Author: Nina van Duijnhoven

Just like that, 2022 has been and gone, and we are already in the 2nd month of the new year. As Dubowski puts it:  “We are paper thin. We exist on luck amid the percentages, temporarily. And that’s the best part and the worst part, the temporal factor.” As the years seem to be flying… Continue reading The end is only the beginning..

  Being able to relax and enjoy workshops has become a lot easier since I have been in the Handshake programs. Before my very first masterclasses with Iris Eichenberg in February 2020, I hardly slept and was very stressed. Not knowing what to expect, and not knowing whether I would be able to deliver was… Continue reading Estela Saez masterclass

Finito.. the end, done. “Morph”…. the culmination of two and a half years of developing our arts practice, the finale, our last exhibition together. I can’t believe it has been two and a half years. Time has flown by! What an amazing journey it has been.         My pieces in Morph: acid… Continue reading Finito….

A brooch made for the show at Galerie Marzee, due to open 7 November. Brooch (2021) Untitled III Materials: Acid free 250gsm paper, pastel, silk cord Measurements: H220mm x W160mm x D60mm Weight: 29 grams Another lockdown for New Zealand started on the 17th of August. I had been sick for two weeks just prior… Continue reading A teaser….

Radiant Pavilion, Melbourne 4-12 September 2021 For many months Handshake (NZ),  Dialogue Collective (UK) and TempContemp (AU) have collaborated on the show “Containment/Uncontained” for Radiant Pavilion 2021. There were many zoom meetings connecting the 2 sides of the globe, exploring and discussing ideas on expressing our experience of our relative freedom or confinement. The final… Continue reading Radiant Pavilion 2021

A while back I posted a blog about a conversation I had with one of my pieces which was the result of a performative exercise that Peter Deckers asked us to do. (The conversation, Aug 4, 2020) Here is a conversation I had with another piece, picking up from where we left off…suggesting shouting this… Continue reading Conversation no. 2

In parts of the world, elephants are exploited for transportation, construction, logging, ceremonial use and as a tourist attraction. The elephant must obey his owner and cannot run rampant. Elephants are large animals, built to uproot trees using only their trunk, so why do they never try to leave their captivity? When a circus elephant… Continue reading How to chain an elephant?

For the Nelson CHAINReaction show I played around with several ideas but I wasn’t happy … they were just not right, they were lacking…. Lacking what I didn’t know, I couldn’t put my finger on it… they were just a bit meh… a bit average, contrived… I didn’t feel good putting any of them out… Continue reading Daemons and Geniuses

Our first exhibition at Te Auaha was about showing our process. My process is doing, making, and generally quite a lot of it. I don’t draw, I don’t spend a lot time thinking prior to making. I sit down and just start… doing something…and from that something little discoveries happen, one thing leads to another.… Continue reading Te Auaha Show

In 2001, British artist Michael Landy addressed excess consumerism and waste, by destroying all his possessions in an art project called “Break Down”.  In the 3 years leading up to this event, every single one of his 7227 possessions was carefully classified and catalogued. The 2 week performance installation took place in a disused department… Continue reading Break Down