Viewing Room: Nummer veertien, home

GRIMM Press Release, May 11, 2020

GRIMM, LUHRING AUGUSTINE, and MONITOR are pleased to collaborate on a solo exhibition of works by Guido van der Werve, to be presented exclusively online starting on May 19 across the three galleries' websites.


The online exhibition features sixteen unique photographic stills from the artist’s film Nummer veertien, home (2012).

 

Nummer veertien, home retraces the journey of Van der Werve’s idol, the composer Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849), who after being exiled from Poland lived in Paris for the remainder of his life. Throughout the documented performance, Van der Werve’s initial mission to deliver a cup of Polish soil to the composer’s grave at Père Lachaise in Paris unfolds into an incredible feat of athleticism, equivalent to a 1,500-kilometer triathlon. The artist swam, cycled, and ran from the Church of the Holy Cross in Warsaw to Paris, spanning the distance between the resting place of Chopin’s heart and the grave where the composer was formally buried. Van der Werve’s quest is intertwined with his own personal narrative and the tale of Alexander the Great (356 BC – 323 BC), who like Chopin, also died on foreign soil.


The film, Nummer veertien, home is included in the permanent collections of the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (NL), MWOODS, Beijing (CN), Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem (NL), the Rabobank Collection, Utrecht (NL).