Liesje Van Den Berk

My drawings and performances are actions and interventions in different cultural environments to create social dialogue between the individual, the communal and the surroundings. Through the sensory experiences of material and environment, I react to physical space and participate with the audience. I explore the relationship between a body and the traces it leaves on a surface, such as paper or a floor. The dust of found objects and graphite pencils mark memories of a temporary presence, an expression of identity in a site-specific place.
Drawing is the core of my work. Instead of pre-thought drawings that lead to controlled final results I create starting points and principles. I set up interactive situations and provide frameworks in which there is room for diversity and where I encourage non-verbal encounters between people with different cultural and social backgrounds. People are invited to join, a theatre maker, a dancer or a musician, a casual passer-by or the public from the performance. Traces and memories gradually emerge as reflections of the act.

2000-2004
Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht, Bachelor of Fine Art and Design in Education, Utrecht (NL)
2017
Urban Collage: Sensing Spatiality Inside and Outside the Museum by Christina Georgiou, Loukia & Michael Zampelas Art Museum, Nicosia (CY)
2013
Masterclass by Jans Muskee, Drawing Centre Diepenheim (NL)
2011
Performance Art Studies, Pas #20 in context by BBB Johannes Deimling, Marcel Sparmann, Antoni Karwowski, Johannes Schroeder and Ingolf Keiner, Berlijn (DE)

2024
Tekenkabinet
Galerie Getekend
Limburg Biennäle, Marres
2023
Kunst-Torentje, Almelo (NL)
Tekenkabinet
‘The order of the Drawing’ Drawing Research Group, Loughbourough University (UK)
The Drawing Box, Glasgow (UK)

2022
Big Art, Bajeskwartier, Amsterdam (NL)
Power of Collaboration, Treehouse NDSM, Amsterdam(NL)
Awaken, first order and beyond, DRAWinternational Galeries and Les Abattoirs in Caylus(FR)
Wijklegendes, Mestlab, Arnhem(NL)
Tekenkabinet, Amsterdam / Groningen(NL)
Anonyme Zeichner, Galerie im Körnerpark, Berlijn(DE)
Wintertijd, galerie Getekend, Heerenveen(NL)

2021
off- line- on, 37 PK, Haarlem (NL)
Fysische ontmoetingsvormen, Tolhuistuin, Amsterdam(NL)
Tekenkabinet, Amsterdam (NL)
Dear Babies, House by Kubrick, Taikoo Plaza, Hong Kong (HK)
Artistsupportpledge, De Balie, Amsterdam (NL)

2020
Houtskool, WG kunst, Amsterdam (NL)
Galerie Getekend, Heerenveen (NL)
Mind Your Step, Zone2Source, Amsterdam (NL)

2019
Embodied Lines, Drawing Centre Diepenheim (NL)
Een lijn kan je ook samen trekken, Nieuw Dakota, Amsterdam (NL)
Open studio, DRAWinternational, Caylus (FR)
Nasty Women, de Balie, Amsterdam (NL)

2018
Draw 2, Kunstliefde, Utrecht (NL)
Anonyme Zeichner, Galerie im Körnerpark, Berlin (DE)
Daily Traces, Lil’ Amst...