wssohwte? - writers

‘wssohwte?’ is short for: ‘Who Says Seeing Only Happens With The Eyes?’(1)
The question is rhetorical. For how could seeing not be influenced by the surrounding space? But is that all there is to it? No, of course not. For what is the nature of that space? And in particular, what is the nature of the space in which this exhibition exists? In several essays these, and other, questions about art and space are being addressed. The writers of the first four essays were invited by Wapke Feenstra to visit the exhibition at TENT. and describe the particular and general space occupied by ‘wssohwte?’
During the exhibition at Galleri F15 three Norwegian writers were invited to write about ‘wssohwte?’.

Maaike Engelen lends a poetical-philosophical voice to (works of) art.

Renée van de Vall writes about perception within artificial settings.

Domeniek Ruyters addresses art perception within the ‘white cube’.

Sandra Fauconnier writes about artistic space on the Internet.

Kristine Kolrud focusses on ‘open’ art’s influence on the environment and the public.

Trond K.O. Kristoffersen made a visual text about the art of seeing.

Tor Andreas Gitlesen presents a ‘Decalogue’ for building a ‘white cube’.

For comments or questions about the essays or ‘wssohwte?’, please mail to info@wssohwte.net

(1) A quote from the article ‘At the edges of vision’ by Renée van de Vall, in: Jens Henrik Sandberg & Mikkel Bogh (eds.), “Fielding”. Portalen 1997.

Maaike Engelen is a philosopher and poet. She studied literature and philosophy at the University of Nijmegen. Her dissertation resulted in the book “David Hume, hand in hand”, published by Damon Publishers in 2000.
Maaike Engelen has written several experimental poetical-philosophical texts for artists and has published numerous poems within the context of art projects.
At present she is working on a second book and is teaching philosophy to children on primary schools.

Renée van de Vall is a philosopher (Ph.D. University of Amsterdam) and currently works at the University of Maastricht. She is the author of “Een subliem gevoel van plaats: een filosofische interpretatie van het werk van Barnett Newman” (Groningen 1994) and wrote numerous articles about art and philosophy (e.g. ‘At the edges of vision’ (1997)). She has worked as an editor for “Krisis”. Recently she has participated in the project ‘Modern Art: Who Cares?’

Domeniek Ruyters is an art critic and an editor of “Metropolis M”, a Dutch magazine about contemporary art.

Sandra Fauconnier completed her higher studies in Belgium with the equivalent of a BA in architecture in 1994 and an MA in art history in 1997, where she specialized in Internet art and wrote a dissertation about ‘Web-specific art: the World Wide Web as an artistic medium’.
Since that time she published various essays on Internet art and design, has been lecturing on this subject, and created Net art projects as a member of the artists’ collective dBONANZAh!. Since 1997 she worked as an educational technologist at the Teacher Training Department, Ghent University, Belgium. In February 2000 she was employed as a media archivist at V2_Organisation in Rotterdam.

Kristine Kolrud is an art historian who has worked with public art commissions for the City of Oslo Art Collections. She is currently a fellow in art history at the University of Oslo.

Trond K.O. Kristoffersen was educated as a philosopher at the Universities of Oslo and Tromsø, and engages in ethics and the moral challenges of modern society. Presently he teaches at a secondary school in Moss, Norway. His ongoing project and ambition is to encourage moral consciousness through learning. ‘Writing and participating in the public debate is a way to draw attention to the increasing indifference I believe our culture suffers from. One’s well-being is, and should be, profoundly connected to the well-being of others. To see others is obviously a part of that.’ He has published several articles in Norwegian newspapers, and co-authored a book on learning techniques for first-year students.

Tor Andreas Gitlesen is director of Galleri F 15 in Moss, Norway since 1994. From 1987 to 1994 he was manager of a print gallery in Oslo. He has been on the board of the biennial MOMENTUM since its foundation in 1996 and is chairman of the board of Norway’s centre for contemporary art information, KIK, since 1998.