Annabelle Binnerts (1995) is a visual artist and writer. Her work revolves around the idea that reading a sentence can be like stepping through a door; there’s another world hidden behind the written words.
Words are at the center of her practice, both as subject and material. She works with language like a sculptor works her clay: as a material that can be bent, shaped, and played with. By doing so, language becomes a material that can surround, envelop or absorb you.
She sees words as shape-shifters, living a double life: one on the page, and one in our heads, evoking ideas, objects, or experiences that are elsewhere. Her work thus calls upon the imagination of the viewer/reader. By placing the text in the exhibition context - for example, executed as textiles or as site-specific murals - she subtly plays with this reading experience. While reading and interpreting the words, space is created for both the poetic as well as the misunderstanding, ultimately leading to a work that’s slightly different for every spectator who reads it.
In her practice, she plays with the explanatory function that is usually expected of texts. Language is often seen as a resource we use to describe and understand the world around us, but it also carries the potential to evoke a different world and thereby move you to another place, or into another body.
In 2021-2022 my work is generously supported by Mondriaan Fonds
Education
2022-2024 De Ateliers, Amsterdam 2018-2020MA Fine Arts, Piet Zwart Institute 2017-2018Bcademie, Rotterdam 2016-2018Art History, University of Amsterdam 2016European Exchange Academy, UK 2013-2017Beeld en Taal, Gerrit Rietveld Academie 2012-2013Precourse, HKU, Utrecht
Exhibitions (selection)
upcoming Offspring 2023, De Ateliers, Amsterdam
Storyworlds / Retracing Connections, Depo Istanbul, Istanbul Elders Collectief, Kortrijk
2023 Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, Woonhuis, Amsterdam Wonderbaarlijke Wezens, Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort 50 jaar Ruigoord: Oase der Verwondering, Ruigoord, Amsterdam Outside the Text, Platform P-OST, Nijmegen
Prospects, Art Rotterdam 2023, Van Nelle Fabriek, Rotterdam
2022 All Water Falls Into Language, Kiraathane Literature House, Istanbul
Smoothing (Lines into Circles) , Tale of a Tub, Rotterdam Wat ik je nog wilde zeggen, exhibition in print, Unformed/Informed
2021 Intuinen,Amersfoort (project in public space)
RE:RE:RE, Academiegalerie, Utrecht Graduation Show, Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam The Passing of the First Threshold, GINDS, Hoofddorp
Wat ik je nog wilde zeggen, TENT, Rotterdam
Open Studios, Casco Art Institute, Utrecht
Bring home what you can hold, public space, Utrecht
2020 Fish and guests smell at three days old, P/////AKT, Amsterdam Call(s) for Graduates, Mister Motley/NEST/Melkweg Expo Expoplu Engage: Departures, Expoplu, Nijmegen UtrechtDownUnder, de Oude Bibliotheek, Utrecht Unlocked/Reconnected, Expoplu, Nijmegen Open Studios, Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam
2019 The trees are inviting the wind, Willem Twee Kunstruimte,Den Bosch Love @ SecondSight, Corrosia, Almere Room for Space, VensterbankLeiden Open Studios, Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam The New Current, Passenger Terminal, Rotterdam Short Ride in a Fast Machine, Moira, Utrecht
2018 Short Ride in a Fast Machine - The Window Show, Moira, Utrecht On my way to the Galactic Supermarket, Need Anything?, Garage Rotterdam, Rotterdam Creme Fresh-De Belofte 13, Kunstliefde, Utrecht Banier Art Festival, Rotterdam
2017
Artist talk during De Mus, Torpedo Theater, Amsterdam ARTY PARTY, Melkweg Gallery Graduation Show 2017, Gerrit Rietveld Academy
Online performance during God Dead Confused in serf, Leeds
2016 Vocabulary of the Void at Galerie Bokboden, Bergen, Noorwegen
Performance during Stedelijk Bookclub: Press! Print! Publish!, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Fairs
2019 Wiels Art Book Fair, WIELS, Brussels
2018 This Art Fair, Beurs van Berlage, Amsterdam Printing Plant Art Book Fair, Looiersgracht 60, Amsterdam
2017 This Art Fair, Beurs van Berlage, Amsterdam Beurs voor Bijzondere Uitgevers, Paradiso
Residencies
2022-2024
De Ateliers, Amsterdam
2021
Residency at Casco Art Institute, Utrecht
Residency at GinDS, Hoofddorp
Publications
upcoming (not titled yet), a zine published by Unformed Informed Publishing
2023 Guest, a pamphlet published by SPTM Publishing
2020
Publication of several short pieces in Short Pieces that Move