of countering life in the fast lane - that makes us hurriedly travel from one curated exhibition to the next -, ERforS intends to establish long-term working relationships based on mutual interests. ERforS works on small-scale and large-scale projects such as a residency and project space at the Jan van Eyck, but also a European project that engages several official bodies from 27 different countries, exchange projects (cf. Georgia here We Come!) and long-term research projects (cf. Los Angeles Works). The recently launched ERforS website (October 2007) is the only constant space that ERforS claims. The ‘Collective Construction Site’ is an online working space where participants actively pull the strings; some parts are public and can be actively constructed.