Artists: Mila Lanfermeijer, Ana Navas, Evelyn Taocheng Wang
Exhibition title: III – She spins the thread, she measures the thread, she cuts the thread
Venue: NEST, The Hague, The Netherlands
Date: February 11 – March 28, 2021
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and NEST, Rotterdam
Note: Exhibition booklet is available here
In this exhibition, three artists explore the meaning of repetition, appreciation and appropriation. In seven rooms, specially designed by architect Donna van Milligen Bielke, they tell a story about the intricacies of friendship, artistic kinship and autonomy within. Reproduction and mimicry are important methods to understand, appreciate, and interpret their own place in art history.
A thread, this ordinary, soft thing, is a metaphor for the mortal life of human beings. The metaphor connects directly to the Ancient Greek story of the Fates – the Moirai, three sisters born by Night and Darkness.
Clotho spins the thread. She makes major decisions, such as when a person is born, in effect controlling people’s lives. This power allows her to decide not only who is born, but also when mortals live.
Lachesis measures the thread of life. Normally dressed in white, she measures the thread spun on Clotho’s spindle and, in certain texts, determines destiny.
Atropos cuts the thread. She determines the mechanism of death and ends the life of mortals by cutting their lifeline.
III – She spins the thread, she measures the thread, she cuts the thread, 2021, exhibition view, NEST, The Hague
III – She spins the thread, she measures the thread, she cuts the thread, 2021, exhibition view, NEST, The Hague
III – She spins the thread, she measures the thread, she cuts the thread, 2021, exhibition view, NEST, The Hague
III – She spins the thread, she measures the thread, she cuts the thread, 2021, exhibition view, NEST, The Hague
III – She spins the thread, she measures the thread, she cuts the thread, 2021, exhibition view, NEST, The Hague
III – She spins the thread, she measures the thread, she cuts the thread, 2021, exhibition view, NEST, The Hague
III – She spins the thread, she measures the thread, she cuts the thread, 2021, exhibition view, NEST, The Hague
III – She spins the thread, she measures the thread, she cuts the thread, 2021, exhibition view, NEST, The Hague
III – She spins the thread, she measures the thread, she cuts the thread, 2021, exhibition view, NEST, The Hague
III – She spins the thread, she measures the thread, she cuts the thread, 2021, exhibition view, NEST, The Hague
III – She spins the thread, she measures the thread, she cuts the thread, 2021, exhibition view, NEST, The Hague
III – She spins the thread, she measures the thread, she cuts the thread, 2021, exhibition view, NEST, The Hague
III – She spins the thread, she measures the thread, she cuts the thread, 2021, exhibition view, NEST, The Hague
III – She spins the thread, she measures the thread, she cuts the thread, 2021, exhibition view, NEST, The Hague
III – She spins the thread, she measures the thread, she cuts the thread, 2021, exhibition view, NEST, The Hague
Evelyn Taocheng Wang ‘False Poster Banner’, 2020
Evelyn Taocheng Wang ‘het kleine verhaal – 2de’, 2019
Evelyn Taocheng Wang ‘Untitled’, 2020
Ana Navas ‘El museo de Historia Natural’, 2020
Ana Navas ‘Felino sobre turquesa’, 2018 / ‘Felino sobre cielo’, 2018
Ana Navas ‘Hi Donald’, 2019
Mila Lanfermeijer ‘And pink pleats clashed’, 2020
Mila Lanfermeijer ‘Private viewing temptress’ (detail), 2020
Mila Lanfermeijer ‘Reclining Nude(IIII)’, in collaboration with Lily Lanfermeijer, 2014