until January 31, 2021
With his paintings, drawings, installations and performances, Peter Bouwmans (1977, Goes) looks into how society is changing. Issues surrounding climate change, the neo-capitalist system and the distribution of wealth are all things that motivate him to make art. His abstract and colourful work has previously been featured in Raketstart and Practice of Living.
Stedelijk Museum Breda commissioned Bouwmans to create a new work of art especially for the courtyard of the museum. As a starting point for this he chose an idea that has been fascinating him for a long time: the rising sea levels. When he was a child, Bouwmans was taught that if the dikes around the Netherlands didn’t exist, the seawater would reach as far as Breda.
The resulting artwork is rather spectacular: a penetrating and dark structure that appears to be wedged into the enclosed courtyard. With this – and with the accompanying soundscape – Bouwmans wants to make us think about the social consequences of the rising waters, and about the way we deal with problems that are bigger than ourselves.
This installation is part of Project Binnenruimte, a series in which we let artists from the region create new work in the courtyard of the museum. In 2019, Margot Zweers made the installation Things Seemed to be Square for the first edition in this project. This series is alternated with an exhibition of existing work by sculptors from the region titled Project Binnenplaats. On the occasion of this exhibition the publication: Peter Bouwmans - Project Binnenruimte # 2 will be published in Dutch and English. Available in the museum shop for €4.95 from the beginning of July. Peter Bouwmans is also the instigator of ‘The Shareholders’ Meeting’, an initiative to take a stand for the position and necessity of art in society, together with other artists.
‘The question is not whether the water will come, not even when. But; How do we live when the water is there?’ Peter Bouwmans