About

Born, 24-09-1986, Haarlemmermeer, the Netherlands.
Currently working and living in Haarlem, The Netherlands.

My artistic practice engages human interactions with institutional architectural spaces. My extensive research on nuclear bunkers is an important departure point for my current work. For a long time, I have had a deep interest in the Netherlands atomic bunkers as ‘material 'objects: I have spent the past year researching the bunkers of the Dutch National Telecommunications Company, which are spread across the Netherlands and continue to function, in varying degrees of secrecy and service, as communication hubs. These types of structures have always fascinated me, as they challenge everyday perceptions of space. This fascination - the ways in which one experiences an object in space both physically and cognitively - Is reflected in my artistic practice.

In one of my earliest works that engaged with bunkers. I built a wall inside a well-proportioned room. In a building designed by Gerrit Rietveld, placing it so that the play of light and dark affected the experience of entering the space. Behind the wall was an object that related to the shape and dimensions of the transformed space. A personal narrative emerged, a depiction of what I feel when I'm inside a bunker; the system of doors and gates that close behind you as you enter heighten the expectation of what you will find once Inside.

The experience of a museum space Is similar, in that there is a certain expectation of what might be seen around each corner and through each door. In a further installation, I set out to resettle the white cube, this entirely white space through the installation of black mirrors, which formed a kind of internal black cube. For me the concept of the white space is like a concept of a bunker, the white space is a bunker. The white space creates the Illusion that time Is standing still and the sculptural object in the space determines the speed of time. But the bunker itself has a very slow rate of time —the decay of a bunker takes longer than the lifetime of many artworks, so It is the true space where time is standing still. But everyone recognizes the bunker as a dark empty space, something to be scared of. I try to connect the bunker with the white space of the gallery, to show that in this respect, both places work the same way. The only difference is expectation.

Kees van Leeuwen

Exhibitions (selection)

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

Radical Architecture for the End of the World | OMI, Rotterdam (NL)

‘Untitled‘ Regierungsbunker | De Aanschouw, 1154, Rotterdam (NL)

Melting Rock, Still Wind | Yamanaka Suplex annex MINE, Osaka (JP)

Between Four Walls | Manifoldbooks (NL)

Vibrations of Dust | CP project Space, New York (USA)

Art Seeds | Matsūra Historical Museum, Hirado (JP)

Towards a Foreword | ARTBAR with Print Room, Rotterdam (NL)

Hidden Spaces | De Compagnie, Veghel (NL) - Solo

In Praise of Space | Cave Gallery, Tokyo (JP) - Solo

Prospects & Concepts | Art Rotterdam, Rotterdam (NL)

Schuilen in Den Haag | Stadhuis Den Haag, The Hague (NL)

PULSE 10 | Stichting O.M.S.T.A.N.D. Arnhem, (NL)

Platform Platform | Bart invites, Amsterdam (NL)

Inside the Isolation | Genie Museum, Vught (NL) - Solo

NO TITLE | St.Bavo Church, Haarlem (NL)

Hoe=het nu | ACEC, Apeldoorn (NL)

Map Play Narrate | Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague (NL)

De Woeste Gronden #7 | G.A.N.G., Arnhem(NL)

Lectures and Walking Tours (selection)

Artist Talk | De Leeszaal with PrintRoom, Rotterdam (NL), 2020
Artist Talk | Dutch Embassy in Tokyo, Tokyo (JP), 2018
Archival Artistic Research | Van Stockum Bookstore, The Hague (NL), 2017
Bunker Excursion | On the occasion of National Monument Day, 2016 - 2018
Artist Talk | Frascati Theatre, Amsterdam (NL), 2015
Seen but not seen | Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam (NL), 2015
The Blueprint as Universal Language | Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague (NL), 2014

Publications (selection)

Ondergrondse noodzetels voor de rijksoverheid tijdens de Koude Oorlog
Commissioned and published by State Bureau for Cultural Heritage (RCE) (NL)
2021
Sole author

Quarantine in the Archive
A project by PrintRoom, Rotterdam (NL)
2021
Essay

15 03 20, a chapbook by Notes on Hapticity Collective
Published by PrintRoom, Rotterdam (NL)
2020
Artist Spread

Schuilen in Den Haag, Erfgoed van de Koude Oorlog
Published by De Nieuwe Haagsche, The Hague (NL)
2017
Co-author

The Atomic Bunker and the White Cube
Master thesis, Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague (NL)
2013

Education

Artistic Research (MA, Cum Laude)
Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague
2011 - 2013

Fine Arts (BA)
Rietveld Academy
2007-2011

Residencies

Cave Gallery (2018)
Tokyo (JP)

Lunette Kazerne, Genie Museum (2014)
Vught (NL)

Secret Bunker, G.A.N.G (2013)
Arnhem (NL)

Grants and Nominations

Financial Donation Programme (in the context of Notes on Hapticity Collective)
Stichting Stokroos (NL)
2021

Pro Art Project subsidy (in the context of Notes on Hapticity Collective)
Art Centre Stroom (NL)
2020

Nomination - Monument Prize Young Talent
State Monument Bureau and Mondriaan Fonds
2018

Project subsidy
Mondriaan Funds (NL)
2018

Young Talent
Mondriaan Funds (NL)
2017

Other Activities

Notes on Hapticity Collective
Co-founder, 2020
www.notesonhapticity.com