TALENTS
Qiaochu Guo questions the established systems and conventional structures within society and how they affect the modification and discipline of the body. This interaction with the body acts as a portal that leads Qiaochu to discover the autonomous potential of hacking, disruptive behaviour and recovery as a strategy.
Qiaochu’s works are inspired by the incompatible feeling of: alienation, abandonment, fatigue and illness, which uses them as a rebellious gesture. Qiaochu also sees this inspiration as a metaphor that challenges prevailing normative ways of thinking. Qiaochu Guo was born in Jingmen, China.
Berendine Venemans used to be a professional game designer, now performance artist, poet and videographer. As an artist, she deals with the unnameable and uncontrollable in life. In doing so, Berendine explores the role of intuition and believes in the power of uniting it with body, mind and cognition. She shares the path she follows in this process and the experiences she gains in her work. Berendine’s work invites to be experienced from the feeling, with a desire to speak from the artist’s heart and thus make the unnameable experienceable.
Niels Roest approaches his artistry from a photographic standpoint. Autobiographical threads are linked to more performative research. Niels’ practice focuses on consciously wandering through the existential and physical landscape, which opens a dialogue between interpretation and perception. Exploring the tensions and contradictions between these acts as the framework of his art and shapes the conditions that influence it during the making process. Striving to clarify representation in the image, mainly through various documentation techniques, Niels tries to do as much honour as possible to understand his position as an artist in forming narratives and recording this subjective reality.
Froukje de Boer uses closed systems to better understand her surroundings and builds her own isolated spaces to stand apart from them. As a visual artist, Froukje creates living environments for objects. Based on different systems, a structure is created in which a safe environment for material can emerge. Each habitat functions as a space in which the material is independent and cannot be used by outside elements. On this, the artist says: “My work is not about sharing an experience, it is about protecting an experience”.
Froukje de Boer completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2019 (Institute of Arts Maastricht) and obtained her Master of Visual Arts and Post-Contemporary Practice in 2022 (MIVC, St.Joost Den Bosch).
Jesse Fischer is dedicated to translating both personal and social influences into figurative paintings and drawings. By investing significant time in collecting and documenting the subjects that captivate him, Jesse tries to position himself in the world as an ‘imagineer’. His fascination is inspired by stories from classical antiquity, Mesopotamian mythology, tarot imagery, and legends from the Voodoo culture of New Orleans. What intrigues Jesse about the characters in these narratives is their duality. None are solely benevolent or malevolent. Just like real people, their moral compasses are swayed by fears, jealousy, greed, and desires. The artist believes that this human complexity makes these stories more relatable. Fischer emphasizes the importance of exploring and expressing the depths of one’s own psyche. If not, he believes individuals might find evil in the external world and project it onto others.
Isamo Thissen views the landscape as an archive of human activity. The ground beneath our feet bears witness to everything that unfolds upon it, capturing the imprints of our existence. These imprints, the traces we humans leave—both directly and indirectly—on the landscape, form both the motivation for and the foundation of Isamo’s work. Stemming from this central idea, Isamo explores the delicate beauty of nature, including its vibrant life and inevitable decay, as well as the stark lines and peculiar patterns that emerge from the landscape’s transformation.
EN 
NL