Saskia Noor van Imhoff: #+32.001 Hot-bain marie drop-in

Saskia Noor van Imhoff, winner of the seventh edition of the ABN AMRO Art Award, has created a new installation at the Hermitage Amsterdam: in #+32.00¹ Hot-bain marie drop-in., the artist makes associative links among unexpected elements that include architecture, interior space, culture and nature.

In sculptures reminiscent of refrigerated display cases, Van Imhoff incorporates references to artworks she purchased at an auction of decommissioned works that had previously been held as part of the ABN AMRO Art Collection. As such, the sculptures become like time capsules, frozen moments in which present and past have come to a halt. Also playing a significant role in this installation are the materials salt and stone. Salt, which today can serve as a sustainable insulation material, has traditionally been a preservative and flavour enhancer and was once, in Roman times, a form of currency.

But salt also causes erosion, and thus apparently immutable rocks are made to change form. Van Imhoff compares such natural processes with the development and dynamics of an art collection that changes over the course of time due to the acquisition and de-accessioning of works. One of the first cash dispensers, from the historic collection of ABN AMRO, is also included in the installation.

Within the exhibition, Saskia Noor van Imhoff gives rise to questions around growth, transitoriness and the value of art. In reproducing and adapting images, interconnecting them by way of association, her work engenders a variety of connotations. In including and adapting the environment within her work, Van Imhoff persists in telling new stories, encouraging unorthodox observations and reflections on the part of the viewer.

Publication
Accompanying the exhibition is the publication #+33.00¹ Packaging must not be damaged. Observe the best before date., realized in close collaboration with the designers Mevis & van Deursen and incorporating contributions from authors whose ideas build upon Van Imhoff’s work. Included in the book are essays from art historian Ilse van Rijn, artist and writer Jasper Coppes, CEOABN AMRO and President of the ABN AMRO Art & History Foundation Kees van Dijkhuizen, and an introduction by Danila Cahen, curator of the ABN AMRO Art Collection. Furthermore, a portion of this published edition is itself an integral element within the installation #+32.00¹. Thus, #+33.00¹ is in countless ways a unique and compelling addition to Van Imhoff’s body of work.

#+34.00 at Circle.ART
In conjunction with the exhibition #+32.00¹ Hot-bain marie drop-in. at the Hermitage, Van Imhoff has organized the installation #+34.00 at Circle.ART, the ABN AMRO art space located in the bank’s circular pavilion on the Zuidas. Compiled from works held within the ABN AMRO collection, #+34.00 contrasts the Hermitage exhibition, where the artist refers to decommissioned works that are no longer part of the collection. Van Imhoff’s intuitive and associative selection of works from the ABN AMRO Art Collection touches on themes that relate to concealing and revealing – ideas that she actively explores in her own work, raising questions about presence and visibility that often have no straightforward answers. The two presentations complement each other but can also be viewed independently like successive chapters in a book. #+34.00 can be viewed until May 17, 2018.

Saskia Noor van Imhoff
Saskia Noor van Imhoff (Canada, 1982), studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam (2004–08) and was a participant at De Ateliers (2010–12). Since then her work has been shown in various solo and group exhibitions at, among others, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and De Appel, Amsterdam (2016), the Gwangju Biennale in Gwangju, South-Korea (2015) and at Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam (2013). Saskia Noor van Imhoff’s work is held in major collection including that of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Museum Voorlinden in Wassenaar and the Verbeke Foundation in Kemzeke (Belgium). In 2017, Van Imhoff was nominated for the Prix de Rome.

ABN AMRO Art Award
The ABN AMRO Art Award aims to be a stimulus for talent in the Netherlands. The quality and singularity of the work are primary criteria. The winner receives an exhibition at the Hermitage accompanied by a catalogue and a monetary award of 10.000 euros. An acquisition of the artist’s work is also made for the ABN AMRO art collection. The prize has previously been awarded to Fahrettin Örenli (2004), Eylem Aladogan (2005), Ryan Gander (2006), Melissa Gordon (2007), Melvin Moti (2015) and Marijn van Kreij (2016).

The ABN AMRO Art Award takes place within the context of the bank’s sponsorship policy: ‘We like to support single minded individuals in their pursuits. They are the driving force in our society, for when they attain their goals, we all benefit. As a bank, we take the responsibility to foster, stimulate and celebrate this single-mindedness. We do so in the fields of sport, art and culture, and entrepreneurship.’

Jury for the 7th ABN AMRO Art Award
Members of the jury for the 2017 ABN AMRO Art Award were Lex ter Braak (Director, Jan van Eyck Academie Maastricht), Danila Cahen (Curator, ABN AMRO Art Collection), Bart Rutten (Artistic Director Centraal Museum Utrecht), Berend Strik (visual artist) and Silvia Zonneveld (Managing Director, ABN AMRO MeesPierson/Private Wealth Management).

In granting the ABN AMRO Art Award to Saskia Noor van Imhoff (Mission, Canada, 1982), the jury has selected ‘an artist who explores her surroundings in an idiosyncratic manner and makes unexpected connections in doing so. The process of ordering, exhibiting and archiving art plays a key role in her spatial installations. Van Imhoff shuffles everything together: painting, sculpture, design, poetry and architecture. In that sense Saskia Noor van Imhoff is a representative of the times, in which, partly due to the influence of the Internet, everything interrelates and can coexist.’ For further information, please see the complete jury report.

Source: Hermitage