Karin Trenkel: North Sea Ocean Paradise

Exhibition

May 17 – June 21, 2003

Project Description

The observation of her direct surroundings is the starting point for the installations and objects by the Dutch artist Karin Trenkel. During the last few years her work is either dealing with the subject matter of the interior or with the Dutch landscape. Throughout history, the Netherlands overcame the sea and the terrain is now almost entirely manmade. This has been the subject of many experimentations in the field of urban development, trying to consider the rationality of uses as well as the “enjoyment” of its users.

In this installation conceived for Skol entitled North Sea Ocean Paradise, Trenkel’s view is focused on Rotterdam, where the artist has been living for 14 years. Trenkel transforms her impressions of the city into a 3-dimensional collage, and like a stage designer she recreates a typical Dutch cityscape in the gallery space.

In this setting an atmosphere of ambiguity is present; on one hand the rational elements dominate the scene, with a rigidity and strictness which reflect an exaggerated tendency for order and perfection. On the other hand, its seriousness is opposed by a sense of playfulness, an air of ennui versus a feeling of pleasant silence. Doesn’t the desire to create something nice, cozy and warm, often go too far and turn into the opposite?