Amsterdam Art Weekend in One (Very Busy) Day
David Jablonowski at Fons Welters
David Jablonowski makes work that is of our time, yet doesn’t feel trendy. His art is obviously influenced by the internet and the ease of access to information, but he avoids the common pitfalls of post-internet art; his approach feels sincere rather than antiseptic. Jablonowski addresses issues that develop from increased connectivity and multinational fabrication chains and does not even try offer an answer to the common concerns that arise from this type of commentary, but rather he makes objects that are as fascinating to look at as the issues that they challenge.
One of the most exciting artists to break out after documenta13, Cevdek Erek is having his moment as the intellectual techno artist. Constantly reminding us of the visceral and physical experience of sound, his workmore broadly explores how our perception of one sensory experience can be manipulated by our own thinking. His installations aim to create environments that facilitate this disruption.
Janis Rafa at Martin van Zomeren
It is often difficult to tell in Janis Rafa’s work if her outlook is cautiously optimistic, deeply cynical, or even nihilistic. Her videos involve heavy research and culminate in real-time observation and occasionally re-creation of events; the resulting works are dark, contemplative, and inquisitive.
Ciarán Murphy applies paint to the canvas with the intensity of a neo-expressionist, but his compositions are strikingly minimal. His works are small and contemplative, and appear to capture a moment in an uncertain time. Employing strong and deliberate brushstrokes, and muted colors, he creates emotionally distant and haunting works that lead viewers to wonder if these places even exist in reality or if they are fictitious landscapes.
“Meeting Point II” at Lumen Travo
Lumen Travo is an Amsterdam gallery institution. Exhibiting for almost 30 years, it has hosted shows from a disproportionately diverse group of artists—many of whom, years after first showing with the gallery are now globally recognized. Sixteen years ago, the first iteration of “Meeting Point” was shown at the gallery with works by Tiong Ang, Ricardo Brey, and Shirin Neshat, among others. Now in its second iteration, the exhibition puts a similarly global group of up and coming artists on view.
“When Elephants Come Marching In” at de Appel arts centre
Many references to 1960s Western culture try to reconcile the optimistic social power of the moment with the psychedelic drug use and moral flexibility of its participants. Guest curator Mark Kremer, does the opposite—through the trippy lens of the decade, he has organized an exhibition that embraces the influence of vices on the counterculture movement by displaying contemporary works by living artists that are either directly influenced or more amorphously echo the mind-bending work of the time.
In his newest video series Zachary Formwalt connects the physical architecture of the trading floors of global exchange markets with the immaterial nature of the digital trades that are now inherent to buying and selling stocks. Buildings that once housed thousands of screaming traders are now home to servers and hyper-speed cables. From the outside, the change of how business operates is not visible, but Formalt implies that these buildings disclose the reality of what presently happens within them.
