Kunsthuis SYB

Kunsthuis SYB welcomes artist Wessel Verrijt for a residency from November 13 – December 24. At SYB, Verrijt is working on his research project “Ciliates – Moving Materials.”

Under the title Ciliates – Moving Materials, Verrijt creates a network of new stories about Beetsterzwaag by collecting disregarded materials from the local inhabitants and re-arranging them into new assemblages. The artist who grew up in Lierop, North Brabant, engages in a social interactions and focuses on a new research that blurs the boundaries between art, theater and ritual.

Found materials of others form the departure point for the practice of Verrijt’s work. He assembles collected items of wood, textile, metal and cardboard into new sculptural forms that bear the traces of their origin and history. The sculptures are temporary in nature and together form an amalgam; an organism in which materials travel from sculpture to sculpture and move organically from place to place.

During his residency at SYB, the artist looks for construction containers, visiting farmers and going door to door. This is a way for Verrijt to get to know the region, meet people and its histories. From here, Verrijt begins to improvise performative moments that can be filmed. Within the frame of the camera, for example, a pile of sand on a construction site can suggest a true mountain peak and an old grain silo on a farm can suggest a cathedral as a backdrop.

The research project Ciliates – Moving Materials will result in a public presentation of the films and sculptures at various outdoor locations in the village on Saturday, January 13, 2024.

During Wessel’s residency, Kunsthuis SYB is open on Saturdays and Sundays from 13:00 – 17:00.

About the artist
Wessel Verrijt (1992, Lierop NL) creates sculptures, architectural vehicles, tactile mobiles and vibrant characters. They are both robust and fragile, as well as chaotic and orderly. They appear to be living entities and suggest a ritual or a procession that came to a halt. The sculptures come to life in performances. As such, he explores the idea of ‘living matter’, when body and matter merge and matter takes on human traits and emotions.

The project is made possible by: