Evita Vasiljeva at P/////AKT

Artist: Evita Vasiljeva

Exhibition title: Manhours in Headquarters

Venue: P/////AKT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Date: January 29 – February 26, 2017

Photography: Charlott Markus, all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and P/////AKT, Amsterdam

Evita Vasiljeva’s new exhibition is the result of a two-month working period at P/////AKT. In her case that has to be taken quite literally as time spent on location, moulding, casting and constructing rather rough and brutal looking pieces out of concrete and metal. The element of labour and production is present in the sculptural materiality of the resulting works, the more since they look like they could have some function in a production or building process themselves. Could have, or might have had; they seem to be either unfinished or deteriorating from a previously more advanced state of being.

According to Vasiljeva, there is something more profound about the state of becoming, or falling apart, than about a finished state or fixated situation. In her practice, manual labour and intellectual exertions take place simultaneously and on the spot, to a degree of nearly being one and the same thing. The work is produced as a method for thinking about the eventual exhibition, resulting in something that can be seen as solidified temporary thoughts. As a consequence, it is actively sensitive towards its surroundings and, contrary to its strong physical presence, showing cracks of doubt as well as a potential to grow into something altogether new.

THINGING
In 2017, after a year of Pense-Bête and its various objects, P/////AKT is venturing out into the wider scope of Thinging: thinking with things, about things and through things as a method for rethinking the model of a solo exhibition as an activated environment.

Thinging is featuring solo exhibitions by Evita Vasiljeva, Lorelinde Verhees, Francesco Pedraglio, Nickel van Duijvenboden and David Bernstein. Curator/writer Vincent van Velsen and artist duo Sander Breure & Witte van Hulzen will participate as an editorial board for generating additional output throughout the year, together with P/////AKT and the artists.

Evita Vasiljeva, Manhours in Headquarters, 2017, installation view at P/////AKT