Life Potential

Artists: Ersin Eken, Koes Staassen, Maria Klaassen-Andrianova, Marijn Brussaard, Mirjam Vreeswijk, Sjoerd Martens, Leon Stoffelen The group exhibition Life Potential offers a stage to seven artists who depict alternative or utopian places in their work. Borrowing from an endless stream of images full of visual clichés and ingrained social patterns, they create a space that is malleable and fluid. The artists choose a feminine or queer perspective in their search for alternative ways of looking at themes such as archaeology, nature, sex and identity. There is a shared interest in visual clichés; such as posed nudes, floral wallpapers and landscapes that resemble desktop backgrounds: utopian elements and consumer articles that sell an illusion of romance. All these elements are then brought together in unexpected ways and become anchored in personal narratives. Drawings, paintings, videos, installations and performances come together as the mise-en-scene of a layered landscape, full of subtle transgressions of social boundaries and expectations.