1998
Graduation paper for the Academy for Arts & Design, Den Bosch (NL, later AKV St. Joost). It was written between December 20, 1997 and March 20, 1998. The original paper was loose-leafed, printed on various types of paper and in a variety of fonts, and could be read in random order.
The paper tells the story of uncertain times: climatological shifts – Earth seems to head to an ice age, but at the same time unusually mild temperatures are recorded in mid winter – and an extraterrestrial threat are intertwined with personal recollections.
The paper was awarded best graduation paper of 1998, and published in an edition of 500. Design by Jeroen Van der Ham (Joebob Graphics). ISBN 90-71015-17-3.
2001
The master paper for the MfA Sandberg Institute is an A5 booklet in an edition of 20. Apart from the opening, the texts are made up from letters to art historian Tineke Reijnders, set in a fictional future. In this future, an ice age has a strong grip on the Northern hemisphere, while, due to circumstances unknown, the Southern hemisphere is heating up, causing the Antarctica ice sheet to melt.
The letters are written in a post-apocalyptic world. The narrator houses in the Boijmans van Beuningen museum in Rotterdam, in a frozen Europe, while most of the inhabitants are relocating to milder places, causing a climate fugitive crisis in Africa and South America.
2002
Untitled. Installation at Festival Boulevard, Den Bosch (NL).
KAAP. Cacaofabriek, Helmond.
In 2002, I had a working period at De Nederlandsche Cacaofabriek in Helmond (NL). Since the area is where I’m originally from, I made an installation that would evoke ghosts from my family’s past.
Another installation was made, using analog slide projectors – some with a fade program – and digital, abstract shapes. This was an attempt to make an animation with slides, and a foreboding of 3d modeling.
2003
6000 Watt
Exhibition organized and curated by Alexandra Crouwers in an empty former town house/furniture store in Antwerp.
With Ad de Jong, Alexandra Crouwers, Derk Thijs, Erik van Lieshout, Iris van Dongen, Jan Dietvorst, Lisetteh, Marc Bijl, Martyn F. Overweel, Nanda Smits, Paul Hendrikse, Peter Lemmens, Pieter Dobbelsteen, Robert-Jan Verhagen, Rogier Walrecht, Rolf Schuurmans, Steven Blum, Theun Karelse.
2005
The 30.000 Miles Graveyard.
Animation, 720p, colour/sound, 3’59”, 2005.
Photography-based animation. Soundtrack by Respighi.
Produced during a residency at Kunsthuis Syb, Beeststerzwaag, NL. Supported by Fonds BKVB (Mondriaan Fonds), NL. Screening at 700IS Reindeerland Experimental Film and Video, Reykjavik, Iceland, 2006.
Netwerk. Sugar-free.
01.05.2005 – 04.06.2005
Alexandra Crouwers, Evert Defrancq, Nick Ervinck, Christophe Floré, Peter Morrens, Rebecca Sakoun, Leopold van de Ven, Anne Vernimmen, Ane Vester, Wharton / Leib, Judith Witteman
Installation with 5 small LCD screens, 5 seamless loops (SD digital 3D animation, various lengths, colour/sound), red tubelights.
2007
In 2007, I made a series of large scale drawings in a temporary studio in Ghent.
My short film ‘One Short Story [I]’ was part of the Transmediale film festival in Berlin. While attending the festival, I got interviewed. I remember having a bad case of the flu, and therefor felt not in a great interview shape. In hindsight, I did manage to make some sense, though.
2008
FLACC, Genk.
Working period. Murals, chair, Indian ink, colored tubelights.
Lokaal 01, Breda
Frederik Vergaert of Lokaal 01 in Breda (NL) curated an exhibition as part of the Graphic Design Festival in that city. He selected artists with a ‘design’ component in their work. I was extremely conflicted with the selection for several reasons.
I send Frederik some letters in which I expressed my concern, and ended up making a music video for the song ‘Leaving Montreux’ by Mauro Pawlowski, translating ‘design’ into ‘applied’.
2009
Residency at RAID Projects, Los Angeles
In the Summer of 2009, I was an artist in residency at RAID Projects, Los Angeles (now ESXLA). My main objective was to experience tinseltown. In a way, the residency was a cinema-buff’s pelgrimage.
I ended up drawing most of the time, making a graphic novel out of my residency life.
A rough outline of a publication, Tinsel, was made. View the pdf below.
Dunsmuir
Solo show at Base-Alpha Gallery, Antwerp.
Conceived after the three month residency in Los Angeles in 2009, this exhibition combined murals, prints, and video into a narrative in three stages. The short story of Dunsmuir came to be after a 5 minute drive through the Northern California town of Dunsmuir, which emulated a Stephen King-like experience.
In February 2010, a performance night took place in the exhibition, with musicians improvising on the text of the Dunsmuir animation.
2010
Practical Applied Hermetics
Installation with mural (black acrylic paint on wall), animation projection, safelight. Installation view at S.M.A.K., Ghent (Hareng Saur, 2010) and Le Fresnoy, Studio National des Arts Contemporains, Tourcoing (FR, Visions Fugitives, 2011).
The first incarnation of P.A.H. was made in 2010 at SecondRoom Antwerp as part of a one-night exhibition event. The work was selected for Hareng Saur: James Ensor and contemporary art because of it’s depiction of an Ensor-like, carnavalesque interior.
The soundtrack was kindly provided by musician Tim Vanhamel, who recorded it after a holiday in Morocco.
The work is a large Trompe-l’œil. The viewer gets a sense of moving forward through an artificial nocturnal forest, along with the entire space.
Drawings, Indian Ink and acrylic paint on paper, 150cm x apprx 230cm. 2010-2011.
These series of large scale drawings are based on digital 3D sets.
Comic book
A large portion of 2010 went into a comic book experiment in collaboration with poet and filmmaker Jess De Gruyter.
Weekly meetings provided the script for the next pages. This semi-autobiographical work was in the end deemed by the creators unfit for publication, and is archived indefinitely.
2011
The Order of Volume I.
Animation projection on mural, wooden gate, soundtrack. Installation view at LhGWR Gallery, The Hague.
The Cover Mountain
An multi-disciplinary exhibition in the shape of a publication. With texts by evolutionary biologist Jan Verpooten, Dutch poet (now deceased) Gerrit Komrij, Brussels performer Antoine Boute, musician Mauro Pawlowski, and works by Ad de Jong, Fia Cielen, Romeo Hoornaert, Marc Bijl, Kelly Schacht, Jim Skuldt, and myself.
Edition of 65, including a special edition of 12.
Gate
The gate that was used for the Dunsmuir exhibition (Base-Alpha Gallery) in 2009, and the 2011 The Order of Volume exhibition in LhGWR was made from wood, provided kindly by Geert Verbeke of the Verbeke Foundation.
This scrap wood gate was installed in a small family forest in the South of the Netherlands, as a public intervention. It got stolen after a few months.
2013
The White Hide III
3-channel hyperpanoramic video installation (3xHD1080), colour, sound, 5’31”, 2013
About
A slow travel movement through a post-apocalyptic landscape, from dusk till dawn. Hologram-like elements pop up and disappear again, together with gas-outbursts and volcano eruptions. The frame suggests a painting-like image but also gives the impression to be the outline of a hole in the projectionwall, through which the viewer is watching the scene.
The subtile soundtrack, compiled of wind, bells and the sound of thunder or explosions, add to the otherworldly atmosphere.
The White Hide [III] was produced for and part of On the Precipice, by ISIS Arts (UK).
The installation has two previous versions. The White Hide [I] is an installation with three projected slides and a videoloop. The White Hide [II] is a single screen rendition with sound.
Exhibitions
- 2012 The White Hide [I], Rio/Retro, F44 (sic), Antwerp (B)
- 2012 The White Hide [II], Friday the 13th, RA, Antwerp (B)
- 2013 The White Hide [III], On The Precipice, The Big M, Isis Arts. On the Precipice toured the North-East of England throughout 2013 in The Big M, the tour attracted over 5,800 visitors to The Big M which toured to the Toffee Factory as part of The Late Shows (Newcastle upon Tyne), Saltwell Park (Gateshead), Whitley Bay (North Tyneside), mima Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (Middlesbrough), Woodhorn Museum and Northumberland Archives (Ashington) and Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival (Berwick upon Tweed).
I.M. Dog, Star
Solo exhibition at LhGWR Gallery, The Hague. Includes 5 animation loops, vertical, projected, HD, various lengths, 5 prints. Silent.
A series of dioramas: boxed scenes.
![The Atelier [I], inkjetprint on matte paper, edition of 5, 2013, Alexandra Crouwers](https://usercontent.one/wp/www.alexandracrouwers.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/theatelierklein-e1463148954637-1024x717.jpg?media=1641987775)
![The Atelier [I], inkjetprint on matte paper, edition of 5, 2013, Alexandra Crouwers](https://usercontent.one/wp/www.alexandracrouwers.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/theatelierklein-e1463148954637.jpg?media=1641987775)
2014
The Poisson’s Equation
Seamless loop, animation, HD1080, bw/w, no sound, 3’00”, 2014, edition of 3+1 artist copy
About
In a desolate, nocturnal landscape a barren tree slowly rotates around its axe above a small pond, its roots touching the water surface.
The Poisson’s Equation is an equation used in electrostatics, theoretical physics and the calculation of gravitational forces. In this case, the latter applies.
This image returns as part of the three-channel video installation INERTIA.
2016
The White Hide
A solo exhibition at Studio Omstand, Arnhem (NL).
![Untitled [KAP], Studio Omstand, 2016, Alexandra Crouwers](https://usercontent.one/wp/www.alexandracrouwers.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/dia-zt-1-M-1-1024x649.jpg?media=1641987775)
![Untitled [KAP], slide projection, 1/1, 2016, Alexandra Crouwers](https://usercontent.one/wp/www.alexandracrouwers.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/KAP-diaprojectie-3-s.jpg?media=1641987775)
