( ) in the Mountain is an artist col­lec­ti­ve con­sis­ting of a group of friends who gra­du­a­ted from Dutch art aca­de­mies. While facing the rea­li­ty of our pre­ca­rious situ­a­ti­ons as inter­na­ti­o­nal emer­ging artists, they were brought up out of a need for a spa­ce that allo­wed for growth.

In the con­text of their resi­d­en­cy at Off the Grid, they will devel­op How to Build a House with a second Chapter tit­led Windows and Doors. ( ) in the Mountain ask them­sel­ves, when we look out­si­de the struc­tu­re of a home, what are we loo­king for?

Their prac­ti­ce wel­co­me what is often omit­ted, hid­den, or pus­hed asi­de, giving them­sel­ves and others artists a spa­ce for the qui­et, for all that often does not make its way to the fore­front. The col­lec­ti­ve attempts to bring their art prac­ti­ces clo­ser to their living envi­ron­ments. ( ) in the Mountain was esta­blis­hed in August 2022, and is cur­rent­ly based at De Besturing, an artist stu­dio com­plex in The Hague, NL.

The col­lec­ti­ve will con­tri­bu­te to the Season ope­ning at Off the Grid on Thursday September 12^th, with the soft launch of their resi­d­en­cy period.

Members

Jeremi Biziuk is an artist born in Poland, cur­rent­ly living and wor­king in the Netherlands. His prac­ti­ce deals with reima­gi­ning and rein­ven­ting pagan tra­di­ti­ons through a con­tem­po­ra­ry and per­so­nal lens of the artist. His focus is on the com­mu­nal, ritu­a­lis­tic appro­ach to cre­a­ting a rich sonic expe­rien­ce. The resul­ting per­for­man­ces make use of gene­ra­ted noi­se and its gra­du­al modu­la­ti­on into a syn­the­tic shimmer.

Alicja Mackiewicz’ work revol­ves around rewri­ting her own heri­ta­ge and wea­ving its com­po­nents into a new one. Alicja has been ques­ti­o­ning insti­tu­ti­o­nal and poli­ti­cal cur­rents, or the sta­tus quo of the human expe­rien­ce and in this way get­ting to know herself.

Kiara Mohamad was born and rai­sed in the bust­ling city of Jakarta, Indonesia. She departs from her memo­ries, vivid or dis­tant, hap­pe­nings, and occur­ren­ces which fuel her work. In her prac­ti­ce, she tries to cre­a­te a spa­ce and pla­ce for herself to exist solemn­ly in this world. As a post­co­lo­ni­al body, her works are con­cerned with embo­died expe­rien­ces of lon­ging, yearning, and attempts to mate­ri­a­li­se, or make tan­gi­ble for herself, ance­stral sto­ries and world buil­ding as pos­si­ble ways of and navi­ga­ting oneself.

Hana Spillerová was born in Slovakia, which invol­ved spen­ding a lot of time in natu­re by rocks in a child­hood soli­tu­de inter­ac­ting with what is around with res­pon­ses from the lands­ca­pe. These moments kept gro­wing alongsi­de me as she beca­me cri­ti­cal of her envi­ron­ment, howe­ver lin­ge­ring on the under­stan­ding of a pla­ce from her bodi­ly perspective.

Yan-Bing Wu is an artist based in the Nertherlands. She focu­ses on per­so­nal sto­ry­tel­ling, lin­king the past, pre­sent, memo­ries and fan­ta­sy. Her work is a safe pla­ce for time and sha­pe to be free, and for things to be seen as they are. All things come together as a spe­ci­fic nar­ra­ti­ve with her own war­ped, soft, and nak­ed reality.

Mina Yee is a visu­al artist based in the Netherlands. Her works revol­ve around what human valu­es are and when they come into con­tact with tech­no­lo­gy, often explo­ring things that mat­ter, hope for sur­vi­val and for sustai­na­ble futures.

Sixin Zeng is an artist and desig­ner based in The Hague. Her prac­ti­ce spans various media, inclu­ding video instal­la­ti­ons, film, publi­ca­ti­ons, and other visu­al ephe­me­ra, which she uses to sha­re and nar­ra­te sto­ries. These sto­ries are often gras­ped from real-life facts and blen­ded with fiction.

Natsumi Sakai is an artist based in The Hague, Netherlands. Working main­ly with per­for­man­ce, her prac­ti­ce is cen­te­red in the aspect of utteran­ce that har­bors the will to reach (out to) an ​‘other’ and simul­ta­neous­ly its futility.