anouk van drunen fotografie

I visited The New Current during Art Week 2022, below you can read my experiences.

The first floor feels like a dystopian space with art installations about human life and future. You are seduced into this eerie world challenging our views of the human body and our relation to the outside world.

The 3D animation made by Christine Kappe is questioning what the concept of a human body means in a digital world. In her own words: “A body in conflict, an empty vessel, trying to relate, attempting to sense.” As I interpret it, what is left of our body, maybe even our humanity?, when we enter the digital space. You can watch her work online (see the links at the bottom of this article).

Next a “filthy bed” is shown in an installation by Annebel Bruschinski. She shows the intimate connection that people have to their beds which are discarded when we no longer need them. Annebel forces us to take a longer look at the objects in our life.

The challenging perspective of Eva Lute about our mediated way of living through camera’s was interesting to me as a photographer. “Me is you” you’re doing the same thing as the person before you and after you, is what she tells during this experience where you get photographed yourself. After being photographed you see the picture of the person before you. It is an attempt to make us look at each other in a different way, can we see the vulnerability of the other in this way? Take a look at her website for an idea of the experience.

The audiovisual installation by Tina Farifteh questions our relation to immigration and refugees. A topic close to my heart since I wrote a dissertation about this a long time ago. A chilling build up in video and sound, she shows the deadly effects that water can have and makes us listen to the narrative surrounding this topic. A story deserved to be heard and seen.

Christine Kappe

Annebel Bruschinski

Eva Lute

Tina Farifteh

On the second floor our quest continues with video installations that shed their light on us and the space at the same time making. Jun Ortega has made an audiovisual installation with mirrors in waterlike shapes that make for beautiful light reflections and a mesmerising video. Watch (part of) it through the link below. The photographs also show the work by Thea Aaboe Knarberg and Carl Rethmann.

Finally the third floor continues with showing humans' positive relation to nature, how it can help us relax and find meaning. Especially the bathtub by Olenka Limburg resonates with me. The artists’ Ode To Sorrow shows how humans can retract themselves from the outside world into their bathtub and let in their feelings. Maybe this will help to start feeling better. Photographs are also showing the work of Ella Hebendanz.