A Game of Art/Non-art
2014 - 2016 | Photo-collection / publication | Part of the publication: Eigenlijk ben ik niet zo goed in verhalen vertellen, maar…
In the spring of 2014, I began observing and photographing situations I encountered while walking through Maastricht. Although these photographed moments and objects were not intended as sculptures nor had any direct relation to art, I found that they had a strong visual impact. The images reminded me of my work in the studio, as I recognized a similar visual language. In a sense, these "objets trouvés" became my own found "accidental sculptures." These photographs were later presented in the publication eigenlijk ben ik niet zo goed in verhalen vertellen, maar, accompanied by a text— the same one featured on this webpage.
The "things" I photographed held no clear meaning; they could be described as appearing random. They were the city's discarded materials and goods, captured in strange yet entirely coincidental arrangements. They included trash, accidents, failures, temporary practical solutions, or simply remnants of actions left behind by others.
When I first adopted this way of observing my everyday surroundings, my attention shifted. It may sound banal, but it was as if I were seeing the world through a different pair of eyes, able to pay close attention to even the smallest details: a rubber band left on the sidewalk, cracks in the road, drips of paint on the floor, a reflection of sunlight on the wall.
Although these photographed situations clearly had no connection to art, I viewed them as a form of "non-art"—things that, while not instantly recognizable as art, had nonetheless caught an artist’s eye. It became a game: a dialectical play between art and non-art.
I suppose I was trying to discover whether I could still call myself an artist if this was the activity I was engaged in. Was observing and photographing the random, coincidental everyday creations of others enough to make me feel "artist-worthy"? And what does that even mean?
What does this activity say about concepts like authenticity, talent, skill, or aesthetics? Can an artist avoid making art while still operating within the realm of art? Or, at the very least, can an artist escape "making" something that will later be considered art? Can you be an artist without creating work?
Eventually, I had to conclude that even the most ordinary and random object or situation can become part of my art when presented within a art context. It wasn’t the situation I encountered, nor the act of photographing it, that made it art.
Rather, it was the act of choosing to photograph these moments as an artist that transformed them into art. Or, to be more precise, operating within the realm of art as an artist with these pictures logically turned them into art. It became a Duchampian scenario that led to the realization: Anything is art if an artist says it is.
While wandering through Maastricht, everything became art—and at the same time, nothing. By that point, it no longer mattered. The blurring of art and life was complete, and the game was over.
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