Maarten Overdijk

Inverse Archaeology

Opening 29 October 2011 15.00 - 19.00

29 October until 10 December 2011

Open on Sunday 6 November 14.00 - 17.00

25 - 27 November

Amsterdam Gallery Weekend, alongside the RijksakademieOpen 2011.

Saturday 26 November 10.00 - 11.30

Gallery breakfast and artist talk by Maarten Overdijk

Please make a reservation via

Opening hours during the weekend:

25 - 26 November 10.00 - 20.00

27 November 10.00 - 17.00

Press Release

Jeanine Hofland Contemporary Art proudly presents the first solo exhibition of Dutch artist Maarten Overdijk (1977, NL) in the gallery entitled ‘Inverse Archaeology’.

The title of the exhibition ‘Inverse Archaeology’ refers to a method that serves to reflect on and analyse the mental construction of our daily physical environment. Instead of excavating artefacts and traces of the past from deep under the soil, the term ’inverse archaeology’ emphasizes surfaces and surface features which determine our individual perceptions.

By stressing and exploring the spatial and phenomenal qualities of the canvas, the artist moves beyond the Greenbergian idea of the flatness of the medium of painting - and simultaneously beyond its illusive effect. In this respect the physical presence of the painting itself moulds the context and starting point for Maarten Overdijk’s art practice and for this exhibition in particular.

In the exhibition several two-dimensional geometrical surfaces are transformed into three-dimensional objects and vice versa by means of their placement, materiality, deformation and by merging and juxtaposing their individual qualities with the architectural features of the space. In this manner the works obtain a certain ‘stage presence’, like props in a scene, to trigger the viewer to project from memory, fill-in the gaps, and cause moments of ‘snapping in’ and ‘snapping out’ of the experience. At these transformative points, spatial experience is converted into a temporal experience, and the viewer may find him or herself briefly inside a moment. Within this setting the artist aims to create awareness about the embodied sensory connection with the surrounding space, and to evoke questions about the relation between mental and physical space, and the role of memory as a process of mental and social(re)construction.

Maarten Overdijk received a PhD in the Psychology of Human-Computer interaction and was an artist in residence at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam (2009-2010) and at the Dutch Institute in Rome (2010). His work has been included in several group exhibitions in The Netherlands and throughout Europe and in 2009 the artist was the recipient of the Royal Prize for Autonomous Painting Audience Award.

Download this press release here(.pdf)