Niels Vis

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Untitled (Bedroom at The Glass House by Philip Johnson 1949). 2009. Photograph, variable dimensions.


Via site-specific installations and photographic works, Niels Vis investigates how architectural forms and material elements convey determined ideologies and values. In recent years the artist has focused his attention on the heritage of Modernist architecture and on how our interest and attitude towards the relevance of specific buildings change over time. Vis has used this residency period at RED A.i.R. to analyse the concept of transparency, on an architectural, social and personal level. The result of this research, carried out in the Netherlands and in the US, is now temporarily on display in his studio as a collection of images, video material and texts. From this gathered material, Vis has selected two photographs, which he has placed as billboards in the narrow spaces at the back of his studios. The photographs show respectively a detail view of the bedroom of the Philip Johnson’s Glass House and an overview of one side of the Brick House. Those two houses, planned in 1949 were conceived by Johnson as one project, meant as ‘a lesson in contrast’. Relocated around the actual studio spaces of the artist, they suggest a parallel reading between architecture and the intimate living space of its inhabitants. In this position they expand the character of 'seeing-through', typical of the Amsterdam houses in this area, and emphasize a continuous play of gazes and perspective.

Special thanks to the Fonds BKVB.

Biography:

Niels Vis (b. 1980, Ede, The Netherlands) lives and works in Amsterdam. He graduated at the Fine Art department of the Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam in 2003, received an MA in Fine Arts in 2007 at the Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam and attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Maine (USA) in 2009.

His solo and group exhibitions include:
Twin Localization: Hoorn / Cape Horn.  Hotel MariaKapel, Hoorn, The Netherlands, 2008
+ 19’29”GMT. Kunstvlaai API, Westergasfabriek, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2008
Nowing Nothing of Agility. TENT., Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2007.
Contemporary Passages. TENT., Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2007.
Throughout the last century there have been many developments. De Veemvloer, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2006.
Beautiful Nature. Galleria Comunale d’Arte Contemporanea, Castel San Pietro Terme - Bologna, Italy, 2006.
Space Effects. Expodium, Utrecht, The Netherlands, 2006.