ARTIST STATEMENT

The relationship between humans and nature, the detachment between us and our origins, are the basis for my research and work. Through the use of various mediums, time-based video and performance, I want to transport the viewer to a world of more primary needs and emotions to restore this contact.

In my work I explore common cultural prejudices and social expectations, and the trust in the goodness and love in the world, or rather the lack of it. My work plays on the primal instinct of the viewer. Ideas of warmth, shelter and safety are in stark contrast with a fear of the dark and the unknown. The installations and video
works are like dream machines; subtle and unexpected images transform simple actions and situations to poetic environments. With my work I put the viewer into my own dream and at the same time in the dream of the beholder. Unpretentious low-tech materials, such as wool, textiles, wood and smoke are used with video
in order to bring the viewer back to a more primitive world of basic needs and anxieties.

The sense of time and space is a substantial aspect of my work. My time-based video’s focus myself on the present, and transfer this on to the viewer. The visual time that passes in the videos are minimal changes in motions or landscape, which creates a stillness in the image. The viewer participates through subjective
perception and the experience of time. ‘Traindreaming’ for example, a video installation inspired by a journey through Siberia, Mongolia and China, catches this exploration of time and space. The installation consist of a capsule with two beds, a video projection and the rhythmic sound of a train. The video shows images recorded through a train window, but the world behind the window is for the most part not recognizable. I am interested in the way we often perceive the world through a lens or window, especially while travelling. Have you really visited the places you see in this manner? The capsule is a materialization of this idea and the feeling of moving through time and space without reaching a destination. While being in the capsule, the idea of time and place fades; the change in the landscape and the rhythmic sound assist the viewer in a journey inwards.

BIOGRAPHY

Tim van der Meer received her Bachelor of Fine Arts with honours in 2010 from the
Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht.
Her research evolves around the relationship between humans and nature - in her work she combines concepts of both culture and nature by means of various mediums. As such, travelling to different landscapes and cultures is an essential part of her work. She worked as an artist in residence in Morocco, Finland, Georgia and Japan.
In addition to her own projects she worked on several community art- and interdisciplinary projects, such as 'Inside the mind - A look at fading memories' - a project with people suffering from Korsakoff's syndrome.