Maria Barnas - One Room To Say Nine Goodbyes In
Galerie Fons Welters - Playstation
28 Oct – 25 Nov 2000
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Playstation is proud to exhibit new work by the Dutch artist Maria Barnas (Hoorn, 1973). Barnas is presently studying fine arts at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam and has also published two novels: 'Engelen van IJs' (1997) and 'De Baadster' (2000)
For her first gallery exhibition, Maria Barnas will be showing clusters of texts and groupings of metal drops spread throughout the exhibition space, under the title One room to say nine good-byes in.
Maria Barnas is known for her novels as well as her work as an artist. Caught sometimes between the limiting labels of either 'writer' or 'artist', Barnas is one of many 'makers' today overtly altering our standard definition of Artist. Terms like 'interdisciplinary' or 'cross-over' have been fashionable for years and, unfortunately, like most fashionable terms, do little justice to the intricacies of the dynamic at hand. To hold off on a new term might be a better option. Keeping this in mind, the nine 'good-byes' in the title refer at once to the content of the texts, to the from in which these texts are presented and to Barnas' position as in-between maker. Barnas' installation is a literal and figurative play on separation, where text and form lie in precarious and poetic limbo.
Maria Barnas graduated from free media at the Rietveld academy in Amsterdam in 1998 and began at the Rijksakademie in 1999. Her work has been published in various magazines (Tirade, Maatstaf, Rood Koper, Kastalia, Lust&Gratie). She is presently working on a commission for the district of IJburg in Amsterdam, a large scale landscaped poem entitled 'De ontmoeting' (The Encounter). Since this year Barnas is also working together with Pam Emmerik, under the name 'Komma', squatting editorial boards of existing magazines to create one new and completely different issue of their publication.
[Maxine Kopsa]