Marijn Ottenhof

Relation to Beautiful Distress - Marijn Ottenhof was part of an artist in residence program at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn from June 2017 until August 2017. The program is an initiative of Beautiful Distress, a Foundation that uses art in an attempt to open up the world of psychiatry and battle the stigma attached to it. 

About the artist - In my work I investigate social and political systems and the human need for rules and logic. By controlling, being controlled, taking control and letting go of control I question existing structures, of power, dominance and expectations.

Language can be a powerful tool in this. It can be a vessel for communication, but it can also function as a surface beneath which other narratives are hidden. Without its direct meaning, language can be used as an abstract form to interpret more freely and play with. Playing is another powerful tool, making use of rules, roles, participants and onlookers, attributes and costumes. The construction of a system.

Trying to reach a valuable connection between humans and between things, we might be confronted with feelings of alienation and fear. We have eyes everywhere and yet between each attempt to reach out stands an invisible, dark-glossy screen. Disrupting structures gives way to reinventing ways to relate to each other, and physical tools that might help us do so.

further information about Marijn Ottenhof
Marijn Ottenhof

about the residency
Staging Anxiety

press and articles
Mister Motley (1)
Mister Motley (2)
Artsy