Wikipedia

Eric Van Hove

Éric Van Hove(born 1975 inGuelma,Algeria) is aCameroon-raisedBelgianmetamodern[1]conceptual artist. He lives and works betweenBrusselsandMarrakech.[2]He is the grandson of Louis Van Hove, co-founder and CEO of theStructures Group,the largest post second world war functionalist architecture firm in Belgium.

Eric van Hove during the circumambulating ofMount Kailashin western Tibet, in 2005

Early work

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Eric Van Hove studied at theÉcole de Recherche Graphiquein Brussels and received a Master's degree in Traditional Japanese Calligraphy at theTokyo Gakugei Universityin Tokyo.[3]He obtained a PhD degree from theTokyo University of the Artsin 2008.[3]

Bordering onactivismwith anexistentialisttone, Van Hove's early work is based on the artist's nomadic willing to simultaneously address local and global issues.[4]It encompasses many media ranging from installation to performance, video, photography, sculpture and writing.[5]At times insubstantial and subversive, Van Hove's conceptually poetic interventions[6]often ponder and cross-refer to sociological, political and ecological issues as shown withJapanese Constitution Worm Autodafé,[7]Free Trade Concrete Mixer Kaleidoscope,[8]orShark Fin Piñata,which relates to the illegal Taiwanese shark finning in Costa Rica (1998–2006), portrayed inRob Stewart's documentarySharkwater.Made at the end of 2007,Dan Liever the Lucht Inis a body of works[9]responding to the2007–2011 Belgian political crisiswhich was first shownin situat the Belgian embassy in Tokyo before the building was destroyed for reconstruction.[10]

Van Hove's early work includeswanderlust,defamiliarization,psychogeographyanddérive,[4]and he early on acknowledgedtranscendentalistinfluences[11]in trying to oppose a more spiritual and decentralized approach[vague]to theEurocentricintellectualism of the contemporary art world.[12]During this period Van Hove became "known as a poet and avant-garde calligrapher… with projects that involve drawing improvised poetry in unusual modes and locations worldwide"[13]He also collaborated with musicians such asDavid Hebertand Kenji Williams.

Interested in bringingcontemporary artnot only to the public space outside galleries and museums but outside of the Western context itself,[12]Van Hove has been prolific in such diverse places as theSiwa Oasisin Egypt,Mount Kailashin Tibet, theLaguna de Perlasin Nicaragua, theIssyk Kullake in eastern Kyrgyzstan, theFianarantsoaprovince in Madagascar or more recently the foothills of theHimalayasin the northwestern part ofYunnan Province,China.[14]He also conducted artist talks (which calls “story-telling objects” or “oral exhibits” ) in venues as different asRamallah,theTehran Museum of Contemporary Art,the Darat al Funun inAmman,and theUniversity of Sarajevo.[15]Having made site specific works in over 100 countries by the age of 35, Van Hove counts among the best traveled artists of his generation.

The "Metragram Series", a complex photographic series Van Hove started with his mother in 2005[16]crossing the artistic genre ofself-portrait,vanitas,iconographyandMemento mori[4][16]in which he is seen inking the womb of women categorized as belonging to different types of groups, gathers images he produced in over 29 countries in 3 years. A digital slide show display of the Series was first presented as part of theMediation BiennialinPoznańin 2008 (other Belgian artists wereJan Fabreand Koen Vanmechelen).[17]

Atelier Eric van Hove - Fenduq

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Eric van Hove - V12 Laraki, 2013. fifty-three materials including: Middle Atlas white cedar wood, high Atlas red cedar wood, walnut wood, lemon wood, orange wood, ebony wood of Macassar, mahogany wood, Thuya wood, Moroccan beech wood, pink apricot wood, mother-of-pearl, yellow copper, nickel plated copper, red copper, forged iron, recycled aluminum, nickel silver, silver, tin, cow bone, goat bone, malachite of Midelt, agate, green onyx, tigers eye stone, Taroudant stone, sandstone, red marble of Agadir, black marble of Ouarzazate, white marble of Béni Mellal, pink granite of Tafraoute, goatskin, cowskin, lambskin, resin, cow horn, rams horn, ammonite fossils of the Paleozoic from Erfoud, Ourika clay, geometric terra cotta with vitreous enamel (zellige), green enamel of Tamgrout, paint, cotton, argan oil, cork, henna, rumex.

In 2012, van Hove arrived inMarrakech,Moroccoto resume work on an ambitious sculptural endeavor he had prepared for years:V12 Laraki.In the space of nine months, van Hove gathered around him 42 master craftsmen from the region and began rebuilding a Mercedes 6.2L V12 engine using rural materials and centuries old craft techniques from the North African country. Conceptually this sculpture is based on the story of theLarakiFulgura, a Moroccan supercar by Industrial designerAbdeslam Laraki.While the Fulgura was entirely manufactured in Morocco to the exception of its engine, the artist decided to try and reproduce that cutting-edge component locally using craft, which accounts for 20% of the country’s work force[18]and he saw as an unjustifiably neglected part of the national industry.

That sculpture, displayed at the 5thMarrakech Biennaleand soon acquired by theHood Museum of Art,[19]would rapidly become the cornerstone of a new chapter in his creative practice leading to the founding of his atelier also known asFenduqorAtelier Eric van Hove:a context-specific production facility and, in his own word “a living socioeconomic sculpture”, from where the artist started working on “a renaissance of African craft”.[20][21] V12 Larakiwas later made into a comprehensive publication introduced by well-known African curatorSimon Njamiand distributed byMotto Distributionin Berlin.[22]

In the following years, many more sculptures came out of Atelier Eric van Hove includingD9T (Rachel’s Tribute)in 2015, andMahjouba Iin 2016, which is a functioning replica of a Chinese electric motorbike using traditional African craft.[23]In turn, this grew into what the artist calledThe Mahjouba Initiative,[24]a long term project mi xing African craft, 3D printing, and industrial production.Mahjouba II,a second craft-made electric prototype was made later that year.[25]The Mahjouba Initiativeis a long term on going artistic project aiming to re-integrate Moroccan craft into the mainstream industry via the manufacturing of electric mopeds for the local market using materials and techniques from the craft sector. The Initiative relies on two main facts: the presence in Morocco of nearly three million craftsmen whose trade is increasingly threatened by globalization, and theNoor Power StationProject by which the north African country plans to generate 42% of its energy from renewables by 2020.[26]In 2018, Van Hove was a Montgomery Fellow atDartmouth College.[27]

Fenduqis a large retrospective exhibition theFries Museumdedicated to the artist that opened in 2019,[28][29]which will travel toVandalorum,Sweden in February 2020.[30]

References

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  1. ^Timotheus Vermeulen and Robin van den Akker,Motor skills,originally published in the exhibition catalogue “Fenduq”, published by Jap Sam Books in 2019 to accompany the exhibition of the same name at the Fries Museum in The Netherlands (ISBN978-94-92852-11-3).
  2. ^Les Métragrammes d'Éric Van Hove"Éric Van Hove inscrit l'itinérance au cœur de sa pratique artistique. Aux quatre coins de la planète, ses..."
  3. ^abHereat Van Hove's website.
  4. ^abcLaurent Courtens, "On the Road Again"L'Art MêmeN° 41Archived2011-07-24 at theWayback Machine,2008, Brussels, pp 22-23.
  5. ^Marleen Wynants, Interview for Janus Art Magazine, 2008, Brussels.
  6. ^HereArchived2011-07-08 at theWayback Machineat Van Hove's own profile at creativeafricanetwork.
  7. ^ Van Hove interviewed,shift.jp.org.
  8. ^Hereat Van Hove's website.
  9. ^"Dan Liever the Lucht In #1",Van Hove's site.
  10. ^"Belgian Embassy Sale in Tokyo",Deloitte, November 2006, Belgium.
  11. ^"installations in Finnish Lapland",Van Hove's website.
  12. ^abJan Van Woensel,Interview for Lokaal01/Breda,2007, New York. Van Hove's website.
  13. ^Hebert, D.G. (2018).Cultural Translation and Musical Innovation: A Theoretical Model with Examples from Japan.In D.G. Hebert (Ed.), International Perspectives on Translation, Education and Innovation in Japanese and Korean Societies (p.309-331). Cham: Springer, p.310.
  14. ^Hereat Van Hove's website.
  15. ^Hereat Van Hove's website.
  16. ^ab"Metragram Series",Van Hove's website.
  17. ^"Mediations Biennale Fundations".Retrieved24 September2023.
  18. ^Schott, Jeffrey J. (7 May 2004).Free Trade Agreements: US Strategies and Priorities.Columbia University Press.ISBN9780881324587.
  19. ^"Van Hove's bespoke engine: Part homage, part reproach - the Boston Globe".The Boston Globe.
  20. ^"A Big Bang Theory".
  21. ^"Eric van Hove".25 May 2014.
  22. ^"V12 Laraki".
  23. ^"Eric van Hove at Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt".14 December 2016.
  24. ^https:// bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cswcd6"Éric Van Hove - BBC In The Studio interview"
  25. ^"Art Daily".Archived fromthe originalon 13 January 2017.Retrieved10 January2017.
  26. ^"Morocco to switch on first phase of world's largest solar plant".TheGuardian.4 February 2016.
  27. ^"Fellows Overview".17 June 2016.
  28. ^"De Belgische kunstenaar Éric van Hove laat motorblokken van voertuigen nabouwen. Stukje voor stukje, in landen over de hele wereld, in allerlei materialen. Waartoe?".31 January 2019.
  29. ^"Eric van hove - Exhibitions - See and do - Fries Museum – Leeuwarden – Friesland".friesmuseum.nl.Archived fromthe originalon 19 April 2019.
  30. ^"Program 2019-20 - Announcements - e-flux".
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