Wouter Osterholt
with Elke Uitentuis
Wouter Osterholt designs public interventions along the faultlines and breaking points of our (political) landscape where social injustices, conflicts or ecological problems come to light. Within his site-specific and interdisciplinary practice, he uses art to contribute to the social and ecological re-imagining of these exploited places by introducing a process in which local cultural and archaeological objects and/or social phenomena, such as rituals, are being used to recreate a sense of belonging. By uncovering hidden historical layers and through the recontextualization of local materials, such as buildings, monuments, sculptures or archival material, the works seek to point towards a spatial interconnectivity and time continuum that runs counter to the disruptive nature of modernism. The projects take the form of highly context-specific investigations, developed in close collaboration with local stakeholders and experts, wherein form, function, medium and even the titles follow the context in which a work is situated. Osterholt’s goal is to bring politics back in the public sphere and test the (im)possibilities of alternative ideas that question the existing hegemony. By producing works on site, passersby see the work grow over time and thus get a chance to get involved and express their ideas. This feedback is often directly used within the works themselves.
EDUCATION
2001
Gerrit Rietveld Academy
Amsterdam, Netherlands
JURY
Xenia Kalpaktsoglou
Andrea Lenardin Madden
Gerhard Johann Lischka
Erwin Wurm
Peter Noever
FINAL PROJECT
