Aernout Mik / Video Works

Aernout Mik (born 1962) is one of the leading artists of our time – an innovator in video art and a subtle, keen-sighted explorer of human existence and behaviour. Bildmuseet presents Mik’s work with three major video works that have not previously been shown to a Swedish audience: Reversal Room (2001), Middlemen (2001) and Park (2002).

Mik’s enigmatic, dramatic video works are carefully constructed stagings of social situations. Where the starting point is everyday and universal, Mik’s work defies expectations and questions the ingrained order of things. The existence that Mik depicts is intersected by absurdities and inexplicable events. People walk around in a trance-like state, dreaming and waiting – seemingly unmoved or untouchable. Mik has a keen eye for the impossible and the imperfect in human relationships. In work after work, he explores the interaction between humankind and his surroundings, in which the threat of disaster is ever-present.

Mik has also developed the moving image and expanded the repertoire of video art. He has consistently pushed the boundaries of both technique and interpretation, often in alliance with other artistic forms such as installation, performance and architecture. His narrative technique is both simple and evocative, with sequences that are more like depictions of conditions, odd and awkward situations, than complete stories.

Mik lives and works in Amsterdam, and represented the Netherlands at the 1997 Venice Biennale. His work Three are Laughing, Four are Crying was included in the Socialisms exhibition produced by Bildmuseet for the 2000 Stockholm Art Fair.

With thanks to the Mondriaan Foundation in Amsterdam and the Carlier Gebauer Gallery in Berlin.