In each edition of Museumtijdschrift (Museum Magazine) you can read about the most beautiful and special exhibitions of the moment. Who are the people behind the exhibition? What choices do they make, what challenges do they face? This week Diana Wind, curator at Museum Rijswijk, talks about Jasper de Beijer's solo exhibition. For the first time, the creation process of his unique oeuvre is made visible to the public.
What was the impetus for this exhibition?
“In 2019, the Agnes van den Brandeler Foundation invited a number of medium-sized museums in the Netherlands to submit a project proposal in which an artist (born before 1978), who has wrongly received little attention, is extensively highlighted. The foundation honored Museum Rijswijk's proposal to organize a retrospective exhibition of Jasper de Beijer's work and to make a large-scale publication in the process.”
Can you tell us something about the way in which the exhibition is structured and designed?
“The exhibition starts in the main hall of the new wing. You enter the darkened room through a lock, where you stand right in front of the entrance to the installation “Critical Mass.” When you enter you need to give yourself time to get used to the blacklight. In the middle of the installation you look at the rest of the world from a Dutch perspective. Parts of the models that the artist has made over the past twenty years follow each other around. Series after series presents itself. When you come out of the installation, you see these series again on the walls of the room, this time combined with the sources of inspiration and the archive material that the artist has used. The design by graphic designers Evy van Schelt and Kylièn Sarino Bergh takes you through the ten series that reflect the inside of the installation.
The exhibition continues on the first floor, where a wide selection of photos from the same series can be seen. In the basement rooms, the exhibition ends with the video 'The Backwater Blues” and interviews with Jasper de Beijer and with Evy van Schelt and Kylièn Sarino Bergh can be seen. The extensive publication “Critical Mass. Jasper de Beijer” is also avaialble for sale."
What do you think is the most special work in the exhibition?
“The installation “Critical Mass” is very special because Jasper de Beijer has never shown the creation process of the photo series before in his 20-year career.”
(Translated from Dutch)
"Critical Mass", on view until April 18 in Museum Rijswijk, Amsterdam. www.museumrijswijk.nl
Image: Jasper de Beijer and Diana Wind inside the "Critical Mass" installation.