Artist: Bastienne Kramer
Exhibition title: FLASHFORWARD
Venue: Kunstvereniging Diepenheim, Diepenheim, The Netherlands
Date: May 25 – September 1, 2019
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Kunstvereniging Diepenheim
Note: Exhibition booklet can be found here
DIEPENHEIM – The first solo exhibition of Bastienne Kramer is on view from Saturday 25 May until Sunday 1 September at Kunstvereniging Diepenheim. FLASHFORWARD is the title of the exhibition with which Kramer surprises visitors with a combination of existing work and new pieces created exclusively for the Kunstvereniging.
A disruptive attitude, that’s how Kramer’s artistic practice can be summarised. In her work she investigates the power relations that lie behind everyday objects and images that seem to surround us unnoticed. Cigarette lighters or salt and pepper shakers in the shape of women’s bodies, wood-burning stoves or company logos – how do these things get their shape and meaning? These are leading questions in Kramer’s artistic exploration.
An exploration that also takes place in and through the material, preferably ceramics, with which Kramer makes the subject her own. For instance, by recreating everyday objects through the use of various techniques such as casting, 3D printing or the use of heating elements. Throughout three decades her extensive technical expertise combined with her extraordinary vision has led to a particularly varied oeuvre of sculptures, impressive (total) installations and spatial interventions.
The exhibition FLASHFORWARD brings together sculptures, installations and spatial interventions in a total installation. The visitor is invited to linger, to lie lazily in a hammock, to meditate and even touch a heated sculpture.
Bastienne Kramer (1961) completed her professional training at St. Joost Academy and the Rijksakademie voor Beeldende Kunsten. Her artistic practice is broad, and ranges from commissions for the public space and educational activities including her role as head of the ceramics department at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and numerous advisory positions at funds and organisations. Her work has been featured in exhibitions worldwide at venues such as Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, Museum het Princessehof, Museum Beelden aan Zee, Salone Internationale del Mobile, Milano (IT), Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin (DE) and National Gallery of Modern Art New Delhi (IN). Her work is also represented in numerous collections including Rijksmuseum voor Oudheden in Leiden, Ministry of Foreign Affairs/The Hague, Nationaal Glas Museum/ Leerdam and Guangdong Shivan Ceramic Museum, Foshan (CN). Kramer lives and works in Amsterdam.
Kunstvereniging Diepenheim has served as a platform for unusual projects in the field of contemporary, spatial art for almost thirty years. The organisation offers artists, and the public, space to experiment, explore and reflect in the main building of the Kunstvereniging, in Drawing Centre Diepenheim and in outdoor projects in the Diepenheim Gardens.
