Marijke van Warmerdam (1959, the Netherlands) first garnered international
attention at the Venice Biennial in 1995 with her short film loops portraying the beauty
of simple movements and everyday actions. Her frame of reference is without guile: “Art
can give life a twist, and the other way around.”
She makes use of images where seemingly unrelated elements are united in what comes
across as a natural combination. Dramatic shifts of scale, doubling, reflection, rhythmic
repetition, or surprising juxtapositions provide an open perspective. In doing so, she
draws attention to the beauty of trivialities: the fleeting moments gone in the blink of an
eye.
Van Warmerdam does not tell stories in her works, but relies on the visual power of the
motif: a hat dancing in the wind, a girl doing a handstand or a red suitcase sliding down
a snowy mountain. Although she utilizes a variety of media including photography,
sculpture, and sound installations, she is best known for her short, looped films.