OFF THE WALL

The work of Anouk Kruithof – photos, installations, sculptures, and artist books – is often derived from social interventions in the public space. She uses the camera as a strategic tool for making contact with the outside world. The photos then form the basis of her final works, in which the artist frequently includes everyday or industrial construction materials such as sponge or insulation material. With this, Kruithof explores and challenges the boundaries of photography as a medium. In the presentation entitled Within Interpretations of a Wall, Kruithof reveals her fascination for the “wall,” which functions both as an architectural element, and as a poetic delineation and metaphoric boundary within the human psyche.
In Off the Wall (2014), the walls of various wards of the Altrecht psychiatric institution in Den Dolder (where Kruithof was artist-in-residence at The Fifth Season in 2011) form a colorful index. In this new work, Kruithof asks where, precisely, is the borderline between “healthy” and “mentally ill.”