Babette Kleijn

abstract - autobiographical - experimental - process - public space

My focus is on developing architectural ornaments, wall sculptures, facade art. My goal is to get as close as possible to my fascination with Soviet aesthetics and reconstruction. This sensitivity relates to my childhood and contains a wonderful and at the same time pragmatic longing for other worlds, progress and a form of cosmic disembodiment. I am fascinated by the infinite meaning of form, which is expressed in an infinite human capacity for free interpretation.

  • Portfolio
  • Activities
  • Awarded
  • Contact

    • Residency Tissardmine

    Residencies / exchange

    • 01-03-2018 t/m 01-04-2018
    • Location: Tissardmine Morocco,
    • Research into the concept of space; by discovering the resonance of form in a place where one can see infinitely. I also wanted to go there to experience the absolute silence as well as the starry sky. Here I had the opportunity to sharpen my senses, which I need to determine my design language.

    AIR Berlin Alexanderplatz

    Residencies / exchange

    • 01-09-2018 t/m 31-12-2018
    • Location: Berlin,
    • AIR via the Mondriaan Fund. Here I focused strongly on the traditional ironwork in the street scene (balustrades/fencing/grids) in and around National Socialist architecture, Soviet construction and the use of wall reliefs in modernist churches.
    • https://airberlinalexanderplatz.de/event/wp1764

    Wall ornament 'The Seed'

    Project

    • 01-01-2020 t/m 30-01-2020
    • In collaboration with: www.Murals-Inc.nl
    • Location: intersection Bloklandstraat/1ste Pijnackerstraat, Rotterdam
    • I was able to design a wall ornament via Murals-Inc for a blind niche in the Oude Noorden Rotterdam. Here I was able to test my fascination with the use of materials in the way for which they are intended. In a monumental way and in public space. I left some concrete concrete and combined it with iron elements. This creates an optical and spatial whole. 'The Seed' abstractly shows a floating ornament that lets seeds blow over the fields.
    • https://murals-inc.com/projecten/babette-kleijn-het-zaad

    Dolf Henkes Prize / Wandgestallt

    Exhibition / presentation

    • 08-09-2023 t/m 07-01-2024
    • In collaboration with: Henkes Foundation
    • Location: Tent, Rotterdam
    • Dolf Henkes Prize celebrated its 10th anniversary with a special edition in which former winners were allowed to nominate someone. I was nominated by filmmaker Jeroen Eisinga. This is where the work 'Wandgestallt' was created. A combination of shapes that refer, among other things, to visual and spherical fragments from my youth. By combining iron elements with the extra dimension that the wall/space offers, I try to crack the code of my nostalgic nature.

    Holy Grid!

    Exhibition / presentation