About our work:

As of 2005 we have been collaborating together as an artistduo, stemming from our shared interest in how people relate to their surroundings. In the projects we created since then we have tried to investigate the friction of regulation and improvisation in relationship to the planning of society and space. We posed to ourselves the question: In what ways are the social behaviors of people influenced by the regulations within certain spaces? How is the design of this space defined by the competition between different interests? And how do negotiations about space manifest? We draw from the characteristics of a certain place or context in order to investigate the manner in which it functions. We are not searching for linear statements, but for new possible links within the totality of interest and circumstance.

During our artistic practice we gradually developed an interest in political and economical values defining social behavior and social structures in relation to the design of public space. Our aim is to unravel hidden hierarchies and to offer an insight into the contradicting interests defining the use of public space. Our goal is to analyze ideologies of freedom and their manifesting of institutional, theoretical and economical forms of both direct and indirect exclusions. We create test-situations to challenge people to redefine their relationship with their surroundings and their personal attitude towards ‘citizenship’. 

The projects we initiate evolve from observations within specific environments. They are interpretations of essential local elements and we try to place them in a universal framework. All of our artwork can be considered as test-situations for investigating our sociological and anthropolical questions and observations. The works often appear ephemeral and are mostly not immediately recognizable as art. They balance between autonomy and functionality. This practice gives us the opportunity to relate to our audience in a more informal and direct way. It is necessary for us to communicate explicitly with the public related to the contexts, as these dialogues are a vital part of our research. 

We tend to work within spaces or contexts that offer some sort of resistance, in order to analyze the friction and produce new possibilities and meanings. The test situations are meant to generate an answer to the question: What methods are effective in order to stimulate people to rethink their existing reality? We work to contribute to an awareness of how human behavior is influenced by the dominating standards within the surroundings. We believe it is important to investigate to what extent citizens are able to influence their surroundings. We try to create new relations in order to rethink beyond clichés and prejudices about the consequences of the regulation of our behavior. We do not pretend that these new relations are synonymos with improvements. Our primary goal is to create a platform for reflection where the existing circumstances, the sensitive topics and the unspoken hopes and dreams can be questioned and discussed. We moderate the dialogue among the audience involved in a project and we visualize the relationships between the different perspectives. We try to keep the balance between an open mind and a critical approach towards the subjects of our exploration. 

Our focus lies solely in creating projects within the public sphere and searching for new tools to break through indifference and empty formalization. We combine these public interventions with presentations and exhibitions within artspaces. The documentation of the works provides accessibility for a broader public and creates moments for reflection upon the experiments. Our approach is conceptual; we choose our media based on the demands of a concept.

*  About our work

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*  'An alternative Cairo reality crafted by its people'Lina Attalah, First Published: March 24, 2009, Daily News Egypt, English

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*  'Ruimtelijke niveaus van witheid'
Freek Lomme about Interfacing Space. 2006, Dutch

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*  'Basis... is een proces'
Liesbeth Bik, introduction text about Segment XV, 'Basis'.
2005, Dutch

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