Red Hook Labs, Foam Talent, New York City, 2018
Cargo (Weapon), 2017
hahnemuhle print + archival collage compressed between plexiglass plates
56 cm x 47,5 cm
Bad Trip, 2017-2018
Multimedia Installation
Kuijpers amassed an archive of front pages, sensationalist headlines, and popular images that kindle a collective fear of terrorism. He encroached into the fringes of the web, tracking the posts of a number of right-wing/anti-Islamic communities to study the kind of information their members consume. In an attempt to retrace what exactly inspires his own angst, he filmed and photographed situations in his daily life that triggered associations with terrorism. A truck loaded with gas tanks: surely the perfect weapon to drive into a crowd? A blurry positive of an ambulance passing at speed: a car bomb explosion. We see a woman participating in an online forum, and a veiled woman on a bus watching what seems to be an online sermon. Both inhabit virtual realities that unconsciously and involuntarily inspired suspicion with the artist. With his therapeutic practice of collecting and deconstructing the visual make-up of a shared paranoia, Kuijpers questions how our perception of reality is led largely by sensationalism, fake news and irrational fears.
Thomas Kuijpers fell into a dark hole after Trump got elected. Where his practice before was always about understanding the structures behind the image, opening up these structures to the public, Trump destroyed these structures overnight by introducing the term ‘fake-news’- instantly making everyone a media-skeptic. Confused about his role as an artist, and willing to understand why people would give their vote to someone like Trump (or his Dutch equivalent), he encroached into the fringes of the web, tracking the posts of a number of populist communities to study the kind of information their members consume. No work was made in 4 months, and while Kuijpers only consumed this information, something weird started to happen to his daily reality. When being at a crowded party, for instance, these bataclan-flashbacks started to appear, leaving Kuijpers wondering where to run when someone with bad intentions would come in. These triggering moments, to Kuijpers clearly influenced by the amount of information he consumed, became increasingly more present in his daily life. In an attempt to retrace what exactly inspires his own angst, he filmed and photographed situations in his daily life that triggered associations with terrorism. The photographs of these situations where taken back to the studio, where he used his archive of front pages, sensationalist headlines, and popular images to retrace the cause of the paranoia at that moment. With his therapeutic practice of collecting and deconstructing the visual make-up of a shared paranoia, Kuijpers questions how our perception of reality is led largely by sensationalism, fake news and irrational fears.
[Foam Exhibition Text]
Multimedia Installation
Kuijpers amassed an archive of front pages, sensationalist headlines, and popular images that kindle a collective fear of terrorism. He encroached into the fringes of the web, tracking the posts of a number of right-wing/anti-Islamic communities to study the kind of information their members consume. In an attempt to retrace what exactly inspires his own angst, he filmed and photographed situations in his daily life that triggered associations with terrorism. A truck loaded with gas tanks: surely the perfect weapon to drive into a crowd? A blurry positive of an ambulance passing at speed: a car bomb explosion. We see a woman participating in an online forum, and a veiled woman on a bus watching what seems to be an online sermon. Both inhabit virtual realities that unconsciously and involuntarily inspired suspicion with the artist. With his therapeutic practice of collecting and deconstructing the visual make-up of a shared paranoia, Kuijpers questions how our perception of reality is led largely by sensationalism, fake news and irrational fears.
Thomas Kuijpers fell into a dark hole after Trump got elected. Where his practice before was always about understanding the structures behind the image, opening up these structures to the public, Trump destroyed these structures overnight by introducing the term ‘fake-news’- instantly making everyone a media-skeptic. Confused about his role as an artist, and willing to understand why people would give their vote to someone like Trump (or his Dutch equivalent), he encroached into the fringes of the web, tracking the posts of a number of populist communities to study the kind of information their members consume. No work was made in 4 months, and while Kuijpers only consumed this information, something weird started to happen to his daily reality. When being at a crowded party, for instance, these bataclan-flashbacks started to appear, leaving Kuijpers wondering where to run when someone with bad intentions would come in. These triggering moments, to Kuijpers clearly influenced by the amount of information he consumed, became increasingly more present in his daily life. In an attempt to retrace what exactly inspires his own angst, he filmed and photographed situations in his daily life that triggered associations with terrorism. The photographs of these situations where taken back to the studio, where he used his archive of front pages, sensationalist headlines, and popular images to retrace the cause of the paranoia at that moment. With his therapeutic practice of collecting and deconstructing the visual make-up of a shared paranoia, Kuijpers questions how our perception of reality is led largely by sensationalism, fake news and irrational fears.
[Foam Exhibition Text]
I Saw It On (FB), 2017, color print on dibond framed behind tinted glass - 82 cm x 104 cm (middle)
Sermon (YT), 2017, color print on dibond framed behind tinted glass - 94 cm x 104 cm (right)
Car bomb (Wrong scanner settings, it was actually an ambulance), 2017
Light Box, 55 cm x 42,5 cm
Tube (Target), 2017
hahnemuhle print + archival collage compressed between plexiglass plates
54 cm x 45 cm
Brussels Centre (Burst Sounds), 2018
Video, HD, loop, 9 min. (excerpt of 1 min.)
Exhibitions:
Foam (Amsterdam, NL)
Unseen (Amsterdam, NL)
Red Hook Labs (New York City, USA)
Sign (Groningen, NL)
Beaconsfield Gallery Vauxhall (London, UK)
Photo London (London, UK)
Frankfurter Kunstverein (Frankfurt, DE)
Radio:
Nooit meer slapen / VPRO (NL)
Review:
Vice Creators (NL)
Vrij Nederland (NL)
Generazione Critica (IT)
het Parool (NL)
Metropolis M (NL)
British Journal of Photography (ENG)
Mr Porter (ENG)
Huck Magazine (ENG)
Artnet (ENG)
Publications:
Foam Magazine #48 / Talent (ENG)
Unseen Magazine (ENG)
Grazia (FR)
Der Greif (DE)
Objectiv (ENG)
De Correspondent (NL)
Foam (Amsterdam, NL)
Unseen (Amsterdam, NL)
Red Hook Labs (New York City, USA)
Sign (Groningen, NL)
Beaconsfield Gallery Vauxhall (London, UK)
Photo London (London, UK)
Frankfurter Kunstverein (Frankfurt, DE)
Radio:
Nooit meer slapen / VPRO (NL)
Review:
Vice Creators (NL)
Vrij Nederland (NL)
Generazione Critica (IT)
het Parool (NL)
Metropolis M (NL)
British Journal of Photography (ENG)
Mr Porter (ENG)
Huck Magazine (ENG)
Artnet (ENG)
Publications:
Foam Magazine #48 / Talent (ENG)
Unseen Magazine (ENG)
Grazia (FR)
Der Greif (DE)
Objectiv (ENG)
De Correspondent (NL)