Art venue Dortyart part two: Marije Vogelzang_a life inspiration story

I met Marije a year ago when she showed her work at the design fair Salone di Mobile in Milan.

She blew me away with her strong statements on food design, and how she looks at it. 

Marije calls herself a food-artist, she designs food and re-invents it. "Nature food is all ready so perfect that it doesn't need an extra designer." Marije designs all acts that have to do with food and how we eat it. Food is her medium. Marije Vogelzang, that's rituals, habits, traditions, conversations and psychologies around food. Marije explains " When you design with food, you put this design later in your body. That's very emotional and strong".

Graduating from the Design Academy Eindhoven, Marije Vogelzang studied the highly specialized area of "eating-design". Gaining a reputation for her art, Eindhoven went on to work as a creative force for several food-related businesses before starting her design studio/restaurant Proef (tasting or testing) in Rotterdam in 2004.

When I heard Marije had two installations at Dortyart, we headed to Dordrecht to check it out ourselves.

First of all there was the 'PASTA SAUNA', an installation Marije brought to Dortyart as her existing piece (See post Dortyart part one)

The idea is that you join in as a visitor. The Pasta Sauna is a space you enter to get a bowl of freshly cooked pasta, while the boiling water steams the surroundings, creating a sauna. Not only will the pasta make you feel lazy and slow, but the sauna as well! 
After you received your bowl with fresh pasta, you can add some basil, parmesan and other herbs to spice up your dish.

The girls making, preparing and serving the pasta are wearing fun jumpsuits with wing-fringes of pasta like tissue. It completes the experience. Ah, yes,and did we mention that the pasta-machines are also music boxes?

After the pasta installation, that she introduced for the first time in NY during Performa 09, Marije created another inspirational project, where again as a visitor you could join in and have a 'few' tastes yourself. So I did!

How does it work than? 

Imagine hundreds of white rope pieces (5 km), attached to 24 glass pipettes filled with 24 unusual, unexpected flavors. The ropes are suspended from three cylinders that reach from the ceiling to (just above) the floor what gives a poetic, phantasy feel. 

The idea is that you join the experience with two. One stands in the middle of the Teardrop, dressed in a cute white protection cape, with golden drips painted on it, and the other participant pulls one of the cords to release a drop of flavour to the participant below. 

"I don't believe you"

"What did I wanted to do next?"

"How many pigeons are there anyway?"

In this absurd Alice In Wonderland-like installation certain ropes were connected (besides with the pipettes) with fine handwritten tags. The tags contained phrases like “a fly just flew into my mouth”, “I will always be there for you” and “I’m so tired of myself" and are meant to offer a cryptic clue about what to expect from the flavour.
I tried tree of them (others were a bit dried out), and I must admit, not 'yummie' tasty, but worth the effort. Participating this experiment is fun, visual and stimulates trust and collaboration.
  

"More than a visually powerful installation, Teardrop is also a tool for human interaction and play", Marije confirms on her website.

Marije's Teardrop and Pasta Sauna were on show at DordtYart, a venue that holds it's winter sleep untill March 2014.

Wanna hear Marije explain how she works? Check out this video.

DordtYart

Maasstraat 11
3313 CR Dordrecht
Telefoonnummer: +31 (0)78 632 1200
E-mail: info@dordtyart.nl

©ALL photos by Kate Stockman & Ivan Missinne_THE SQUID STORIES

Art venue Dortyart part one_a life inspiration story

Last week we visited DordtYart for THE SQUID STORIES. 

Again, we managed to visit this intriguing art venue the last day before it’s (winter*) close. I know, not nice: for this season it is too late….That’s why this ‘closing report’ can come so handy. Check out our Dortyart experience and note a must-do-visit on your agenda for 2014.

Dortyart is a unique art park, which is located on an old cultural, industrial site in Dordrecht (the Biesboschhal), a former marine plant in the Stadswerven which will later be transformed to a residential area.

This makes DordtYart an extra-ordinary and temporary project for a period of eight years (until 2020).

DordtYart accommodates modern and contemporary artists who bring always an existing art work to the venue but also make one new one at the spot. 

The art projects are not only in the form of exhibitions but also in the form of productions. 

At Dortyart you can see expositions, video installations, and watercrafts. DordtYart not only offers it's visitors the possibility to view art, it also allows them to get involved with the creation of art, talk with the artists and get into a debat.

The work we first visited was a field ouside in some grass land. Loads of fog floated our way, and you just had to step in. 

Your sight diminished slowly and a foggy, weird soundscape took over your senses (and balance).

Edwin van der Heide installed this work, Fog Sound Environment, on the spit of DordtYart. Sun, rain and wind influence this installation, which he will finish this week. Edwin van der Heide is active in the field of sound, space and interaction as an artist, as well as a researcher. He stretches concepts as composition and musical language so they become spatial, interactive and include other disciplines. 
His work consists of installations, performances and environments. In the centre of his work, he places his public, so they can actively research and explore the work they are in.

Yi-Chun Lo (Taiwan) made a city above the water (See image above during the making of).

Her work is about the relationship among humans, land and the environment. She is concerned with how highly people regard the status of the urbanized environment that humans have created, and the looming crisis of reduced farmland. 

Her materials are also locally and organically sourced as she prefers using recycled and natural to create site-specific artwork. 

See het works as a new skyline, above the water. It was surreal and beautiful.

Before entering the docks, a warning sign indicated: " Enter at own risk. Good for you It's your choice!". Right and funny.

Some last tip. When you're in the environment of Dortyard, you find some weird indications on the way: The "Ark of Noach".

Do check it out, you can't miss it. Especially when you brought some kids, it's like a fata morgana in the middle of the Dutch fields. Look at these....  

Does this project reminds you of another art venue in Belgium where artists are invited also to make installations at the spot during their stay? 
The Verbeke Foundation works indeed in the same spirit, and as always: great minds think alike. Arie Jaap Warnaar, the guy behind Dortyart is a good friend and colleague of Geert Verbeke and his wife. Read more on The Squid Stories. 

DordtYart
Maasstraat 11
3313 CR Dordrecht
Telefoonnummer: +31 (0)78 632 1200
E-mail: info@dordtyart.nl

*Unfortunaltly the museum has no heating, so in winter it can be freezing cold. So, sad but true: DORDTYART IS closed from OcTOBER 6th 2013 Till MArch 2014.

©ALL photos by Kate Stockman & Ivan Missinne_THE SQUID STORIES