Artipedia - Arts News

Museum Het Domein

Os Gemeos:
The flowers in this garden were planted by my grandparents
17 November 2007 - 06 January
Opening Friday 16 November
2007, 17.00h

Solo exhibition, contemporary art
Installations, paintings, murals
Museum Het Domein
Postbus 230
6130 AE Sittard
The Netherlands
T 046 4513460

http://www.hetdomein.nl

The flowers in this garden were planted by my grandparents is the first solo exhibition in the Netherlands of Brazilian twin brothers Os Gemeos. ‘The Twins’ Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo (1974, São Paulo), as their name translates from the Portuguese, are renowned for their colourful and imaginative figurative work on wall sculptures and in installations.

In the seclusion of a space, their work reveals a private microcosm. On the street, only fragments of a fascinating imaginative world are visible; in an exhibition context, a three-dimensional installation develops where surrealist landscapes rub shoulders with urban and contemporary archetypes. The characteristic almond-eyed figures seem to have stepped off the walls of a city to meet and narrate the tale of city dwellers in the thrall of the dynamism of the metropolis. Inside, within the space-filling installation, viewers can peer through the walls at an inner world where reality and fantasy merge in a narrative of colour.

Os Gemeos developed their unmistakable style, a fusion of countless influences, through their work as graffiti artists. Brazilian myths, personal family and friend history and people they meet are all vital sources of inspiration. But political themes and dreams also feature in their work. The brothers list the Russian clown Slava and other artists like for example Roger Waters, Royal Delux, Siba e a Fuloresta, Arthur Bispo do Rosario, as inspirations, alongside Brazilian folk art.

The catalogue accompanying the exhibition is the first to document the murals produced by Os Gemeos over the last few years. The texts are by Renato da Silva, a writer from Sao Paulo, and Siba Veloso of the Brazilian music group Siba e a Fuloresta, for which Os Gemeos designed the CD cover and stage decor. You can order the catalogue by contacting our website.

In 2005 Deitch Projects in New York presented an exhibition by Os Gemeos. In the same year, Stijn Huijts invited the twins to create a temporary mural in the context of Weird Walls during Cultura Nova in Heerlen. In early 2007 a temporary work was also exhibited in Tilburg during Public Image — Painting the City. In Sao Paolo, they signed to gallery Fortes Vilaça as recently as 2007. In the meantime, Os Gemeos are making furore in the art world and have exhibited widely in various galleries and museums. They also have an impressive list of commissioned murals under their belt.

Afbeelding / image: outside image 2007
At the same time Museum Het Domein proudly presents GuestRoom # 7 MaMaM: Museu de Arte Moderna Aloísio Magalhaes Recife, Brazilië.

More information and image can be found in the press room on the museum’s home page at http://www.hetdomein.nl Or contact us: Karin Adams or Lene ter Haar 046 -451 34 60; karin.adams@hetdomein.nl

The museum is closed December 25 and January 1.

Van Abbemuseum

Be(com)ing Dutch:EINDHOVEN CAUCUS
VAN ABBEMUSEUM
BILDERDIJKLAAN 10
EINDHOVEN - THE NETHERLANDS
+31 [0]40 238 1000
info@vanabbemuseum.nl

http://www.vanabbemuseum.nl

On November 9, 2007 the second phase of the award winning two year project Be[com]ing Dutch started in the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven. This successful gathering hosts over forty artists as well as more then sixty internationally renowned speakers that come to Eindhoven during four weeks to form the Eindhoven Caucus. They debate and discuss the questions about art and it’s influence on national identity, and set up the conditions for the production of the Be[com]ing Dutch exhibition which will open in the Van Abbemuseum on 24 May 2008.

Eindhoven Caucus
The idea of a Caucus derives from a term from a Native American practice, a very pragmatic form of democracy where the community comes together to discuss the future. The Van Abbemuseum has chosen this concept as inspiration for the second stage of Be[com]ing Dutch because it indicates that the space of the museum is an active space for shared decision-making.

Public Programme
The Public Programme of Eindhoven Caucus consists of a series of lectures an debates on weekends with the most inspiring philosophers, sociologists, writers and artists throughout the world including: Yael Bartana, Abdelkader Benali, Homi Bhabha, Roger Buergel, Sudeep Dasgupta, Catherine David, Igor Dobricic, Galit Eilat, Kodwo Eshun, Paul Gilroy, Boris Groys, Nezha Haffou, Vasif Kortun, Erden Kosova, Agung Kurniawan, Dieter Lesage, Kobena Mercer, Chantal Mouffe, Tone O. Neilsen, Ahmet Ögüt, Anjalika Sagar, Paul Scheffer, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak and Artur Zmijewski.

Live stream, blog and more
Limited space is still available for the free public programme during the weekends. Anyone who would like to join can do so, free of charge, via http://www.becomingdutch.com . For people unable to join, the Van Abbemuseum has provided a live stream during the weekend programme, as well as an on demand video archive in the weeks after, both available on the http://www.becomingdutch.nl website. The Van Abbemuseum has also invited 10 student journalists from the Hogeschool Utrecht to write a blog on all the events during the Caucus. Their critical reviews can be followed on http://www.becomingdutch.vanabbe.nl

Participant Programme
During the Caucus, the forty artist-participants that gathered in Eindhoven from all over the world attend and develop a programme of lectures, participate in workshops and artists presentations, present their own work, exchange ideas and develop a creative collective and individual creative production at the Van Abbemuseum.

CAUCUS PARTNERS
A further series of talks is also organised by:
• National (Re)presentation by Witte de With — http://www.wdw.nl
• Citizens and Subjects by BAK - basis voor actuele kunst — http://www.citizensandsubjects.nl

BE[COM]ING DUTCH
Be[com]ing Dutch is a two-year project developed both inside and outside the Van Abbemuseum, which consists of debates, reading groups, artists projects, exhibitions, artists in residence, and other forms of collective participation and production. Questions about cultural identity and normative ‘national’ values are becoming more and more an issue in political and cultural debate. Be[com]ing Dutch wonders whether art can provide alternative ways of contemplating contemporary society. Be[com]ing Dutch aims to examine our ideas concerning cultural identity and to investigate current processes of inclusion and exclusion.

In 2006 the Van Abbemuseum was announced as winner of the Development Prize for Cultural Diversity by the Mondriaan Foundation for their plan Be[com]ing Dutch. With support of the Culture Programme of the European Union and of Stichting Doen.