Wendelien van Oldenborgh was born in Rotterdam and is still based there. After graduating from Goldsmiths' College in London, she worked in Belgium and Germany for many years. Van Oldenborgh films communication and interaction between individuals, often against the backdrop of a unique public location. In this way her work investigates the political, social and cultural relationships in our society and how these are openly manifested through everyday social intercourse. An example of this is her filmic observation of a female police officer frisking visitors at the entrance of a football stadium. With her sophisticated use of framing, Van Oldenborgh highlights certain generally inconspicuous events, allowing the images to become loaded with different meanings. For instance, although the frisking in the aforementioned example is a manifestation of a power relationship, it also seems to represent a legitimization of an intentionally erotic act. In her later work cultural differences - such as those resulting from (old) colonial ties – form the subject of public and social interaction. Through these ‘active interactions’ between groups of participants, who simultaneously assume the role of performer and observer/listener, cinematographic footage as well as a script are created during a live event. An example of this took place in the Mauritshuis where, in a few hours time, the entire footage of a film was shot, an open process in which the element of coincidence played an important part. With the help of advanced editing techniques and scenography, Van Oldenborgh transforms her raw footage in such a way that the underlying dramatic facets of seemingly everyday acts and discussions taking place in the public domain are exposed. The theatrical performance that emerges is subsequently projected as a slide or video installation.
During the past few years, Wendelien van Oldenborgh has had solo exhibitions in Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (Plug-in series with Mauritsscript), Muhka (Antwerp), Casco (Utrecht) and the Musee des Beaux Arts (Mulhouse). She has also taken part in prominent group presentations at the Van Abbemuseum ( Be(com)ing Dutch, a programme organized by Charles Esche and Annie Fletcher), Witte de With (Be What You Want But Stay Where You Are, curated by Ruth Noack and Roger M. Buergel), Museum Boijmans van Beuningen and the Kuenstlerhaus Stuttgart with Harun Farocki and Olaf Metzel (curated by Fareed Armaly). Recent presentations include 28th Biennial of São Paulo, Cubitt in collaboration with Electric Palm Tree(London), Apexart (New York), MAMAM (Recife), MAK (Vienna), Konstfack (Stockholm), and EAST (Norwich).
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