My name is Edwin Stolk and I am a visual artist. The world around us is evolving rapidly, and this calls for our engagement. In my work, I develop context-dependent projects in which I explore societal issues together with others and make them tangible. I believe in the power of art as a means to open new perspectives and connect people.
To me, culture means shared meaning, and that is not something to be taken for granted. It is a collective shaping process that continually requires the space to learn and change. With a multidisciplinary group of people — residents, municipal officials, and entrepreneurs—we build bridges between the past, present, and future.
For me, autonomy is about the freedom you have to ask questions together about the living environment. It is important to create new meaning in this way at home, on the street, or in the supermarket. In doing so, art gives us the opportunity to learn about the visible, the speakable, and the conceivable. At your invitation or someone else's, I pass by the landscape in a special collaboration.
Room for experimentation is important for an independent and critical society. Governments currently purchase primarily scientific expertise—focused on quick problem solving. This leads to an economic landscape dominated by technical solutions. What is missing is a unifying cultural narrative. The issue or problem remains unknown.
In an artistic process, the relationship between the rational and the emotional can be made visible. A shopping center may be in good technical condition, but emotionally no longer fit the times. Through a search for (new) meaning, an artistic process can introduce an entirely different value. Alongside museums, libraries, and music schools, this service sector also requires artistic scope in formulating answers to societal questions.
The famous painter Paul Cézanne was not concerned with creating investment objects. You do get that impression, however, when the news reports only on record selling prices of his work. In reality, Cézanne painted the ‘Mont Sainte-Victoire’ time and again to understand the landscape he observed. My artistic practice applies this form of inquiry (with art), in service of deeper understanding, at various locations and in different contexts.
"Politics is not the exercise of, or struggle for power', but instead 'consist in reconfigurating the distribution of the sensible.' The dream of a suitable political work of art is in fact the dream of disrupting the relationship between the visible, the sayable, and the thinkable without having to use the terms of a message as a vehicle. It is a dream of an art that would transmit meanings in the form of a rupture with the very logic of meaningful situations." [1]
When art is embedded in people's living environments, a unique opportunity arises to imagine a dreamed future together or to critically question a particular situation on its terms. It gives people who are disconnected from the democratic process a (prefigurative) opportunity to make their ideas visible and discuss them. This art not only sparks new ways of thinking but also actively influences the democratic process.
My artistic practice is open to initiators touched by a pressing issue. Through dialogue, we seek new insights into seemingly unchangeable situations. Together, we map out local potential. Then we develop possible proposals. In a small team, we seek financial opportunities from funds and try to make knowledge and resources from the local community available for the issue.
Only through a shared sense of responsibility can these temporary interventions be realized. In each case, the societal issue remains central. The visual form varies in order to achieve the most meaningful experience possible. On this website you will find examples.
I'm currently involved with LEV! (Living Environment and Imagination) for the Province of Utrecht. This network contributes expertise and creativity to issues related to spatial quality.
As an advisor, I can play a role regarding art in public spaces. I enjoy contributing to the drafting of cultural and spatial vision documents for municipalities. If you are interested, please get in touch to discuss the possibilities.
With the conviction that art can play an active societal role, I dedicate myself as a guest lecturer to convincing students in art education of this. I have had the privilege of guiding students at ArtEZ in Zwolle and Arnhem, the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam, and the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague.
Between 2024 and 2025, I investigated the lack of a vibrant "Heart of Krimpen" in the municipality of Krimpen aan den IJssel. I am currently working with Remco van Bladel (Archival Consciousness) on a publication of this research and a reissue of Entre Nous 2014 — 2017, published in 2019.
To date, I have collaborated with a variety of partners. Some examples include the Royal Netherlands Army, the City of Ghent, and energy company ENGIE. Financially, these projects were made possible by the Mondriaan Fund, Innovatielabs, Arts Council England, and Land Salzburg, among others. I currently have availability for new assignments. Please feel free to contact me without obligation for more information.
Edwin Stolk
Photo: 'View of the Langerbrugge Power Station', Belgium 2021
Collaborate? info [at] edwinstolk.nl
[1] Jacques Rancière, Aesthetics and its Discontents, Cambridge 2009, p.24.