
GUIDED TOURS
Marleen Sleeuwits IN SITU
September 16, October 7, November 16, December 12&16
The first solo exhibition in France by Marleen Sleeuwits (1980), IN SITU combines a selection of works by the Dutch artist, produced over the last ten years, with an ensemble from her recent creative residency in the Rouen area.
The solid, glossy, colorful surfaces of the artist’s photographs dazzlingly succeed in concealing the multiple piercings, samplings and other physical operations from which they result. It is primarily in the non-places of the tertiary sector, mass-produced by our post-industrial era, that Marleen Sleeuwits’ images take shape. Taking over a vacant office building in The Hague, she sets about “peeling” the space. Stripping it of its ornaments, she uses a hole saw and a screwdriver to discover an alternative dimension. Here, neon tubes are no longer obediently aligned on the ceiling, but coalesce into a solar, radiant composition. Far from their original purpose, the building materials at hand become raw material for formal compositions that thwart the perception of space. Notions of scale, of inside and outside, no longer apply in the photographic dimension developed by Marleen Sleeuwits.
Showing off her texture and palette, Sleeuwits’ photography mysteriously combines a surface effect with a draught: the eye is drawn in, venturing into the labyrinthine surface in the hope of unravelling illusion from reality. Invited to take up a residency in Rouen, the artist turns her attention to another, geological depth: that of Seine stone and its modes of existence, from riverside caves to Gothic architecture. Back at the studio, moldings and on-site shots are complemented by 3-D prints, models and digital montages, like so many small gestures deposited on the surface of great history.
Marleen Sleeuwits’ creative residency and exhibition were supported by the Mondriaan Fund and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in France, as well as logistical assistance from the Metropole Rouen Normandie, the Culture and Built Heritage departments of the City of Rouen, the Giordani restoration workshop, Rouen, and the association du couvent troglodytique Sainte-Barbe.
Photography: Marleen Sleeuwits, Interior no. 62, 2021. Courtesy of the artist.
Limited number of places, free on reservation.
02 35 89 36 96
info@centrephotographique.com