Anouk Kruithof
About
Artworks
CV
Waving flag, 2024
About
Anouk Kruithof (b. 1981, Dordrecht, The Netherlands) is a visual artist with a trans-disciplinary approach which encompasses sculpture, photography, collage, video, books, websites and (social) interventions in the public domain. The work depicts the transience and the chaos of this world, which she skilfully addresses by mixing urgent social issues with personal experience to mirror the state prevalent in our society today. Kruithof tries to reveal ‘the nerves of the time’ by deftly identifying social, psychological and ethical dilemmas. Observing, analysing, collecting, acting and reacting inform her thoughtful and playful work method, which does not at all detract from her serious approach as a social and political agent. In this time, Kruithof has formulated a highly idiosyncratic view of this world, one where the personal has become political. By continually navigating between the digital and physical experiential spheres, Kruithof investigates a collective state of mind that is not solely grounded in the material world, but more often in an amorphous one. She conteplates a world consisting of a relentless stream of edited, constructed and spliced-together images that have lost their credibility: resulting today in a reality that is thoroughly scripted and subject to permanent post-production. The scope of her world view extends from environmental pollution and the consequences of climate change to government surveillance practices, privacy to inequality and protest. From anonymity to signs of nervousness such as stress and exhaustion, sha- me and social discomfort, all in an effort to address a collective consciousness of human failing towards humanity itself and planet earth at large. Kruithof is acutely aware of her double role as image maker and image consumer. Just like the visual culture in which we live, her paradoxical layered work method is heart-warming and revealing, personal and universal, uplifting and oppressive, light-hearted and dystopian.
She has been working as an artist full-time since 2003 and currently lives alternately in Brussels, Berlin, Botopasi, Suriname and the Netherlands. Kruithof has had solo exhibitions in Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam, Centro de la Imagen Mexico City and Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. Her work has also been included in the collections of SFMoMA in San Francisco, Museum Folkwang in Essen and Museum Voorlinden in Wassenaar. Kruithof published 15 books and she was selected for The Gallery of Honour of Dutch photography at Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam in 2021 and she won the public prize of the Volkskrant Beeldende Kunstprijs in 2016. Her most known project Universal Tongue is still intensively shown all over the world and has been exhibited in Museum Tinguely in Basel, Vooruit in Ghent and at WHOLE | United Queer Festival, Ferropolis, Gräfenhainichen, Germany.
Artworks
Curriculum Vitae
Selected solo exhibitions
2006
The Black Hole, with Jaap Scheeren FOAM, Amsterdam, NL
2009
Becoming Blue, Museum De Domijnen, Sittard, NL
Becoming Blue, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany
2012
Autocenter, Berlin, Germany
Untitled (I’ve taken too many photos/I’ve never taken a photo)
Tour des Templiers, Hyères, France
2014
Paulien Oltheten & Anouk Kruithof, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, NL
2015
Sweaty Sculptures, Green Is Gold, Copenhagen, Denmark
AHEAD, FOUR A.M., New York, US
2016
Neutral, Galerie Jo van der Loo, Munich, Germany
<CONNECTION>, Offprint, Tate Modern, London, UK
2017
¡Aguas! Next Level, FOAM, Amsterdam, NL
Ego, Eco, Crescendo, French Pavilion, Organ Vida, Zagreb, Croatia
The Aesthetics of Contamination, Galerie Escougnou-Cetraro, Paris, France
Enclosed content chatting away in the colour invisibility, Casemore I Kirkeby, San Francisco,
US AHEAD, Centro de la Imagen, Mexico City, Mexico
#Evidence, Casemore I Kirkeby, San Francisco, US
2018
Transformagic, Association for Contemporary Culture Fotopub, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Anouk Kruithof & Erin Mitchell, Buffering MELK, Oslo, Norway
2019
Becoming Blue, Casemore I Kirkeby, San Francisco, US
2020
Jan Paul Evers & Anouk Kruithof, Galerie Jo van der Loo, Munich, Germany
2021
Perpetual Endless Flow, FuturDome, Milan, Italy
Universal Tongue, Noorderzon at Vera, Groningen, NL
Universal Tongue, FotoFestival Naarden Stadhuiszolder, Naarden, NL
Trans Human Nature, Galerie Valeria Cetraro, Paris, France
Trans Human Nature, 254Forest, Brussels, Belgium
Universal Tongue, Vooruit, Ghent, Belgium
2022
Universal Tongue, Melkweg Expo, Amsterdam, NL
Universal Tongue, Kunstmin, Energiehuis, Dordrecht, NL
Universal Tongue, WHOLE United Queer Festival Orangerie, Ferropolis, Germany Universal Tongue
Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, NL
Niet Meer Normaal, Kunstkerk Dordrecht, NL
Universal Tongue, Museum Tinguely, Basel, Switzerland
2023
Universal Tongue, Le Confort Moderne, Poitiers, France
Universal Tongue, Galerie Valeria Cetraro, Paris, France
Tentacle Togetherness, Centre Photographique d’Ile de-France Pontault-Combault, France
The toes you step on today might be connected to the ass you’re kissing tomorrow, Willem Twee Kunstruimte, ’s-Hertogenbosch, NL
Trans Human Nature, Art Rotterdam, Galerie Valeria Cetraro
Gallery Sofie Van de Velde, Rotterdam, NL
Selected group exhibitions
2003
Retour Breda-Amsterdam-Den Haag, Museum de Beyerd, Breda, NL
2006
Dutch Dare: Contemporary Photography from the Netherlands, ACP, Sydney, Australia
De: Amsterdam, Espace Bellevaux, Lausanne, Switzerland
Fotodrukwerk, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, NL
2007
Dutch Dare: Contemporary Photography from the Netherlands, Erasmus Huis, Jakarta, Indonesia
2008
Love Design Delirium, Kunstraum Niederösterreich, Vienna, Austria
Territoires, MAMAC, Liège, Belgium
Untitled, Fette’s Gallery, Los Angeles, US
2009
La 2,33é Dimension, Gallery 1m3, Lausanne, Switzerland
The moi non plus remixed, W139 / Trouw building / Atheneum Amsterdam, NL
In Real Life, Capricious Space, New York, US
2010
A Groupshow, CroxhaPox, Ghent, Belgium
Quickscan NL#1, Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam, NL
Holland Papier Biennale, CODA, Apeldoorn, NL
Quickscan NL#1, Dutch Culture Center, Shanghai, China
Zero Budget Biennial, Pianissimo Gallery, Milan; Rokeby Gallery, London; Klemm’s, Berlin; Carlos Cardenas/Schleicher+Lange, Paris
2011
Still/Life Contemporary Dutch Photography, FOAM, Amsterdam, NL
Crossroads, KIT, Düsseldorf, Germany
2012
New Wight Biennial, UCLA, Los Angeles, US
Daegu Photo Biennale, Daegu, South Korea
Dutch Doc Award, Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, NL
Photography is..., Higher Pictures, New York, US
2013
Undercover, Erarta Museum, St Petersburg, Russia
WIT, Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam, NL
Still/Life, Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow, Russia
Papierkunst, Stedelijk Museum, Kampen, NL
ICP Triennial, New York, US
Bookhouse: La forma del libro, Museo Marca, Catanzaro, Italy
The Feverish Library, Capitain Petzel Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2014
L’art se Livre, MBAL, Le Locle, Switzerland
The Spectrum of Ethereal, Trafó, Budapest, Hungary
2015
Ocean of Images: New Photography 2015, MoMA, New York, US
Picture/Thing, Zilkha Gallery, Wesleyan University, Middletown, US
Undendliche Bibliothek, Alte Fabrik, Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland
2016
Volkskrant Beeldende Kunst Prijs, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, Schiedam, NL
Temporary Highs, Bitforms, New York, US
Loin des yeux, Optica, Montreal, Canada
2017
Chapter 3, The Control of Images, Foto Forum, Bolzano, Italy
Paperworks, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico
Façade, Middelburg, NL
Face + Identity, Art Centre Silkeborg Bad, Silkeborg, Denmark
The Youth Code!, You can tell I’m alive and well because I weep continuously
Knockdown Center, New York, US Objectivism (Visual Philosophies) KARST Projects, Plymouth, UK
2018
Inside/out: Family, Memory,Loss, Displacement, Center for Book Arts, New York, US
Loading... Works from the FOAM collection FOAM, Amsterdam, NL
Beautiful Distress, Zomergasten, Museum Dr. Guislain, Ghent, Belgium
Scene Unseen, Forum Triangulare, Kasteel, Oud-Rekem, NL [INSERT TITLE]
Kleine Humboldt Galerie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Human Nature, Fotofestiwal Art Inkubator, Lodz, Poland
Concealer, Peckham 24, Copeland Gallery, London, UK
10 Years Base-Alpha Gallery — Part III Prospects, Antwerp, Belgium
2019
EXPO Koelkast, Garage Noord, Amsterdam, NL
Identify Us, Babel / Willem Twee muziek en beeldende kunst, s’Hertogenbosch, NL
Unsupported Message Format, Galerie Valeria Cetraro, Paris, France
On Earth — Imaging, Technology and the Natural World, Les Forges I LUMA, Arles, France
The Life of Things, MOMENTA | Biennale de l’image Montreal, Canada
Joy before the object Seventeen Gallery, London, UK
Handless Operative, Casemore I Kirkeby, San Francisco, US
Model Staan, Stedelijke Kunstacademie Tielt, Belgium
Mexico on my mind, Cultuurcentrum van Berchem, Antwerp, Belgium
Trouble in Paradise, Collection Rattan Chadha, Kunsthal Rotterdam, Rotterdam, NL
2020
On Earth — Imaging, Technology and the Natural World, Le Lieu Unique, Nantes, France
Nach uns die Sintflut (After us, the flood) Kunst Haus Wien, Vienna, Austria
La photographie à l’épreuve de l’abstraction, Centre Photographique d’Ile-de-France Pontault-Combault, France; Frac Normandie Rouen, Rouen, France
Spoiled Waters Spilled, Parallel Du Sud Program, Le Ballet National Manifesta13, Marseille, France
On Earth — Imaging, Technology and the Natural World, FOAM, Amsterdam, NL
Persona Everyware, Centre d’art Le Lait, Albi, France
2021
Biennale NOVA_XX, Centre Wallonie Bruxelles, Paris, France
Global Groove, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany
Bye Bye His-Story, chapter 5050, Centre de la Gravure et de l’Image imprimée La Louvière, Belgium
À Fleur de monde, Centre Photographique Rouen Normandie Rouen, France
One and One is Three, Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, NL
Eregalerij van de Nederlandse Fotografie, Fotomuseum, Rotterdam, NL
2022
Sightlines, SFMOMA San Fransisco, US
Do Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate, Casemore I Kirkeby, San Francisco, US
The World Was All Before Them, TULCA Festival of Visual Arts, Galway, Ireland
Night, Chroniques, Biennale of Digital Imagination, Friche la Belle de Mai, Marseille, France
Tales of Togetherness, KIKK Festival, Namur, Belgium
Big DaDa, Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam, NL
I can live forever, Gallery Sofie Van de Velde, Antwerp, Belgium
States of Disruption, Centre for Contemporary Photography Melbourne, Australia
Of Melting and Disappearing, Kunstforum Montafon, Schruns, Austria
Avecques Amertume, Les Limbes, Saint-Étienne, France
Refinery Monastery, 20th Pancevo Biennial, Pancevo, Serbia
Overdose –Collection Galila’s P.O.C. Design Museum, Holon, Israel
From where I stand, Biennale für aktuelle Fotografie, Port 25, Mannheim, Germany
Inside the outside, CODA, Apeldoorn, NL
Folkwang and the City, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany
2023
Burning down the house, AFF Galerie e.V., Berlin, Germany
See Beyond The Sea, Festival internazionale di fotografia e arte PhEST, Monopoli, Italy
Nocturne with Anouk Kruithof, Cloud Seven, Brussels, Belgium
Un Été Au Havre, édition 23, Le Havre, France
Becoming Earths, Galerie Caroline O’Breen, Amsterdam, NL
Mama’s Pride, Het Nieuwe Domein, Sittard, NL
A Field Guide to Getting Lost, Het Nieuwe Domein, Sittard, NL
Just Dance, schrit_tmacher, Schunck Glass Palace, Heerlen, NL
Uit het donker (winter warm), De Warande at de Hoge Rielen Kasterlee, Belgium
2025
Lick it, leak it, like it, Gallery Vriend van Bavink, Amsterdam, NL