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THE NETHERLANDS / Rotterdam: Wim Gijzen
by Modem
© Modem

until Sunday June 07 2015

Kunsthal Rotterdam
T : +31 (0)10 44 00 301
Westzeedijk 341
3015 AA Rotterdam
The Netherlands



Greetings from...

In 1972, the Rotterdam-based artist Wim Gijzen travelled the Netherlands photographing himself, using a panorama camera mounted on a tripod, in front of all of the 863 municipality signs that existed in the country at the time. He also bought two postcards in every village or town he visited, sending one to the Rotterdam Art Foundation and the other one to himself, and just as systematically photographed the shops where he purchased the cards and the post-boxes from which he sent them.

The 35,000 kilometres that Wim Gijzen covered resulted in a single panorama photograph for each municipality comprising two postcards- one showing the image, the other the address side with stamp - together with a photograph of the shop and the post-box. ‘Greetings from...' at the Kunsthal is a documentary exhibition about the conceptual art project ‘Een bezoek aan alle 863 gemeenten van Nederland (A visit to all 863 municipalities in the Netherlands) and provides a fascinating portrait of the Dutch social environment as it was in the 1970s, viewed through the lens of 2015.

© Modem