Isabelle Andriessen — Photo © Nikola Lamburov

Isabelle Andriessen

Isabelle Andriessen (1986, The Netherlands) lives and works in Amsterdam. In her work she explores ways to animate lifeless synthetic material. Whereby these develop their own metabolism and behaviour, apparently beyond her control. In doing so, she explores the sinister world between the living and the lifeless, in a non-human world.

Andriessen studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy and the Malmö Art Academy. In 2016, she participated in the Tracé Kunst & Wetenschap at the KNAW and in 2017-2019 was artist in residence at the National Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam.

She had major solo exhibitions in Museum De Pont, Tilburg (2021) and in CAN Centre d’Art Neuchâtel, Switzerland (2021).

She participated in collective exhibitions including Moderna Museet, Malmö, Sweden (2023); FRONT International Cleveland, Ohio, US (2022); GAMeC, Bergamo, Italy (2020); Modern Museum of Art, Warsaw (2020); 15th Lyon Biennale (2019); and Lafayette Anticipations, Paris (2018).

On display at COME CLOSER

Middelheimmuseum

Isabelle Andriessen, Ghouls - foto © Franz Mueller Schmidt

Ghouls, 2024

Sculpture, new work

The ghouls emerge at the emergency exits and ventilation grilles of the Craeybeckx tunnel. They exude something dark underground, with a hint of fear, death, crypts, and violence. Yet, these sculptures also lure you closer. The strange figures have something enticing about them.

Like a slow performance, they change very subtly: they leak, sweat, and change color. Their eerie appearance brings to mind machinery, infrastructure, and relics. Are they a harbinger of a dystopian landscape, a toxic wasteland from which humanity has disappeared? Or do they suggest development and growth, an endless urge for life? What turns something lifeless into something alive? And is there really such a clear boundary between living and lifeless?

Continuous viewing
Please do not touch