10 September - 30 October 2022
'CARE FULL', Art Utrecht, Utrecht
Opening  10th of September
Finissage 30the of October

'Desert Island'

19 May - 13 July 2022
Kunstpreis FBZart Award

"Reality is a finger print" is winner of for the 'FBZ Special Award' in Bochum, Germany

Winner will be announced 30th of June 2022

A visit is possible by appointment. Registration: Tel: 0234-32-28178 (Mon-Tue from 4-6 p.m., Wed-Fri from 10 a.m.-12 p.m.)


PAST
23 September - 27 November 2021
Live From Rijks

Rijksakademie, Amsterdam, NL

150 Years of Artistic Practice
'Romeo
'

3 November 2019
finissage Reality en lezing Wouter Kusters
18 september 2019 - 03 november 2019
Reality

Beautiful Distress House, Amsterdam, NL
Solo exhibition 'Reality'

opening 18 september 19.00 - 22.00

Beautiful Distress House,
Ms. van Riemsdijkweg 41a
1033 RC Amsterdam

16 June 2018 - 23 Spetember 2018
Zomergasten
25 November 2017 - 7 January 2018
Beautiful Distress Kunstmanifestatie over waanzin

Group show by Beautiful Distress and Het Vijfde Seizoen at Nieuw Dakota

"Reality is a finger print"

23 November - 23 December 2017
Beautiful Distress Kunstmanifestatie over waanzin

Group show by Beautiful Distress and Het Vijfde Seizoen at De School

"It's cloudy inside"

Oktober 2016 -Januari 2017
Kings County Hospital

Artist in residence, Beautiful Distress, New York, USA

April 2016
Discovery Award 2016

‘Blue Hour’ got shortlisted for the LOOP Discovery Award.

29 November 2015 - 24 Januari 2016
Blue Hour

Bradwolff projects, Amsterdam, NL

'Blue Hour' is a collaboration with Merel Karhof

25th of April 2015
award

'Play within a play' has won the 'Honorable Mention Award' in the Experimental Short Competition at Nashville Film Festival (USA)

16 - 25 April 2015
Nashville Film Festival

Nashville, USA

'Play within a play'

21 - 30 December 2014
Donna E Liberta

Associazionne Culturale, Rome, IT

'Eye'

11 - 16 november 2014
Braunschweig International Film Festival

Braunschweig, DE

'Play within a play'

2 november 2014
Museumnacht - CineSonic

EYE, Amsterdam, NL

14 oktober 2014
uitkijk goes short

De UItkijk, Amsterdam, NL

17 July 2014
FEMINA

nternational Women's Film Festival, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

'Play within a play'

29 March - 27 April 2014
Inner space/Outer space

Sign, Groningen, NL

'Inner Space/Outer Space'
Part of tour BNG Workspace project award 2012

11 February 2014
Best of the Fest: korte films van het International Film Festival Rotterdam

EYE, Amsterdam, NL

25 January 2014
Filmfestival rotterdam

Shorts 2014, Filmfestival Rotterdam, NL

22 September - 17 November 2013
KadS 2013

'Inner Space/Outer Space'
Part of tour BNG Workspace project award 2012

17 August 2013
HELD FESTIVAL
27 July 2013
WINNER OF SCREENGRAB NEW MEDIA ARTS AWARD
27 July - 14 August 2013
SCREENGRAB NEW MEDIA ART EXHIBITION

School of Creative Art’s eMerge Gallery, Australia

'Vessel'
Collaboration with Jasper van den Brink

15 February 2013 - 7 April 2013
14th VIDEONALE

Premiere video installation 'Vessel'. 'Vessel' is a collaboration with video artist Jasper van den Brink

2 December 2012 - 20 June 2013
PEOPLE CAN ONLY DEAL WITH FANTASY WHEN THEY ARE READY FOR IT. THE PAVILJOENS 2001-2012

Museum de Paviljoens, Almere

'Eye'

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"REALITY IS A FINGERPRINT"

2018, jacquard woven tapestry, linen, paper yarn and polyester, 1,70 x 8 meter

Artist in residence 
At the invitation of the organization 'Beautiful Distress' I spent three months as artist in residence at the psychiatric department of the 'Kings County Hospital' in Brooklyn, New York at the end of 2016.
Within this hospital system, with its own habits, ideas and presumptions, I had a unique position; namely that of an observer. It was an exceptional opportunity to observe the state of affairs in the hospital from the inside without my presence serving a medical purpose.

Research
Especially in an environment where the prevailing norm about what we consider a 'normal' perception of reality is an unstable notion, I was curious about the different views and experiences of this. Above all, I was curious about the moment when reality, as we think we know it, seems to be fading, and how a different kind of experience of the same reality makes way for it.
What defines this moment between being mentally 'healthy' and mentally 'ill'? What is it like when things no longer seem to be what they should be? How is reality experienced when the grip on it is lost? These questions form the core of my research.
During my stay in the hospital, I talked to the patients and staff about the moment when the grip on reality is lost. In these interviews, but also during the group activities, they frankly shared their life stories, practical experience and scientific point of views.

"Reality is a fingerprint"
From these conversations I distilled remarkable quotes, for example quotations that show feelings of despair, fear, confusion, paranoia, exclusion or grandeur. At the end of my stay I asked the staff and the peer counsellors to pose in the courtyard of the institution with the signs I made based on the collected texts.

In the work "Reality is a fingerprint" that resulted from this group photo, the participants are depicted on a monumental eight-meter-long tapestry that I developed in collaboration with the Textile Museum in Tilburg. The weaving refers to the traditional daytime activities in psychiatric institutions and hospitals.
The quotations brought together in one picture show a cross-section of the conversations I have conducted with regard to my research. What happens inside the building is now literally being brought outside and made visible. In this way I aim to make the mental processes that take place in the heads of the patients external. On the other hand, I strive for a more abstract and philosophical layer that deals with the question of what reality is and how we know it.

Exhibitions
"Reality is a fingerprint" is exhibited in the groupshow Zomergasten in Museum Dr. Guislain, Gent from June 2018 untill Spetember 2018. The work was also exhibitited in New Dakota in Amsterdam during the exhibition and the symposium 'Beautiful Distress, Art Manifestation on Madness' from November 2017 to January 2018.

Acknowledgement

Article Het Parool- Jan Pieter Ekker