Theatrum Orbis Terrarum
Worldwide, ongoing since 2005
May 2010 -
ongoing
Marjolijn Dijkman
Exhibition: The Order of Things
Material: Two rear projection screens, list on the wall of all the categories, publication (Gestures)
Location: MuHKA, Antwerp, BE
Duration: 11 September 2008 - 11 January 2009
Curated by: Dieter Roelstraete
Participating artists: Roy Arden, Sarah Charlesworth, Marjolijn Dijkman, Hans Eijkelboom, Daniel Faust, Douglas Huebler, Sanja Ivekovic, Luis Jacob, Cameron Jamie, Arthur Lipsett, Tine Melzer, Marc Nagtzaam, Cady Noland, Peter Piller, Sigmar Polke, Richard Prince, Robert Rauschenberg, ROMA Publications [Mark Manders & Roger Willems], Julian Rosefeldt, Thomas Ruff, Joachim Schmid, Steven Shearer, Nancy Spero, Batia Suter, Els Vanden Meersch, Christopher Williams and Jef Geys
Panorama installations - Gestures:
Exhibition: COMMA 02
Panorama: 232 laserprints of 30x40cm. mounted onto the wall, total installation 43 x 1,5 meters.
Location: Bloomberg SPACE, London, UK
Duration: 4 March 2009 - 21 march 2009
Curated by: Graham Gussin and Sacha Craddock
Online representation Theatrum Orbis Terrarum:
The online publication gives the possibility to follow the process of the research besides public presentations in exhibitions and publications and will actively be brought up to date. www.theatrumorbisterrarum.com
Theatrum Orbis Terrarum has been exhibited at:
2010
Making Do: Uses and Tactics, BKKC, Tilburg, NL
2009
7th Mercosul Biennial, Porto Alegre, BR
Source Material, Tent. Rotterdam, NL
Delocalization, curated by Fatos Ustek, Press to Exit, Skopje, MK
Everything Changes, Moganshan Lu 99, Shanghai, CN
Comma 02, Bloomberg SPACE, London, UK
Images Recalled, curated by VVORK, Fotofestival Mannheim, Mannheim DE
The Order of Things, MuHKA, Antwerp, BE
2008
Decollecting FRAC Nord Pas De Calais, Dunkerque, FR + De Garage, Mechelen, BE
Localisms, Museum de Paviljoens, Almere, NL
Visibility Works, Barcsay Hall, LowFest, Budapest, HU
ORTung, Galerie 5020, Salzburg, AT
On Produceability, Alti Aylik & 5533, Istanbul, TR
2007
Neue Konzepte, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn, DE
Contemporary Passages, Tent. Rotterdam, NL
Theatrum Orbis Terrarum
Theatrum Orbis Terrarum is an ongoing worldwide investigation and an attempt to rethink existing representations of the world. Theatrum Orbis Terrarum presents traces and effects of human interventions in our surroundings. This work consists of an ever-expanding series of gestures photographed worldwide since 2005 and categorised in approx. 120 categories. The images can be taken anywhere; they all emphasise that people, regardless of their geographical location, have similar ways of organising and designing their daily environment. Examples of these gestures are found in the way that elements are adapted, concealed, censored, directed, demonstrated, mirrored, constructed, and so on.
The work is in a constant state of development and are extensively brought up to date when new images and categories have been obtained. One image can be included in different categories and systems and, in consequence of this, trigger opposite meanings.
Theatrum Orbis Terrarum takes inspiration Ortelius' Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (Theater / Mirror of the World) is considered the first true atlas in the modern sense. It was published in 1570.
The projection of this work takes approx. 8 hours and consists of about 9000 images that are shown in an edited order. Each category is announce by simple black and white slides. Alongside the projection is the complete list of gestures pasted onto the wall.
Gestures – Panorama is part of the ongoing project Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. The panorama can be read as visual essay with an associative narrative compiled of photographs. The work is presented as fragments, of presentations of creating all together an endless panorama. The content changes each time in relation to it’s context and topic of the exhibition for which it is presented.
In collaboration with designer Julie Peeters I developed a set of rules regarding space and rows allowing for maximum freedom to arrange the images within a fixed grid.
Publications:
www.theatrumorbisterrarum.com online publication, published by the Jan van Eyck Academy. (2008)
Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, 128 pages B&W (2007)
Texts:
Giving Directions, written by Richard Wentworth for the exhibition at Bloomberg SPACE
Mapping, Collecting and Archiving, Interview by Annette Schemmel
Made by Rekall Design