IN CONTEXT AND COLLABORATION
Free work in context
With great love for analog photography, free work is my starting point in making images. Also ‘moving photographs’ are slowly becoming a part of my work.
Exhibiting and bookmaking are my favorite ways collaborating and sharing my work. Two examples are solo shows at SPACE PLACE Gallery (RU) and SEA Foundation (NL), and a multidisciplinary exhibition titled Unmapped. My photobooks To pick up a stone (2020) and Anchors (2016) have been published by The Eriskay Connection and taken around the world. Both books are available in their webshop (click here).
My work is also for sale and recently I had the pleasure of making an artwork with my photographs for public space, commissioned by city council of Tilburg.
“It’s like a meditation.” – Evgeny Komuhin, SPACE PLACE Gallery, Nizjni Tagil, Ural, Russia.
“Surprisingly quiet exhibition and special book.” – visitor solo exhibition To pick up a stone, SEA Foundation
“It’s counterintuitive to think that a photograph might also register other, more subjective sensory information – the so-called ‘secondary qualities’ of taste, sound, smell and touch. But den Boer uses the camera in exactly this way.” – Eugenie Shinkle, Reader in Photography, Westminster School of Media Art and Design, London
“Wij zijn een stad van makers. En juist in deze stad en deze omgeving is kunst en cultuur heel belangrijk. Een uniek project zoals dat van Claudia den Boer, over meer dan 100 meter, past daar perfect bij.” – Marcelle Hendrickx, Wethouder Cultuur
I strongly believe in the idea that places have a major influence on our state of mind.
Collaboration & research
Exchanging thoughts and ideas through collaboration is something I value and also love to do. It broadens perspectives on both sides of a collaboration and deepens the subject at hand. In co-creating with other disciplines I bring my way of looking into a project with themes involving place, space and stillness.
(Research) projects about the city, urbanism and public space I find very interesting to do. Research project and publication Verborgen Stad is an example of this; a multi-disciplinary collaboration where the ribbon structure of the city Tilburg was approached from multiple angles.
“Verrassend (en ook overtuigend) zijn de fotografische essays van Claudia den Boer.” – Sjoerd Cusveller, recensie Verborgen Stad, S+RO 1 2011
In collaborations with performing arts I expand my photography to the space of the scenography of dance pieces. Cataract is an example of this; a collaboration inspired by philosophy and converted into dance and imagery. For this project I made stage- and content specific images. Several showings and after talks to connect with the audience where part of this project.
For project YMOI, a multidisciplinary and multicultural project, I was invited to Malaysia. This project is another example of a collaboration with performing arts. On site I made photo series Silent Witness about Malaysian culture, using themes place, space and stillness to tell the story. The exhibition, dancepiece and a short documentary were part of Butterworth Fringe Festival 2018 to bring attention to and reflection on Malaysia’s cultural identity.
Dialogue
Dialogue is about connecting to one and other and has the power to deepen empathy. It’s one of the reasons I like to collaborate. For me dialogue means connecting to people through teaching in creative classes or museum, (guest) lectures, workshops and (book) presentations.
“Claudia heeft oog voor haar omgeving en haar open houding tegenover andere kunstenaars in samenwerkingsverbanden maken dat ze een waardevolle ‘speler’ is.” – Ivonne van der Velden, curator Willem Twee kunstruimte Den Bosch, projectleider, adviseur Beeldende Kunst.
Photo by Imara Agulo Vidal
