Job Koelewijn

In his 1992 graduation project at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Job Koelewijn garnered attention for a performance in which his mother and three aunts, dressed in the traditional costume of Spakenburg, cleaned and polished Rietveld’s famous glass pavilion in a kind of purification ritual. Since then, he has built a tremendously varied oeuvre ranging from photos, films and architectural constructions to books, multiples and room-filling installations. It encompasses both enduring objects and works that last only for a single exhibition.

Koelewijn’s art is idea-based, following in the tradition of Duchamp and the conceptual artists of the 1960s. Yet his art is also strongly sensory in that it appeals to our senses of hearing and smell. He has covered the floor of a medieval hall in Middelburg with dried spaghetti, for instance, so that it breaks and crunches under visitors’ feet, and has plastered a wall in Venice with sweet-smelling baby powder. In The Clock Shop (2003), the artist has built a life-sized replica of a clock shop: the clock hands remain motionless while the entire storefront sways like a pendulum.

Words are a central concern of Koelewijn’s work, which often features the magic of language, books (Untitled (Lemniscaat)) and literature – an interest that could stem from his strict religious upbringing in the small village of Spakenburg. He sometimes uses his own original texts, but more often borrows the words of Dante, Beckett, Marsman and Lucebert, Lao Tse (Dedication means authority) or Osho (Be Realistic Plan for a Miracle).

Since 1 February 2006, his artistic practice has centred on reading aloud. Every day, he records a 45-minute fragment – equivalent to one side of a cassette tape – of himself reading aloud as part of his Ongoing Reading Project. Yet Koelewijn is not concerned with telling stories through his work. Instead, he wants us to see ordinary reality in a miraculous light.