Harmen de Hoop

Harmen de Hoop is a visual artist who makes anonymous and illegal interventions in public space.

He works on the notion of ‘place’ in the contemporary city, the behaviour of individuals or groups, and the conflicts of interests in public space. He addresses the passer-by without using the existing language of the art world. His interventions are made by re-contextualizing existing signs or objects, adding them to a location in an unexpected way and by doing so questioning ‘normality’. The work is often about the functionality of materials and objects, or about rules and regulations and the way people behave in the public domain. With this he tries to let people look at themselves in a different way, often with a sense of humor. Before he makes a work he visits and photographs an unlimited number of locations in a chosen city until he finds the right site for his intervention. From 1998 onwards the majority of his works consist of carefully planned actions in public space. As with his interventions he confronts an unprepared public with actions that comment on social, political and philosophical issues.
Sprache: Deutsch, Englisch