Machteld Aardse
Machteld Aardse, born in Eersel in 1972, is a multimedia artist based in Amsterdam. Drawing is her basis from which her work seeks out other media, such as animation and light projection, finding their edges in order to make them mutually resonate within new physical levels. She is intrigued by varying views on the world and the urban memory. Most of her work is executed in the public spaces. She is part of De Beeldvormers, Art Partner and the Moving Academy for Performing Arts (MAPA).
Machteld Aardse (1972) is a multimedia artist based in Amsterdam. After getting a Masters Degree in Art History at the University of Amsterdam, she completed a BFA in Fine Arts at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam and an MFA in Public Art at the Dutch Art Institute. She is part of De Beeldvormers, Art Partner and the Moving Academy for Performing Arts (MAPA). Her works have been exhibited among others at the Nederlandsche Bank, the New York Islands Festival, the Women’s Art Festival in Aleppo Syria, Museum het Rembrandthuis, the Hollandsche Schouwburg and the Amsterdam Light Festival. Together with Aida Grrovestins she produced the documentary film Quitte le Pouvoir and made drawings for the animations in the film.
Machteld Aardse’s work, in all its versatility, shows a recurring fascination for the performativity of drawing. To Aardse, a drawing is always more than a depiction of the world, a drawing is an intervention in the world. By sitting down with a sheet of paper and a bunch of pencils or crayons and asking someone to strike a pose, a small, intimate theatre comes into being: the person portrayed tries out different poses, a dialogue unfolds, time passes. By means of videos, installations and performances, Aardse then explores the implications of the ‘drawing scene’ and what is revealed after the portrait is completed. A finished portrait always shows more than just the person portrayed and the way she wants to present herself to the world. By hanging a portrait somewhere, or by simply giving it to the person who just has been drawn, a second scene emerges. We are now not just confronted with the fantasies, desires and fears of the individual who is being subjected to the artist’s gaze, we are also being confronted with how these feelings are embedded in a concrete social context. (Yasco Horsman)
Studies
2013 • 3D lab Haarlem www.3d-lab.org, The Netherlands – Masterclass
2005 – 2007 • Dutch Art Institute (DAI), Enschede, The Netherlands – Public Art (MFA)
2006 • Academy for Film and Television, Munich, Germany – SAGA Writing Interactive Fiction
2005 • The Moving Academy for Performing Arts (MAPA), Haarlem, The Netherlands – Masterclass projection techniques
2002 • Academia di Belle Arti della Brera Milan, Italy – with Luciano Fabro (Arte Povera)
1999 – 2004 • Gerrit Rietveld Academy Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Fine Arts (BFA)
1992 – 1998 • Universiteit van Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Art History & archeology (MA)
1996 • Museum Boijmans van Beuningen Rotterdam, The Netherlands – internship drawings & prints
Selected Exhibitions
2018 • Helmond, Cacaofabriek, group exhibition, The Netherlands
2017 • Prag Art Works, group exhibition, Czech Republic
2017 • You and the London Sky, Gallery Kalkmarkt 8 Amsterdam, April/May, The Netherlans
2017 • Den Helder, O Vaarwel! Vergeet mij niet, light projection, The Netherlands
2016 • Milan, AMACI (Associazione Musei de’ll Arte Contemporanea Italia), the Sea light projection, Italy
2016 • Dropstuff, in the public space, Amersfoort, Hilversum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
2015 • Zaandam, Phenix building, light projection / drawn animation, The Netherlands
2015 • Beamlab Open Air, Art’Otel, Amsterdam, the Sea light projection, The Netherlands
2015 • Quitte le Pouvoir, screening Cinema Louxor Paris / London / Malesia / Senegal / USA
2014 • Quitte le Pouvoir (Wade Get Out!), documentary with animations, premiere World Cinema Festival Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2014 • Castrum Perigrini Amsterdam, Quitte le Pouvoir (Wade Get Out!), documentary with animations, preview & exhibition, The Netherlands
2013 • Amsterdam Light Festival & Hollandsche Schouwburg, Vaarwel / Last Words, light projection, The Netherlands
2011 • Amsterdam, Museum Rembrandthuis, light projection, The Netherlands
2010 • Enschede, The Island, premiere documentary, The Netherlands
2010 • New York New Island Festival / Terschelling Oerol Festival, SLeM, Wind Nomads, USA
2009 • Group exhibition, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), The Netherlands
2007 • Aleppo Women’s Art Festival, Samar, video installation, Syria