Johan van der Wiel

In the neighbourhood Heechterp in Leeuwarden I put up a tent in front of the exhibitionspace No Mans Land. On the window I wrote a poem whiche you could read when looking outside at the tent. The context of the tent and the poem can be found at my website, post 'Nimmens Lân'.

Patroon (Pattern/Patron) is a piece which consits out of two patrons. One made out of the top of my workingbench. Inspired by the suspended ceilings above our workplaces, our city streets and the pavement in the Guernica. The other patron is made out of the top of a lithopress and has the pattern of an icon. This work is created in interaction with the story Fragment. A short story consisting out of five fragments. You can find them on my website. In may 2023 there will be a publication of the Patron en Fragment.

Ianua is a piece made in co-operation with Paul de Regt an artist based in The Hagua. This is an example of an artpiece what started as a carpetry job. Ik also wrote the short story ianua. You can read the story at www.buroinhout.com/post/ianua The photo shows ianua at RAAM 55

charcoal, wood from the street, questions Fire, bare feet in the mud, dancing around the bonfire. After a day of swet and labor on the land, set together at the fireplace. Man living under the moon and stars, connected with the earth. This perspective is taken by the poem Four quartets of T.S. Eliot. The line ‘They were dancing around the bonfire’ is from this poem and inspiration for the project ‘City fire’. In this project I’m looking for connection in the city of the Hague. Connection with nature and connection between eachother. I follow the cycle of the moon of 28 nights. With every fase of the moon I’m making a panel. My brush is the fire. The materials are from the streets of the Hague. In the afternoon I’m gathering firewood, a pallet next to the entrance of a flat or a beam out of a skip. In the evening I look for shelter of a garden, meet people and light up the fire. Sitting at the bonfire I have three city fire-questions wich help us to let go our thoughts about city, nature and being connected. After 28 fases of the moon there are arised 28 panels and a group of people who have deeply thought about the subject. The exhibition shall be a gathering under the full moon of people, thoughts and 28 panels. There already are light up a couple of city fires. This work is in progress.

The Japanese mythology is familiar with the Obake. Literal it means ‘thing that changes’. Last januari I made a serie of Obake’s wich where exposed at RAAM 55. Every night you could see another Obake at the Westeinde. Among other things the Japanese use the word Obake to appoint ghosts. A thing that goes astray. You thought you saw something and suddenly it’s something else. Fear reflected in form. In 2016 I started as a carpenter. On a regular basis I was destracted at the job by knots, or the attitude of a piece of isulation material haging out of the raggels. I experienced objects and spaces as animates. The artist in my woke up at the construction site. All old religions are familiar with inspired objects and surroundings, life that flows through everything. The human being as a searching creature. Curious and in awe trying to relate to het environment, the world and the universe. In awe is living a form of respect beside fear. The old religions portrayed this and gave a face to fear. The Obake is good example of a portray.

Epoxy, pine wood, steel, gesso, jute, linseed oil, straps “Dressed up like myself I’ll go out.” A start of a poem wich where floading in my head. Stuck in tongue, but came into view unexpectedly. Grown up in Ende des Jahrhunderts, the eighties and the nineties you could look up and identify yourself with an idol. Big posters above your bed and in the wardrobe look-a-like clothing. Only in my imagination I dressed up. Strange I never was a fan of David Bowie, the multi identity man. Every new cover a new identity. The period where the minimal was elaborated and abbreviated man. Left the western civilization naked behind in everyday life.

The first pile of the Prins Clausplein went in at the year 1980. I never realized that this concrete with asphalt finished metaphor ever had a start. A couple of months ago I went to investigate the plein: on my bike looking for the center and from the four different directions I crossed over the plein by car. By surprise I ended up inside the plein and connected one thing to the other. Is it possible for a square to have no centre? Can a living complex exist without a core? At the Prins Clausplein it’s possible, but how? The roads brought a new perspective. This is the third piece of the serie ‘Ende des Jahrhunderts’ beside ‘Pulse’ and ‘Frock’. What’s your perspective on daily life and your point of view on art? You can look at a painting, read a poem and can walk around a sculpture. Could it be possible to get into an artpiece? Welcome into the piece Plein. Get in your car, put on the boxes and checkout the route (describtion of the route and a link to soundcloud can be found on the website) and lets go. Go in the direction of Prins Clausplein. Press play and watch. The music fort his piece is composed and played by Jonathan Leendertse. The piece Plein is consisting out of two parts. A piece in the window frame of the workshop and on/in the Prins Clausplein itself.

A performance is an investigation. Put up an imaginary fence around a piece of daily life. Observe what will happend, within yourself and in the behaviour of the others. “What do you see?” Every Friday noon in march, april and may 2021 I took a fixed route with my mouth cap on. Curious of my own reaction and the reaction of the people on the street. The challage in it was to get question instead of opnions. Be open and accept the discomfort. When I entered the Binnenhof I took a selfie and posted this one on instagram @johaninhout. I used the comments of instagram as a journal. Down the road there were a lot of spontaneous reactions by call out, a laugh, by looking away or looking straight ahead. People come to me to share there storie of to ask me some questions and a couple of times to make a picture. There’s a new dynamic in our society. It strucked me what a great influence images have had and that most of the times someones point of view determined one’s pespective. For me that was the beginning of my investigation by a performance. An image, the perspective and the meaning given to it by myself, by you and by everyone else. How do I look, what do I see? How do you look and what do you see? Concept: every Friday noon a selfie with the wooden mounth cap at the Binnenhof . Three months (3 maart tm 28 mei). Route: Bakkerstraat, Torenstraat, Kerkplein, Rond de Grote Kerk, Gravenstraat, Buitenhof, Binnenhof, Plein, Lange Poten, Hofweg, Buitenhof, Gravenstraat, Grote Halsstraat, Prinsestraat, Kleine Nobelstraat, Torenstraat, Geest. Reflections and reactions in the comments of Instagram @johaninhout

Pine wood, steel barn hinges A sculpter inspired by Philip Glass opera The Fall of the House of Usher. A story of Edgar Allen Poe with the motto of songwriter de Béranger (1780-1857). “My heart is like a suspended lute. The moment it’s touched, there will be sound.” This work of Glass struck me. It stired up a feeling from an inside dept where Techno music also can enter. The opera is released in 1987, a time where techno was in full development. Music totaly undressed, minimal. It already last the harmony and melody and no it was the time of the rhythm. Whats left is the pulse, the heartbeat. This piece is a part of the serie ‘Ende des Jahrhunderts’ besides ‘Kleed’ and ‘Plein’.

An object made of timber from one specific skip. A cube consisting of wood of various sizes. A new object for in the new renovated space made of the old wood from the same space.