Walter van Rijn

Walter van Rijn

Godalming, Surrey, United Kingdom

About Walter van Rijn

How Can You And I Ever Be Free In the 21st C? My work explores the natural and digital networked world and its many contradictions. From big data to detail, from large collections to one object, entities move through both these worlds and are transformed and hybridised by it. How Can You And I Ever Be Free In the 21st C?, is a question I keep on asking. And what is Freedom from human rights and environmental point of view? I create work that combines art and design, hybrids of image and text in digital and analogue form. The artworks can take any shape and have an unusual and speculative way of distribution and communication. Recently, I use meta-data as my material and create work in the form of typefaces, fictive collections and algorithmic text-based work. A cross-media practice which is dispersed alongside exhibited multi-media installations through printed matter, performances, public art, and websites. I am born in the Netherlands and live and work in the UK.

Education:

2015 PhD Fine Art. Thesis: Rethinking The Status Of The Art Object Through Distribution. University of Southampton.
2007 MA Fine Art by Project with distinction. Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton. Awarded Art & Humanities Research Council funding. Profiled by AXIS: Selected MA Graduates.

Events:

2019 The Other Art Fair, London.

Exhibitions:

2018 Time After Time, John Hansard Gallery. Curated by Stephen Foster. Artists: Caroline Bergvall, Victor Burgin, Hamad Butt, John Latham, and Charlotte Posenenske, Walter van Rijn. Performances with Jane Birkin and Iain Morrison (poet in residence).
2018 Print and Process. Special Collections Gallery, Hartley Library Uni. of Southampton.
2018 Instagram exhibition, online @VVVR___ Unconsumable Global Luxury Dispersion.
2017 SO: To Speak Festival of Words in Southampton. Performance with Jane Birkin.
2017 How Can You & I Ever Be Free In The 21stC. Poster on public billboard 3x6m. #REDboard2017. Commissioned by Red Contemporary Arts. Funded by Hull UK City of Culture.
2016-2018 Unconsumable Global Luxury Dispersion. Research & Development project at the John Hansard Gallery. Commissioned by the gallery and supported by the Arts Council England.
2016 Designed and published Being Human Font software [https://fontlibrary.org/en/font/being-human]
2015 Telephone. Collaboration with The Satellite Collective, New York. Showing Off-Site Desert Showroom (2013).
2014 Image-Text-Object: Practices of Research. Hartley Library Gallery L4 (University of Southampton).
2013 Furtherfield Gallery. IRL exhibition 0P3NR3P0 as part of Glitch Moment/ums . Showing audio work A Artist St Artistff.
2013 John Hansard Gallery. Unfulfilled Universe Untitled text-based printed work and performance, part of Juneau Projects: I am the Warrior.
2012 Yes we’re open. Exhibition at the Netherlands Media Art Institute, Amsterdam, NL. Online collaboration showing digital prints and audio [02.6.2012-till the closing of the institute].
2012 Designed and published SymLogiDIN Font software with hybrid letters and words. Also designed with laser cutting in mind. Applied in multiple projects, posters, gallery guides etc. for exhibitions at Winchester Gallery, John Hansard Gallery and NiMK Netherlands Media Art Institute, Amsterdam, NL.
2012 (Im)Possible School Book: As Found. Contributed a version of the TITLE(date) project to the event and book (Im)possible School organised by Edward Dorrian (Project Space Five Years). This event formed part of the Tanks Summer School evenings at Tate Modern.
2012 Mein Atelier- My Studio. In collaboration with Stuttgarter Kunstverein e.v. Germany.
2009 Sound Unit Awarded public art commission, initiated by Rolls-Royce, Chichester District Council and University of Chichester.
2006 60 x 60. A new music composition project from Vox Novus . Composition Ellipse 5.3 broadcast on Radio City Station New York.
2005 Strange Strolls. Moores Building Contemporary Art Gallery. An audio-walk project for the Fremantle Festival, Western Australia. Curator: Perdita Phillips. Artists: Begum Basdas, Paulo Bernardino and Maria Manuela Lopes, Viv Corringham , Robert Curgenven , Lawrence English, Aaron Coates Hull, Minaxi May , Roxane Permar, Perdita Phillips, Virve Pulver and Aili Vahtrapuu, Ric Spencer, Kieran Stewart, Dorothee von Rechenberg, Walter van Rijn.
2005 Man With a Fly Whisk and a Trident. Otter Gallery, University of Chichester, Curated by Paul Wilson, initiated by Artel.