Willem Besselink

With the exhibition ‘Doppelganger’, Kunsthal Rotterdam is presenting a site-specific installation by the Dutch artist Willem Besselink. The exhibition – part of the ‘Kunsthal Light’ programme – reflects the artist’s thought process. For this installation Besselink drew his inspiration from the architecture of the Kunsthal, designed by Koolhaas, and from the building structures and materials of HAL 6 in particular. Some details of the building, such as the angle of inclination of the floor and the turned supports of the roof structure, form the points of departure for this installation (1:1 scale) that will radically transform and emphasise the structure of the space. Visitors will suddenly find themselves standing amongst some of the building’s architectural structures that they would normally have passed without noticing.

Willem Besselink (1980, Venray) is fascinated by deeply-rooted structures in everyday life; visible as well as invisible structures that keep repeating themselves like patterns. Besselink researches these patterns by capturing them in his drawings, paintings, objects and installations and visualising them in new ways with a particular focus on an innovative use of materials. Besselink studied at the Minerva Art Academy in Groningen and the Universität der Künste in Berlin and graduated from the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam in 2006.

Kunsthal Light

‘Kunsthal Light’ is the Kunsthal's talent development programme. Since 2011, this exhibition programme has especially focused on young artists who are able to make a ‘broad gesture’ in an original and artistic way. Three times a year, to this end the Kunsthal places HALL 6 (the over 25-meter-long display window along the ramp) at the disposal of an artist who is given free rein to make a site-specific work. In 2018, ‘Kunsthal Light’ is also made possible by the Mondriaan Fund.