February 5 – March 14, 2015 Opening Reception: Thursday, February 5, 6 – 8 pm

Jasper de Beijer, 2-28-1993 (from ‘Mr. Knight’s World Band Receiver’), 2014. C-Print, 53.94″ x 66.93″, Edition of 7 + 1AP.

Asya Geisberg Gallery is pleased to present Jasper de Beijer’s photographic series Mr. Knight’s World Band Receiver. In his newest series, de Beijer adopts the visual detachment of an infamous hermit by recreating important historical events from his viewpoint. MKWBR is the twelfth conceptual project in the artist’s oeuvre, which continually probes various modes of historical media representation. In each series, de Beijer begins with scale models sculpted from collaged hand-drawn materials, forming a unique combination of drawing, sculpture and photography. Whether about Dutch colonialism in the East Indies, the English Industrial Revolution, or the Mexican drug war, de Beijer’s work remains true to each series’ specific point of view.

MKWBR is inspired by the true story of Christopher Knight, who disappeared into the remote woods of Maine for twenty-seven years. He avoided any contact with the outside world, having only a radio as his source of information. Knight’s imagination was untouched by visual media, and de Beijer tries to approximate this tabula rasa by relying on his own subjective perception of news events such as Chernobyl and Hurricane Katrina, avoiding his usual methodical research and instead using his memories to create an alternate version of reality.

De Beijer’s scenes contain varying degrees of slippage from our own, media-saturated memories. This distance pushes his work into the realm of folklore or archetype, feeling familiar yet not quite accurate, as if a child has drawn his dreams. In “2-28-1993”, which envisions the conflagration at Waco, TX, the trees are more Brothers Grimm than Texan, and the night sky captures the mix of precision and crudeness that perfectly captures a solitary person’s hyper-focus. The flames leap out in a cartoonishly menacing way, and the building itself is a vague symbol rather than a specific place.

Responding to Knight’s echo-chamber of only living in his imagination, de Beijer re-enacts his failure to live in the world as it is, or rather as it is represented, and tries, perhaps in vain, to steer us to a wistful place where we sit around a fire and envision tales told by poets and adventurers. Knowing that unlike Christopher we can never erase being sullied by visual saturation, de Beijer nonetheless points to the power of images that occur as much in our personal interpretation as in the iconic reiterations of our media-deluged era.

Born and based in Amsterdam, Jasper de Beijer graduated from the Amsterdam School of the Arts and participated in the Autonomous Design graduate program at the Utrecht School of the Arts. His solo exhibitions include The Hague Museum of Photography, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, Museum Het Domein in Sittard (The Netherlands), Galerie Ron Mandos (Amsterdam), Gallery TZR-Kai Bruckner (Dusseldorf), Hamish Morisson Gallery (Berlin), the Empire Project (Istanbul) and Studio d’Arte Cannaviello (Milan). He is part of a large number of collections, including the Bank of America, the Gemeentemuseum (The Hague), and the Rabobank collection.

To view images of the exhibition, click here.

The Empire Project is proud to present Jasper de Beijer’s  exhibition at its gallery:
Mr. Knight’s World Band Receiver

Opening at the 15th of January at 18.00 hrs
About Mr. Knight’s World Band Receiver

In 1986, 18-year-old Christopher Knight trekked into the woods. He remained there for the next 27 years, avoiding all contact with other people. Ultimately, Knight was forced back into society when he was arrested for burglarising nearby holiday cabins.

But for decades, the ‘North Pond Hermit’ remained hidden in his improvised camp. He didn’t even make a fire for fear of being discovered. Knight’s only information about events in the world at large came from a small, battery-operated radio.

Knight was more or less untouched by the visual deluge of the past three decades. When he pictured in his mind the events discussed on the radio, Knight had to make do with what he remembered from before leaving. In his dark forest clearing, Knight recast our recent past in a private, increasingly self-contained world of memories.

Jasper de Beijer has attempted to achieve a similar detachment in his series Mr Knight’s World Band Receiver, consciously withdrawing from the iconic imagery that accompany so many of the events of the past 30 years. The pictures that came out of this are a kind of artefacts of an inner reality – or blueprints of an alternate history.

The Empire Project will also show images of Jasper de Beijer’s previous body of work:

Wir sind das Gedächtnis

The dream that was Germany in 1871 is over. The passion and concerted effort that had brought unity to the nation were torn apart by a frustrated Kaiser and a sociopathic dictator. The cities of the former kingdom of Prussia, the cultural heart of the nation, were razed to the ground. Today, after decades of nursing their wounds and repairing the destruction, these centres have recovered some of their former glory.

The artist recently made a study tour past some of the locations that played such a dramatic role in Europe’s recent history. Viewing the reconstructed cityscapes, he wondered how often you can demolish and rebuild a structure before it loses its identity. He imagined a town that has been destroyed for the umpteenth time, and a community that tries to erect a silhouette of its culture from a vague recollection of its past. Using only the primitive means left at their disposal, the townspeople strive to recover their identity, rebuilding their city with the same determination that they shared in former times – an echo of an idealised past.

The exhibition runs from the 14th of January untill the 24th of February 2015

The Empire Project
10 Siraselviler Cd
Kat 1 D4
34433 Taksim, Turkey
T: +90 (212) 292 59 68
E: info@theempireproject.com

Tue – Sat: 11 am until 6:30 pm
Closed on Sunday, Monday

COMING UP: JASPER DE BEIJER at Asya Geisberg Gallery New York

Galerie Ron Mandos is proud to present Jasper de Beijer’s first exhibition at its gallery:

Mr. Knight’s World Band Receiver

You are cordially invited for the opening at the 25^th of October at 1700 hrs.

The artist will present his newest body of work completely in the gallery. The ten pictures and the animation video have their first premiere at Galerie Ron Mandos

About Mr. Knight’s World Band Receiver

In 1986, 18-year-old Christopher Knight trekked into the woods. He remained there for the next 27 years, avoiding all contact with other people. Ultimately, Knight was forced back into society when he was arrested for burglarising nearby holiday cabins.

But for decades, the ‘North Pond Hermit’ remained hidden in his improvised camp. He didn’t even make a fire for fear of being discovered. Knight’s only information about events in the world at large came from a small, battery-operated radio.

Knight was more or less untouched by the visual deluge of the past three decades. When he pictured in his mind the events discussed on the radio, Knight had to make do with what he remembered from before leaving. In his dark forest clearing, Knight recast our recent past in a private, increasingly self-contained world of memories.

Jasper de Beijer has attempted to achieve a similar detachment in his series Mr Knight’s World Band Receiver, consciously withdrawing from the iconic imagery that accompany so many of the events of the past 30 years. The pictures that came out of this are a kind of artefacts of an inner reality – or blueprints of an alternate history.

Galerie Ron Mandos

Prinsengracht 282
1016 HJ Amsterdam
+31 20 3207036
info@ronmandos.nl
Open: wed – sat, 12.00 – 18.00

Jasper de Beijer (1973) will be presenting a selection from his new series

Mr. Knight’s World Band Receiver

This presentation marks the artist’s debut at Galerie Ron Mandos.

About Mr. Knight’s World Band Receiver

In 1986, 18-year-old Christopher Knight trekked into the Maine woods. After pitching an improvised camp, he remained there in virtual isolation for the next 27 years.

For decades, the ‘North Pond Hermit’ avoided all contact with other people. He didn’t even make campfires, for fear of being discovered. Knight kept track of what was going on in the outside world by listening to news radio and rock stations on a battery-operated radio. He was ultimately apprehended by the police for burglarizing vacation cabins and a nearby holiday camp.

With a radio as his sole source of information, Knight was more or less untouched by the visual deluge of the past three decades. His mental picture of recent events must have been entirely different to the images that are so familiar to us. Knight’s lonely forest clearing, these same events materialized in a self-contained universe. In his mind’s eye, the general, abstract reports on the radio were converted into specific visual details: a kind of ‘reverse empiricism’.

For his new series, the artist decided to keep clear of all photos and other visual input, consciously limiting himself to the bare reports. The images that have come out of this approach – created in response to more or less iconic events in recent history – are uniquely subjective. They have wrenched themselves free of historical reality: in the one work, a minor detail takes center stage; in the other, a familiar event has acquired a new emotional charge.

The images could just as easily be relating an entirely different story; the blueprints of an alternate reality. Like the stream of consciousness that constantly unfurls in our mind, they are the artefacts of an inner world that at times seems almost random – or that at any rate is entirely personal, in every aspect.

Unseen will take place from 18 to 21 September 2014.

Opening hours are as follows:

Thursday 12.00 – 20.00
Friday 12.00 – 22.00
Saturday 11.00 – 20.00
Sunday 11.00 – 17.00

Fair & Festival Site

Westergasfabriek
Klönneplein 1
1014 DD Amsterdam
The Netherlands

Visual art and jewellery inspired by trees and woods

02.05 to 07.09.2014

The exhibition The Force Of Nature offers a wide selection of works that have nature as their starting point or theme. The work shown was made in the Netherlands or by Dutch artists in the last three decades, with an emphasis on the past decade.

CODA director Carin Reinders and guest curator Ward Schrijver have put together a very diverse exhibition with works by 39 artists. Reinventing Nature, a retrospective of jewellery made by Terhi Tolvanen that is also inspired by the theme of nature, is part of this exhibition.

The Force of Nature also shows jewellery made by other visual artists and designers. In addition, sculptures, photos, drawings and paintings by various Dutch artists are exhibited.

Wir sind das Gedächtnis #02 | 2013 | 170 x 115 cm | edition of 7 | c-print

Galerie Nouvelles Images presents:

JASPER DE BEIJER . Wir sind das Gedächtnis

You are cordially invited to the opening at the 25^th of January between 1600 – 1800 hrs

The dream that was Germany in 1871 is over. The passion and concerted effort that had brought unity to the nation were torn apart by a frustrated Kaiser and a sociopathic dictator. The cities of the former kingdom of Prussia, the cultural heart of the nation, were razed to the ground. Today, after decades of nursing their wounds and repairing the destruction, these centers have recovered some of their former glory.

The artist recently made a study tour past some of the locations that played such a dramatic role in Europe’s recent history. Viewing the reconstructed cityscapes, he wondered how often you can demolish and rebuild a structure before it loses its identity. He imagined a town that has been destroyed for the umpteenth time, and a community that tries to erect a silhouette of its culture from a vague recollection of its past. Using only the primitive means left at their disposal, the townspeople strive to recover their identity, rebuilding their city with the same determination that they shared in former times – an echo of an idealized past.

Exhibition runs from 25-01-2014 to 05-03-2014

You can find further information on the website of Nouvelles Images:
http://www.nouvellesimages.nl

Westeinde 22
2512 HD Den Haag
T +31 (0)70 346 19 98
F +31 (0)70 346 46 18
E info@nouvellesimages.nl

9th of November 2013 until the 18th on January 2014

The dream that was Germany in 1871 is over. The passion and concerted effort that had brought unity to the nation were torn apart by a frustrated Kaiser and a sociopathic dictator. The cities of the former kingdom of Prussia, the cultural heart of the nation, were razed to the ground. Today, after decades of nursing their wounds and repairing the destruction, these centres have recovered some of their former glory.

The artist recently made a study tour past some of the locations that played such a dramatic role in Europe’s recent history. Viewing the reconstructed cityscapes, he wondered how often you can demolish and rebuild a structure before it loses its identity. He imagined a town that has been destroyed for the umpteenth time, and a community that tries to erect a silhouette of its culture from a vague recollection of its past. Using only the primitive means left at their disposal, the townspeople strive to recover their identity, rebuilding their city with the same determination that they shared in former times – an echo of an idealized past.

You can find further information on the website of TZR: http://www.tzrgalerie.de

The Empire Project will be exhibiting at

The UNSEEN Photo Fair Amsterdam

Wir sind das Gedächtnis #03 | 2013 | 115 x 170 cm | edition of 7 | c-print

26 – 29 September 2013 | Between 12.00 and 20.00

Gözde Türkkan
Esra Rotthoff
Jasper de Beijer
Cemil Batur Gökçeer
Ali Taptık

The Empire Project

The Empire Project identifies and exhibits contemporary art from the regions which have historically been within the cultural sphere of influence centered upon (or significantly affected by) the imperial locus we today call Istanbul. Geographically speaking, the range is wide, including most of the Mediterranean world and Arabian Peninsula, much of Eastern Europe, Anatolia, the Black Sea region, and Central Asia.

Location:
Westergasfabriek
Klönneplein 1
1014 DD Amsterdam
The Netherlands
www.westergasfabriek.nl