3 Zwolse artists, presented themselves as artistic wolves in commercial sheep’s clothing for a year.
![Collectief [RE]CLAMED ARTSPACE 2022- Marit Otto, Corine Aalvanger, Herbert Alfonso](https://i0.wp.com/www.maritotto.nl/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Wolfinschaapskleren.jpg?resize=525%2C170&ssl=1)
THIS IS ACTUALLY ART
The (RE)CLAMED ARTSPACE project was launched a year ago and is literally about recapturing art in public space. By doing so, artists; Marit Otto, Corine Aalvanger and Herbert Alfonso want to recapture space taken up by the ubiquitous commercial advertising message. They have done this with all the means at their disposal. They stepped into the shoes of 4 fictional companies and hid a socially critical message in an advertising message, art disguised as advertising.
The commercial sheepskin
I.G.C. INDUSTRIES and the three startups with their signature products have sprung from the minds of the 3 artists. I.G.C.(In God’s Chair) Industries is the so-called investor, and the platform where the 3 companies profile themselves with their product. It is a company that balances on the edge of propriety and violates ethics quite violently with some frequency. The board members and CEOs, Marcha Suikerberg, Sandra Jobse Sander Pichai and Tim Kok, bear names referring to top Silicon Valley executives. Here you can pay with your data under the slogan ‘Data is the new currency’, a new economic philosophy that they themselves say is diametrically opposed to data protectionism.
INPHONE, is a concept by Marit Otto: This dubious Phone company pushes the boundaries of privacy, age restriction and distopian future thinking. It primarily serves itself, then the consumer but certainly not ethics and decency. For free always connected and always online in exchange for unlimited access to your data.
KRACHT.VOER, is a concept by Corine Aalvanger: with her CCP3 food pill, it responds delicately to the fast food – flash delivery market, a festival feeling is never far away. The meat pill comes in three animal variations: chicken, pig and cow. Just pop it in! A magical idea for when food, itself, just gets too much for you….
SWEATSHOP COUTURE, a concept by Herbert Alfonso: profiles itself with its Blood Sweat Tears product as quite gory, quite unethical and distasteful but the way to success if this company is to be believed. A cult hit from the States with the slogan ‘We don’t talk about other people’s blood sweat and tears, we just use them’.
“With this socially engaged project, we want to make an artistic and philosophical contribution to this rapidly changing society. In this project, the relationship between commercial and autonomous visual language is at odds. We want to investigate how these extremes that have a lot in common relate to each other, also questioning the audience’s viewing habits with regard to visual art. Does art lose out among all this visual violence or does it remain (gladly) seen?” says Marit, Corine and Herbert.
|RE|CLAMED ARTSPACE manifests itself everywhere but especially in Zwolle.
The project manifests itself online through its website: https://igcindustries.nl/ and under the name IGCindustriesofficial on Instagram, and as Marcha Suikerberg (CEO) Twitter and Linkedin.
According to the artists, this makes them part of a global village online, but as artists living and/or working in Zwolle, they also want to engage in a visual dialogue with the Zwolle audience. They did this by distributing the product posters and the publication at various Zwolle locations but also by tipping the online communication increasingly in the direction of Zwolle. “It was no easy task, despite the sometimes disturbing content of the posts, to elicit neither positive nor negative reactions from the public” they note in retrospect.
Publication and manifesto.
In the month of December 2022, the publication will be issued. under the name |RE|CLAMED ARTSPACE, which will also be distributed exclusively in Zwolle (2000 pieces). In this publication you will find, among other things, as a centrefold, a manifesto in which Marit, Corine and Herbert engage with their thesis and they also elaborate on the social impact they believe commercial imagery has on the viewer in a reflective paper.
Live presentation.
This publication will be followed by a live presentation at the Stadkamer Zwolle, where there will be room for conversation and dialogue with the audience. Save the date: 01 February 2023 from 7pm to 9pm. Admission is free.
|RE|CLAMED ARTSPACE will be auctioned.
Entirely in the spirit and to match the contemporary theme, |RE|CLAMED ARTSPACE will be auctioned as a total concept on auction site CATAWIKI. The website, social platforms, packaging, posters, publication will be auctioned as a package during an art auction. This will take place in mid-late January. More on that later.
This project was made possible by the Culture & Quality Committee of Zwolle municipality, for which many thanks!