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David van Slooten

sculptuur , omgeving , Objecten , natuur , fotografie , Design , Artistiek onderzoek

David van Slooten (Almelo, 1994) works as an artist and designer. He graduated from the Product Design department of the Willem de Kooning Academy and earned his master’s degree in Design Cultures at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
David’s practice focuses on making objects that respond to the processes inherent in our designed surroundings.
Being informed by both theoretical frameworks as well as the body-knowledge, David seeks to find a reciprocal relationship between the thinking and making processes. Herein, he considers the hands as an important tool to negotiate and mediate between the two. Wood has gradually become a material that is a significant part of his practice.
In the process of turning material into a work, the material is always shaped in respect to the original surroundings. By means of arranging both shapes and materials, David responds to our designed environments and human relations with land, landscape, nature and spaces. He does this by revealing the unevenness behind these (nowadays) designed surroundings, or by returning to primordial techniques and showing the transience in man-made objects.

Held in Becoming
Held in Becoming - Working with fresh, green wood directly out of the open provides a deep connection to the material. Searching the right branches is part of the form-giving process. The tree’s growth interacts with my hands, axe, and knife while feeling the sap of the still-fresh wood. The carved things form a tiny gathering of the landscape, the tree, my hands, the food, and their functioning as utensils.
Iterations of the Construction Site
Iterations of the Construction Site - Iterations of The Construction Site is inspired by the contrast of materials used in construction sites, revealing the poetics of rough materials before they are concealed in interior spaces. David van Slooten calls attention to the aesthetics of this transition. Wastelands overgrown with grass change into a place of noise, dust, discarded orange peels and portable toilets. The functional reds, yellows and grays of tubes, plastic- covered pallets, scaffolding wrapped in silky construction cloth and heavy machinery are placed against a background of the natural colours of sand, wood, bricks and a few patches of grass. David’s series of bowls capture the whole of this imagery, bringing together the elements of polished concrete, threaded rods and refined wood. As such, they are a translation of his reading of the construction site as a landscape. In this landscape, everyone knows their proceedings and both human and object function in service of the transition of space. The use of zip-ties and small wooden blocks holding thebowls in place, are a playful reference to the quick and improvised solutions found there. Such gestures and solutions often end up being veiled behind stucco and paint, but when viewed closely they contain a refinement of their own.
Landschapsobjecten - Throughout history, our relationship to the natural landscape has changed dramatically. No longer are we part of this landscape ourselves. Especially in The Netherlands we evaluate it from a distance and revise if necessary. Nature is an object in the landscape. An object we can photograph and read about on signs. One specific part of the landscape is highlighted as natural and the rest of the environment is stylistically adapted to this. In one place we put a natural element on a pedestal whereas we remove it somewhere else. We have the policy: 'Vrij wandelen op wegen en paden' These objects visualize the Dutch interaction with nature and thus form small natural landscapes. One natural element is exhibited in all objects, sometimes compelling and oppressive, sometimes carefully wrapped.
The Course of Things - The Course of Things is a series of chairs and a video registration in which the objects become overgrown, accompanied by a series of shape studies. The work explores the relationship between objects and time in a world shaped by industrial production. Carved from industrial cellular concrete blocks with hand tools, the objects stand still, seemingly unchanging, while wildflowers grow around them, blurring the line between human-made structure and organic change. Each chair is carved through an intuitive process, where every cut builds on the last, highlighting the interaction between the material and the maker. The contrast between industrial precision and the rough, tactile nature of handcrafting adds another layer to this dialogue. By handing over the chairs to the field with flowers, the chairs become part of a landscape. The stillness of the chairs next to the ever-changing wildflowers reveals a tension. The work questions the idea that objects should always be functional, controlled, and static. The wildflowers weaving through their rigid forms remind us that objects are not isolated but exist within a larger flow of life. This work encourages us to see objects in their surroundings and not as fixed or lifeless
The Course of Things, 834 days

Mending Stones

Datum:

Mending Stones is een kunstproject waarin op een steenstrand in Noorwegen gebroken stenen
weer bij elkaar worden gezocht en gerepareerd. De poëtische handeling van het repareren toont de
fragiele verhouding tussen mens en natuur en de discrepantie tussen menselijke en geologische tijd.
Het werk nodigt uit tot vertraging en aandachtig omgaan met onze omgeving.
Het project resulteert in gerepareerde stenen als sculpturen en een videoregistratie waarin de
handeling zichtbaar wordt. De specifi

berken tafelwaar (werktitel)

Datum:
Locatie: Rotterdam
In samenwerking met: Belén restaurant

Ontwikkelen van tafelwaar van lokaal berkenhout en berkenschors in samenwerking met Belén. Gezamenlijk werken we aan een project waarbij de gehele boom gebruikt kan worden voor zowel het gerecht als het servies.

The Tent

Datum:
Locatie: Rotterdam
In samenwerking met: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Research project into the use of the trekking tent. What is the basis for the leisure culture of camping and mountaineering, and how do the principles of movement, place and time relate to the origin of the tent as a nomadic home?
(Part of the masters degree in Design Cultures I'm working on at the moment)

Staying with the Tree
David van Slooten Staying with the Tree