23 Nov 11

Many migrant workers in Beijing carry a certain type of bag made of duvet covers or other leftover textiles. The shape of the bag is as simple as it is ingenious. It solely consists of one rectangular piece of textile and features only two seams. Folded crosswise, the textile creates a bag which surprisingly holds a lot of volume, making it the perfect bag for workers who carry a great deal of luggage when coming to the city in search of employment.

I appropriated this design vernacular to create a series of bags.

The textile chosen for the bags are repurposed red banners which are ubiquitous in China. The standard dimensions of the banners also makes it a suitable choice for this type of bag. Used mostly for restaurant advertisements, messages of celebration from companies or schools, or for government regulation propaganda, it seems a perfect choice to make this makeshift bag from the leftovers of Chinese urban life.

In China, when I would ask if I could take a picture of somebody or something, the answer I heard the most was: ‘maybe’. I soon discovered that in China ‘maybe’ is used in a different way than in the West. Sometimes ‘maybe’ is used as a polite way of saying ‘no’. But on other occasions people really just mean ‘maybe’. ‘Maybe Beijing’, the name of the bag, refers to the opportunity Beijing promises to all who arrive there. ‘Maybe Beijing’ also stands for the dream of enriching your life and becoming prosperous.

Origin of the banners: NCUT (North China University of Technology) used to advertise the student ping pong tournament; Beijing Medical School, used to celebrate the 90 year anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party; various restaurants throughout Beijing, used for promotional announcements.

see also: The Floating Population & After Hour Shopping Mall

21 Oct 11

My series ‘The Floating Population’ is part of a very nice exhibition at The Empty Quarter gallery in Dubai.

06 Oct 11

NP3 | Hofstraat 21 | 9712 JA | Groningen | 050-3138260| www.np3.nu

04 Oct 11

The area around the steel factories of Cockerill-Sambre, Liege. As a kid I spend a lot of time in Belgium, I grew up 20 km from the Dutch-Belgium-German border. Crossing the border to the German site never made a big impact on me as a kid. It more or less looked the same. But crossing the Belgium border was something totally different. First city you hit, Visé, already felt like a far away country. To me, as a kid, it felt like something was really really wrong here. Later I came to appreciate the history of the area around Liege and it’s importance it once had.

19 Sep 11

Pictures of my current exhibition ‘After-Hour Shopping Mall’ at NP3 Groningen. There will be a midissage at 7 October, starting around 20.00. It’s possible to visit the exhibit until 23 October. The show consists of the installation After-Hour Shopping Mall, the poster series The Floating Population and Skies over Beijing.