Iris van Wijk

Iris van Wijk

Iris van Wijk (NL, 1991)

 

Iris van Wijk (1991) works with materials such as found objects and waste material to investigate the world around her. The collections she puts together tend to have specific conditions in which they perform, both visible and invisible to the viewer. 

 

This 10-year project is now halfway through its course. During her graduation, she buried a chest filled with a 154 object on the parking lot of her art academy. It was intended to stay underground for at least 10 years, but the universe had other plans. The demolition of the academy forces an excavation of the chest. Not really knowing what the destination of the chest would be now, Iris decided to put wheels under it and travel with it from time to time.

Now the chest will have a temporary resting place during the Softmarket exhibition. 

 

Size: 95 cm x 80 cm x 65 cm

Material: Presswood, wheels, rope, mysterious content

Year: (2015/-)

 

 

A day job can serve as a perfect source of inspiration. During her first years in Rotterdam Iris was a cleaning lady. Seeing so many houses of strangers a week made her want to capture something of these private spaces without actually stealing something. So she started taking tiny boxes of clay with her to make imprints of the things she found interesting. This all happened in secret, without the knowledge of the owners.

 

Size: 9 cm x 60 cm x 42 cm
Material: unbaked clay tablets, wood, textile, spyglass, gloves.

Year: (2017/-)

 

 

These pictures are part of an ongoing project where the workspace of the artist is transported to a semi-public space: the Photobooth. Found in shopping malls and train stations, you can insert a coin and get your pictures taken. The options are limiting. You only get 3 tries and then you have to pick the one you want to print. Colors are missing sometimes, the lighting is never ideal. Working with these limits, and creating installations within the photo booths, puts the process of making something right in the middle of people's daily life. Not just the end result, but the means to get there is a fundamental part of the work.

 

Size: 16 cm x 11 cm (23 photograps)

Material: photograph, chain, paperclip

Year: (2016/-)

 

Share