Geeske Bijker

Projektvorschlag für quartier21 (Zusammenfassung) – projekt proposal for quartier21 (summary):

Further work and continuation on Entflechtung which I worked on in Berlin. Studies after colours, lines, structures of Subway (U-bahn).

Each city has its own colour palette and infrastructure. I make (wall)installations with paintings and murals based on studies, slides and photographs which I have made.
My Entflechtung project will go on in Vienna and will be a starting point for new work, also for the exhibition "Unfinished Business" in Kunstverein Medienturm Graz.
My work is about spatial observation and (dis)orientation; it looks clear and unclear at the same time. “Geeske Bijker’s work is an interaction of colours, lines and planes. She plays with our aesthetic expectations, our longing for symmetry and perceptibility to the senses in order to disorganize them in a subtle way. Provocative pink and light blue, neat frames along the walls could be interpreted as an ironic comment on modernist tradition.”
by Jan Maarten Voskuil for the exhibition "Tape This", Arti et Amicitiae, 2006

“Geeske Bijker (1971) makes paintings and murals which consist of planes, lines and strips. Her work flows from the use of personal systematics.

Working in a systematic way seems a starting point for the artist, to use consequently at first, and to rebel against later. The system emerges during the working process in order to be broken down again later on. Paintings succeed each other, originate from each other and form series of an investigation into the working of the image. Whereas the artist used to work with clear references to the physical world outside the painting, her more recent work is of a more abstract level: (spatial) observation.”by Jasper van der Graaf for the exhibition Sainte Victoire #3 – Safe, 2006

Plan and motivation was: Further work and continuation on Entflechtung which I worked on in Berlin. Studies after colours, lines, structures of subway, U-bahn.
“Each city has its own colour palette and infrastructure. I make wall installations with paintings and murals based on studies, slides and photographs which I have made. My Entflechtung project will go on in Vienna and will be a starting point for new work, also for the exhibition Unfinished Business in Medienturm Graz.
My work is about spatial observation and (dis)orientation; it looks clear and unclear at the same time.” 

I managed to make an installation Linie Zwei based on this concept in the Koje of Medienturm. The subway station Volkstheater got a very import role in this work; it was one of my first meetings with Vienna, the place where I lived above and kissed a lover but especially it had the perfect match of colours. 

During this working period I had such a nice energy that I really worked a lot, followed much lectures about new media and digital art (which were very new for me), went to see exhibitions frequently and took the time to learn other artists and writers. Surprised by the many interesting art, nice talks and warm atmosphere it made me feel connected. Unfortunately one month is to short for this very interesting city where seems to happen a great deal. For me it was a pleasant waking call and gave my work a nice boost. Definitely I will come back to Vienna for more research and hopefully combined with a working period. The studio 513 had the most inspiring views.
One remark: an introduction with the other artists-in-residence and the program should be sooner than half way the period like now was arranged. In the beginning it was not quite clear to me what was expected.