PAULIEN OLTHETEN SUITCASE ROUTINES AND SCENES OF THE IMPROBABLE 17, rue des Filles-du-Calvaire 75003 Paris 01 42 74 47 05 www.fillesducalvaire.com [email protected]From October 30 to November 28 2020 Opening on Thursday 29 october 2020, (6 pm - 9 pm )
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PAULIEN OLTHETENSUITCASE ROUTINES AND SCENES OF THE IMPROBABLE
17, rue des Filles-du-Calvaire 75003 Paris01 42 74 47 [email protected]
From October 30 to November 28 2020Opening on Thursday 29 october 2020, (6pm - 9 pm)
« Our life space is neither continuous nor infinite nor
homogeneous nor isotropic. But who knows where
it breaks, where it bends, where it falls apart, where
it gathers? » (Georges Perec)
Following Perec, Paulien Oltheten wants to question space. She reads space
according to those who cross it and act in it: mental spaces as well as physical
ones interconnect in a form of poetic complicity. Oltheten finds her material in the
everyday behavior of people and things, patiently revealing its essence. Tirelessly
she keeps following people and locations, sometimes entering into real but brief
relations with them. With humor and imagination she rebuilds improbable links
between human beings, their businesses and their movements.
Her work echoes the urban theories of American sociologist Richard Sennett, who
states that the configuration of a city’s space exerts a major influence, positive
or negative, on the life of its inhabitants. Paulien Oltheten highlights our repetitive
behaviors in the interaction with urban structures, for example La Defense: «The
esplanade is massive and does not invite you to stay in its center, you have to
cross it, take refuge on the sides. It’s like a loop of repeated actions. There are small
differences, but the great mechanics remain the same.» (Paulien Oltheten)
At the Gallery, Oltheten chose to show emblematic works in the form of photo
installations, performances and videos. In “La Défense, le regard qui s’essaye” she
confronts the graphic project of architects with the repetitive behaviors of the
people who navigate this space, and the occasionally weird presence of objects
in it. Starting from scratch, she constructs encounters between a scientific book, a
family photo album and an ex-teacher’s attaché case, blending fakeness/illusion
with reality/coincidence. The result is a workshop on anthropological observation,
with the artist, in the role of performer, as its subject.
In her first solo show at Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire, Dutch artist Paulien Oltheten guides us through locations she has explored during the past few years: from Iran to Russia, but also the Paris districts “les Olympiades” and “La Défense”. Two years after Rencontre d’Arles, where she won the “Prix découverte”, the Gallery is glad to show an extensive range of her works.
17, rue des Filles-du-Calvaire 75003 Paris01 42 74 47 05 / www.fillesducalvaire.com / [email protected]
PAULIEN OLTHETENSUITCASE ROUTINES AND SCENES OF THE IMPROBABLE
Square, La Défense, 2017
In “NON” she starts from a mural graffiti found in
the “les Olympiades” district of Paris; in front of it,
she captures the people passing by while they
react to its explicit message as a social or a political
statement. Her split-screen film “To those that
will, ways are not wanting” presents observations
of perseverance in two parallel worlds. Oltheten
recorded scenes of people who are maneuvering
through obstacles in Iran and Russia or how they
cross the rivers that are transformed into new
public spaces: the frozen Volga river becomes an infrastructure, and a dried-
up riverbed in Isfahan a peaceful urban transition zone.
Art supersedes the documentary aspect in Paulien Oltheten’s work through a
delicate vision of daily life. A unique choreography arises in a series of photos
taken from her private notebooks, where she punctuates her recordings with
quick sketches and phrases.
This show offers a clear understanding of our day-to-day relations with
the surrounding materiality, and our repetitive ways of dealing with our
environments. These fragments open up a zone between absurdity and
contingency, a space of freedom through the infinite possibilities of never-
ending stories.
17, rue des Filles-du-Calvaire 75003 Paris01 42 74 47 05 / www.fillesducalvaire.com / [email protected]
Paulien Oltheten,Passage, c-print, Tehran 2016Courtesy Galerie Les filles du calvaire
Paulien Oltheten,NON, c-print, Paris 2017Courtesy Galerie Les filles du calvaire
IMAGES AVAILABLE FOR PRESS
Paulien Oltheten,Square, La Défense, 2017Courtesy Galerie Les filles du calvaire
Paulien Oltheten,Reading the news, c-print,. Paris 2016Courtesy Galerie Les filles du calvaire
Paulien Oltheten,La Défense, The venturing Gaze, film still, total duration: 42min35 s, 2017-2018Courtesy Galerie Les filles du calvaire
Paulien Oltheten,Passage, c-print, Tehran 2016Courtesy Galerie Les filles du calvaire
Paulien Oltheten,To those that will, ways are not wanting, filmstill, total duration: 33min35s, Iran_russia, 2018-2019Courtesy Galerie Les filles du calvaire
Paulien Oltheten,Aztek calendar (suitcase), La Défense, 2017Courtesy Galerie Les filles du calvaire
Paulien Oltheten,NON, c-print, Paris 2017Courtesy Galerie Les filles du calvaire
2017
2015
2013
2008
2005 - 2006
2000 - 2004
PAULIEN OLTHETEN(1982, Nijmegen). Lives and works in Amsterdam
Formation / Education/ Residencies
Cité International des Arts, Paris (FR)
Fondatione Ratti, Materials for Performance, workshop with Yvonne Rainer,
Como (IT) ISCP, New York (USA)
ARCUS-project, Moriya, Japan (JP)
Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam (NL)
AKV/St.Joost Academy of Art and Design, Den Bosch (NL)
2018
2012
2010
2004
2004
Awards
Nouveau Prix Découverte at Rencontres d’Arles (FR)
2nd prize / Zilveren Camera Prijs voor Storytelling
(NL) Dutch Doc Award (NL)
Lecturis Art Award (NL)
Sybren Hellinga Prijs 3, Kunsthuis Syb (NL)
St. Lucas Essay Prize, AKV/St.Joost (NL)
Screenings / Performances/ Lectures (a selection)
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2011
2010
2008
2007
2020
2019
2017
2014
2012
2011
2009
2007
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
IDFA, Amsterdam, To those that will, ways are not wanting (NL)
PAC, Milan, Performing PAC: La Défense, The Venturing Gaze (live) (IT)
Jeu de Paume, Paris, performance: La Défense, Le regard qui s’essaye (live) (FR)
De Buren, Photography Performing Humor, performance: centifugal thoughts, Brussels
(BE) KW, The performative minute, performance: centifugal thoughts , Berlin (DE)
Oude Kerk, performance: Centifugal thoughts, Amsterdam (NL)
Vera List Centre, performance: a sort of lecture, with Carin Kuoni, New York (USA)
ISCP, screening: Like romeo and Juliet, ISCP, New York (USA), ICW Jonas Mekas
The Brakkegrond, The second Act (festival) Amsterdam (NL) (exh cat)
MMOMA, Moscow (RU), VoTH
ARCUS project, Moriya (JP), artisttalk/performance moderated by Michiko Kasahara
Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam ( SMBA) (NL), Capricious, young photographers
Solo shows (selection)
Suitcase routines and scenes of the improbable, Gallery Les Filles du Calvaire, Paris (FR)
To those that will, ways are not wanting, AG Gallery, Tehran (IR)
La Défense, The Venturing gaze, Nieuw Dakota, Amsterdam (NL)
Gallery Spot / Office for Photography, Zagreb, Kroatia (HR)
Paulien Oltheten & Anouk Kruithof, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (NL)
It's my imagination, you know, Gallery Fons Welters, Amsterdam (NL)
Kitbag questions, Dvir Gallery, Tel Aviv (IS)
Walk on a line..., Nederlands Foto Museum, Rotterdam (NL),