Artist in residence
Artist Bianca Sistermans and poet Eva Gerlach were invited as artist in residence at the University of Twente. They visited a number of labs at UT and a new series emerged: "The possibility exists", photographs and poems of precarious still-life-situations from the labs.
EVA GERLACH
Eva Gerlach, pseudonym of Margaret Dijkstra, was born in Amsterdam on 9 April 1948. She studied Spanish, cultural anthropology and literary studies for several years. She is not only a poet, but also occasionally makes translations. She made her debut in 1979 with the poetry collection Verder geen leed. This was followed by more than 20 collections, which regularly won awards. In 2000, she received the highest Dutch literary award, the P.C. Hooft Prize, for her oeuvre.
BIANCA SISTERMANS
Photography and literature always come together in Bianca Sistermans' work. An interweaving that is expressed in many ways: from writer's portraits to entering into close collaborations with writers, and projects in which her photos form the starting point for new stories. Among others, Sistermans worked with K. Schippers (Alledaagse ergernissen and the Baby Seahorse), Hester van Hasselt (Hier besta ik en Een mogelijk begin van veel), Eva Gelach and Sasja Janssen (Alledaagse ergernissen), Kreek Daey Ouwens (Tasting the Building). Her long-running series Alledaagse ergernissen was shown at Art Rotterdam, BredaPhoto, De Vishal, the Kunsthal Rotterdam and several times at Cokkie Snoei, among others. Publications on her projects appeared in, among others, Volkskrant Magazine, De Standaard, Trouw, NRC, Het Parool and Filosofie Magazine. She also published books with Querido publishers, AFdH publishers and published several books under her own management. She is currently working with Coen Simon, philosopher and editor-in-chief of Filosofie Magazine, on the series Het menselijk gewoon.
The exhibition The possibility exists will be accompanied by a collection, featuring work that photographer Bianca Sistermans and poet Eva Gerlach made in laboratories at the University of Twente last summer.
Bianca Sistermans herself told magazine De Ingenieur:
"The germ of the collection lies in an assignment for the Magazine De Ingenieur. When I photographed professor Loes Segerink near the Enschede campus for the DRIVE column, the conversation turned to the sometimes chaotic reality of lab life: a closed space where one hopes for discoveries, but where, at the same time, all sorts of things can go wrong."
The conversation resulted in an invitation to spend two weeks at the lab as artist in residence. Sistermans asked P.C. Hooft Prize winner Gerlach to come with her.
"We went in blank, but gradually we came to the idea that in the lab anything is possible. That's how we came to the title.
The Possibility Exists, featuring photographs and poems at the intersection of art and science, has been published by Vleugels Publish
Bianca has an extensive website where you can see more of her work. Click on the link below.