Jeroen Jongeleen's solo exhibition at the new exhibition space of AVL Mundo in Rotterdam is a great success. It opened on 5 June at the new exhiition and performance space of AVL Mundo: de BarBAAR. The show is on until July 18 and can be visited Fri Sat Sun,12-6pm. at AVL Mundo, Keileweg 10-18, 3029 BS Rotterdam, Netherlands. In keeping with covid-19 restrictions tickets are only for sale per timeslot, book your ticket in advance through the reservations system. Door tickets are limited, but available.

tickets

 

Edo Dijksterhuis about the exhibition:

For many, the Covid 19-induced lockdown fuelled a stir-crazy urge to go out and jog. For Jeroen Jongeleen running is not an escape from stifling domesticity, but a means of reclaiming the city. To this end, he seeks out abandoned factory rooftops, pier-end parking lots and other places that ooze a ‘paused life’ atmosphere. He runs in circles in these non-places, going nowhere yet creating a damp or dusty path with his footsteps.

He creates his own Nazca lines, geometric wounds etched into the post-industrial, urban desert, like a 21st century Richard Long on steroids. Jongeleen’s marathon length runs are recorded using a drone. Its bird’s-eye view reduces him to an impersonal pixel moving across a simple drawing. When the videos come with audio, the intimate sound of the artist’s ragged breathing feels disjointed from the image, adding to the alienating character of the solitary performance.

Juxtaposed to these introverted acts of a long-distance runner trapped in a hamster wheel of his own making, are Jongeleen’s text-based artworks. These consist of newspaper and website quotes that reflect the daily  insanity of contemporary politics pushing the planet to the brink. Under the cloak of darkness, the artist spray paints them haphazardly on walls, fences and bridges. They bring to mind 1980’s graffiti, a phenomenon that has been erased from the public domain by privatisation and gentrification. Typically, Jongeleen’s uncomfortably apocalyptic quotes are removed within days by the municipal cleaning service. Like his running circles they are temporary scars incised by an individual into the surface of a world constantly shaped by collective destruction.

Images by  Trendbeheer

Publication date: 27 Jun '20