Images by Johanne Karlsrud
BAS RUIS
KIOSKEN STUDIO RESIDENT: JUNE
RESIDENCY & INTERVIEW
01.06.2024 - 30.06.2024
During his residency in June, artist Bas Ruis (1995, NL) considered KIOSKEN’s position by the harbour, and his own experience of Norway. He went on field trips to local industrial and nautical companies - where he sourced waste materials such as boat-sails and wool - to create a series of sculptures that were presented in the exhibition Soft Anchor and the Gore-Tex Boat: A Floating Question of Belonging.
Throughout the exhibition and during his residency, Ruis played with ideas of of belonging, connection and displacement - looking out to the aquatic as a slippery zone of both industrial labour and playful leisure.
You can read an interview with Bas about his practice, his relationship to play, theory and ready-mades below, alongside documentation from his exhibition and from placing his work around Kiosken.
BAS RUIS
Bas Ruis (B. 1995 Netherlands/works and lives in Bergen, Norway) creates idea based sculptures from a domestic themed viewpoint. Those sculptures come to life through an indepth research about play and the homo-ludens. By looking through the lens of absurdism and playing with the idea of Baudrillard’s simulacrum, he creates an uncanny encounter with everyday objects.
While humor draws the viewer in, the critique on who is welcome, growing up and the loss of frivolity soon become apparent. The contradicting nature of his work hands the viewer a lot of entry points. It sets and breaks boundaries: it challenges them to rethink and question their daily life in a playful manner.
Throughout the years he has developed a way of making that revolves around combining things. He looks for unusual or contradicting combinations and turns them into sculptures. These sculptures give him a feeling of belonging, even though they often have a contradicting nature. They reflect on and deal with how he is seeing the world, and maybe on the way he is sometimes overwhelmed by it.
KIOSKEN STUDIO
is a unique residency program that spans across the entire field of contemporary art, craft and design. During their residency, artists, designers, writers, musicians, performance artists and filmmakers are invited to work on ideas they want to further develop at Kiosken's premises for a period of four weeks. The public can follow the process through the large shop windows facing the street. KIOSKEN STUDIO is organised through an open call.
Kiosken is an interdisciplinary gallery and project space dedicated to artists, designers and artisans in the region. Through our shop, residency- and exhibition program, we aim to increase the visibility and earning potential of arts, crafts, and design in Vestland.
KIOSKEN IN CONVERSATION: BAS RUIS
KIOSKEN IN CONVERSATION is a series of interviews and studio visits by writer and curator Ruby Eleftheriotis, that engages with our current exhibiting artists, KIOSKEN STUDIO residents and the Kiosken Shop community.
I met Bas in Kiosken in the midst of his residency. A large, cushiony anchor rested on the floor, grey wool spilling out of it´s edges. Aquatic architectures sprung up around the room, limp paddles, plastic anchors and a gore-tex boat sat amongst us. A perfectly shining pearl bag sat on a table, with a jawbreaker neatly perched ontop of sandy sugar inside. Bas talked me through the works he was working, how they come into being and the difference between playing in the mind and playing with materials.
R: Ruby Eleftheriotis
B: Bas Ruis
Wednesday 26 June 2024, 11:04
R:
It looks amazing in here - tell me a bit about what’s going on?
B:
Good question (laughs). Last year I saw the Open-Call for the Kiosken residency, and the idea came quite quickly - this idea of a soft anchor and a gore-tex boat. I always wanted to work with gore-tex. And then I like this opposition that happens: a boat is floating, an anchor is stiff. I guess an anchor could be this big for a cruise ship, but when I think of an anchor I normally think of a small one for a boat. So there is something about playing with expectations here.
I had the idea of making an anchor about a year ago, and I thought about making it from normal textiles, but then about a month ago I thought it would be very nice to make it from the sail of a ship. So me and Siv went to Sailmaker Iverson. Siv is very into textiles so it was a great fit. She told me about this local sailmaking factory and how she always wanted to go, so we went on a little road trip together! They gave us a tour of the building and we asked if they had any waste materials, and they had this big sail that they couldn’t use anymore as it has a few small rips.
R:
I really like that you tapped into Siv’s practice and resources while at Kiosken, it fits very well - the way she uses unconventional materials or practical materials in new contexts…
B:
Yeah it worked really well. I also went with her to the wool factory that she goes to for leftover wool. It is nice to repurpose it now, and to work with these new materials.
R:
I remember reading through your open-call, and finding it really beautiful in a simple way: this idea of a floating anchor - something heavy made light… It was really poetic and playful at the same time.
B:
And I guess that is also the idea: to transform something into something else. Something unexpected.
There’s also the work Wetsuits for objects #3, Jerry Can. I made a wetsuit for a jerry can. It is perhaps a more conceptual work. I was thinking about the sea level rising, because that is going to happen. So we are building dams, and now we need to build things for the stuff blocking the river because they will get cold and wet (laughs). At first I was gonna use the…monoblock, you know the classic plastic garden chair that you see everywhere? It has become such a symbol for waste…
R:
Yeah, the one you always see strewn everywhere on the news after a natural disaster… It's like a symbol for the apocalypse.
B:
Yeah, so I made that on a residency in Portugal, because you see the chair everywhere there. Here in Norway you don’t see it so much, but the jerry can is everywhere, it’s an oil country. So I like how stupid and futile an idea it is to invest your time in keeping the jerry can storing the oil warm whilst the sea is rising.
R:
It's exactly the sort of logic of instead of fixing the actual problem, you make the things that happen because of the problem ok. Yes the sea level is rising, but don’t worry cos the oil won’t get wet. (laughs)
B:
Exactly, it is sugar coating the problem. But I really like this piece. I love this fabric neoprene and as an artwork it came together so quickly. The idea was just there.
And then the real ready-made is the sugar and the jawbreaker in the clam bag. I found the bag in Fretex and I saw it and knew I wanted it but it took me a long time to figure out what to do.
R:
I’m curious, from the moment you find this bag, to it existing in the world as an art work: what's happening?
B:
Playing in the mind (laughs). I guess it is association - you look at it and think of the oyster, then the pearl. But in this case, the outside is the pearl with this iridescent fabric. So that is not confusing and that is interesting to me. And then the ‘pearl’ is this jawbreaker which is kind of a pearl for a child.
How do you relate to play in your work?
B:
I think play is really important in my work. Play is everywhere. How we talk now, how we walk… everything is a choice of how you put it out into the world. I think it is so important to keep things playful. And that doesn’t mean that seriousness cannot exist within it.
During my Masters I did a lot of research into play theory. Sometimes play is frowned upon, and that was also the case in Philosophy back in the day. In all kinds of theoretical frameworks about so many topics, they always neglected play, as it was seen as not intellectual enough. Then there was this Dutch guy - Johan Huizinga - and he was one of the first people to really question why we aren’t thinking about play more, as it is one of the most important things in existence - everything comes from play. It is the essence of everything. If you are a child, you learn through playing. You need to keep it playful to evolve to the next step. But yeah, long story short… The whole play theory thing is kind of a contradiction in itself because in the context of theory it's really boring (laughs).
R:
I think that… more than theory… is it a method or way of being? Often philosophical thinking is about finding answers - knowing things. But play is always about not knowing… you are playing to find out. As a child you play to learn, so it is from a point of curiosity and questioning. And that is very much more open-ended.
B:
Yeah and that is a nice link back to the anchor. The works I made in the past are more strictly ready-mades. A 3D collage in a way. It was so playful, but I missed actually playing. Ready-mades are more like playing in the mind… you play to find the concept and then the making can be done quickly - in almost half a day sometimes. I was getting slightly bored of that. I look at my partner Femme Ter Haar and she spends days drawing in the studio, it is a long process. I miss the actual playing - the conversation you have with the materials and seeing new things comes to life, that you can only know when you have it in your hands. When I started the Fine Arts Masters, I wanted to work more with raw materials and less with ready-mades, and now it feels like after graduation I can really explore that.
R:
I love the idea that the ready-made is playing in your mind. But I’m looking at the anchor and the boat you have made. These are not ready-mades… but they still appear almost like ready-mades (laughs). For example the gore-tex life-ring looks practical, almost manufactured. It makes me believe a gore-tex life ring is a real thing, but it isn’t. Do you understand what I’m getting at? (laughs)
B:
I do! I like when you don’t really know if it is something mass produced or not… A lot of the time I know it is finished when it looks real, but you can tell it isn’t mass produced. It is almost too perfect, but not really.
R:
I think that is what makes them sculptures: placing them more towards art rather than design. The ambiguity of them…
B:
I think about hyper-reality and this idea that we have been exposed to so many images of something that is real, and then it becomes surreal.
R:
I can see that in your work, playing with the levels of representation. Is research and theory a big part of your practice?
B:
Ummm, I never know actually. I studied project design before. So I have a design background, which in the Netherlands is very concept based. Whereas here in Norway I found it strange at first - people could make without having a water-tight concept. My background required a really strong concept before even thinking about making. While I think that is nice, I wanted to do the Masters to get rid of that. Because it gets in the way of playing. Conceptual playing in the mind is different from physically playing with the materials. I still love to do research. There are a couple of things I always go back to - like Albert Camus, the Myth of Sisyphus and stuff like that.
But actually the art comes more from a place of not really understanding the world, and feeling like I’m here but not really here. And from the many strange things that go on in the world. So many of the objects seem functional but they really aren’t. Sometimes I take the function away from them, and then they become a bit annoying in a way. But that's how I feel as a human sometimes. You want to be able to succeed and you have a vision of how your life will work out and what to do and it never works out exactly to plan. It is annoying, but it is also part of life. It is a lot about confusion. And I want to embrace that.
R:
How influenced have you been by Kiosken’s surroundings?
B:
While I was writing the application I didn’t fully realise just how perfect the location would be for the project. I do think the whole thing is inspired by my 2 years of living in Bergen.
R:
(laughs) Is that where the gore-tex comes in?
B:
(laughs) Of course! In the Netherlands, it rains a lot but no one really wears gore-tex. So I guess I am influenced by my surroundings. For you it is the same as me, you know? Living in another country is strange - it is a beautiful adventure, but also very hard sometimes…
R:
And kind of surreal, you never quite know what is going on?
B:
Yeah so I guess the anchor is kind of a symbol for that. In Portugal I made floating anchors, which are in the same realm… a symbol of wanting to lay your base somewhere but it is always floating away. This big anchor is the same for this, because if you put it in the water it is never going to stay in the same place. Maybe that is a little too poetic but…
R:
It also brings in a personal element to your work… when I look at your work in the past I’ve never got a super personal, biographical aspect to your work, but perhaps that is a symptom of the ready-made format? But this seems slightly more personal when you explain its background?
B:
I guess this is something I want to move towards… my stuff has kind of always been personal in a way, thinking about misunderstanding in the world, being confused… but sometimes the extra touch is missing. I want to explore it more, to evolve or come to a next step with my practice. I look at other artists like my friend Jack O’Flynn and I see how his work is really personal, and that is due to the fact that you can really see his hand, his markings in the work. You lose that in a ready-made.
R:
I think there is something about seeing an artist really playing materials that brings the personal to it. There is something about the hand, seeing the hand who made it traced in the materials. Which is maybe hard in the ready-made?
B:
Yeah, which is hard because at the same time, I like the quality that you do not know if it is made by hand, or manufactured by a machine. I want that confusion and contradiction. I also like to think my work is still approachable - that it can create a reaction in anyone who is walking by, even if they don’t know about ready-mades or play-theory.
