On Tuesday, July 18 at 9 p.m., a pop-up site-specific video installation “Let’s Keep it Gezellig” by the Dutch artist Marieke Leene opens in front of Monade Gallery.
The Dutch word “gezellig” means light, pleasant, easy, and this is exactly the role that Leene assumes within her community; a mediator who tries to lighten the mood as the conversation constantly veers into difficult, unavoidable topics.
On the walls, the viewer can see an interwoven collage of projections showing short animations inspired by news reports and other articles that recently caught Leene’s eye. The videos are short loops of playful and imaginative scenes, for example: a thin African cow throwing a fat Dutch cow on its back; a fighter jet dropping like a stone as if it were a human body that had just been shot; a teacup overflowing. Leene notes that these videos are especially funny to children, unaware that in a few years they too will have to face the problems they allude to.
At first glance, Let’s Keep it Gezellig is a compilation of cheerful, comical scenes that alternate periodically and randomly, but in the background reveal a grotesque, dark truth. This duality of interpretations makes the work at the same time accessible, and truly contemporary, drawing attention to themes that we would like to, but cannot avoid.
BIO:
Marieke Leene is a multidisciplinary artist based in the Netherlands. Leene developed a background in digital art and cultural events throughout her practice as an independent artist. She delves into the interactions between the ‘real world’ and the digital world.
She is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in digital arts. With interests ranging from computer made tableware to space waste, her work approaches the themes in a simple, poetic and humorous manner. Driven by concept, not medium, she has turned a cow into a 3D printer, started a fighter jet company to make the sun stand still and let an AI assess paintings. Many of Leene’s works concern habits, and the illusion of intrinsic behavior. How are things represented in the brain and how are they in reality? How does the author see it, how does the rest of the world see it and how does a computer see it?
Organization in co-production of: LAB852, Sustainable Island association, Kružok Association, Organize and Improvise
Support: Ministry of Culture and media of the Republic of Croatia, Municipality of Jelsa, Jelsa Tourist Board, AgitLab, City of Águeda.