Aernout Mik

Mik spent his childhood in Groningen and studied there from 1983 to 1988 at the Academie Minerva. He also had lessons from Fie Werkman [nl]. He had his first solo exhibition in 2000 at the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven under the title "Primal gestures, minor roles".

In 1997, Mik received the Sandberg Prize for his videos Lick (1996) and Fluff (1996). In 2002, he received the Dr. Mik. A.H. Heineken Prize for Art.

Aernout Mik by Maria Hlavajova, curator of the Dutch Rietveldenpaviljoen [nl] in Venice, selected in 2007 for the Netherlands to take part in the Venice Biennale.^[2] In 1997, Mik, along with designer William Oorebeek this same thing to see.^[3] In 2001, he took part in "Post-Nature ', an exhibition of Dutch art which took place in Venice.^[4]

The work called Organic Escalator (2000) is housed in the Art Collection Fondation Pinault and was end-2007 in Lille on the exhibition "Passage du temps".

The memory of places, history, and space in general are highlighted in the work of Aernout Mik. "Communitas" is the first film created by this Dutch video artist in Poland.^[5] A performance was staged in the interior of the Palace of Culture and Science during the summer of 2010. The film premiered at the Drama Theatre in Warsaw and at the São Paulo Biennial the same year.^[6]

In this hour-long film, we observe the crowd trapped inside the building. People of different ages and nationalities occupy the theater, the corridors, and the conference rooms. Their actions are ambiguous: it feels like we're watching a political meeting. Indeed, it was in the Congress Hall of the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw that important meetings took place, notably those of the Polish United Workers' Party, the former communist political party that held power from 1948 to 1989 under the regime of the People's Republic of Poland.^[7] It's worth noting that the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw was built between 1952 and 1955 and designed by the Soviet architect Lev Rudno.^[8] This building was a gift from the Soviet people to the Polish nation. According to the protocol signed by both parties, it was meant to symbolize "the unwavering friendship of the Soviet and Polish nations".^[9] In her doctoral thesis, Kate Wyrembelska develops her concept of "creative documentation" by analysing this artistic work by Aernout Mik in Warsaw: the communist authorities wanted to create a new Warsaw—different from the pre-war Warsaw. What was the Polish position on this issue? For many Poles, the Palace became a symbol of the imposed communist system. Yet, it is has also become one of the symbols of the capital. The fact that a political work was created in this particular, historical space makes it so strong and powerful. "Communitas" presents itself as an act of resistance. Or, more literally, as a feeling of the endurance of the political act.^[10]

• Aernout Mik's profile at carlier | gebauer gallery Archived 2014-09-06 at the Wayback Machine
• Aernout Mik's CV
• Aernout Mik Biennale site Citizens and Subjects
• (in Dutch) Videostills uit het werk van Aernout Mik
• (in Dutch) Biography op VPRO website
• Heineken lecture Echt/Onecht door Aernhout Mik
• Overzicht van tentoonstellingen