For the occasion of the farewell of Johan van Oord as the Head of the Fine Arts Department at the Royal Academy of Art The Hague, The Holls Collective created a head-to-toe sculpture of their former teacher and colleague. The exhibition titled Trial & Triumph was dedicated to failure, which, according to Van Oord, plays a crucial part in the process of learning. That kept in mind, the collective returned to an art form they had briefly encountered when in art school: the classical discipline of sculpture.
Creating a statue that resembles the personality and looks of a person is already quite a challenge, but doing this with eight artist simultaneously added a whole new dimension. The Holls Collective filmed the whole process of creating, dealing with different ideas about sculpture and Johan van Oord. During the exhibition both the statue and the video were on display. Johan is not so much about the final result, but about collectively relating to Johan on a personal, practical, and abstract level.
Click here for the video 'Johan' on Vimeo
Trial & Triumph was curated by Jaring Dürst Britt and Alexander Mayhew.
Click here for more information about the exhibition Trial & Triumph
The exhibition runs until the 20th of November 2015.