Marcel van Eeden

‘’Traum von der allerletzten fürchterlichen Grossartigkeit. (…) 2) Langanhaltendes Warten, Verzögerungen (meist vor oder in der Kirche), schlimme, vorerst durch nichts (für uns, direkt; denn welche forschten nach im Keller usw.) unterbaute Gerüche. (…) Wir (ich mit einem kindlichen Mädchen) gingen wieder in die Kirche hinein, wo auch eine Dame aus Zürich sich befand; wir waren in Zürich. (…) 5) Irgendwo werde ich zurückgehalten von der Polizei, kann rennend noch hindurchdurchkommen, gelange plötzlich in ganz leere Gegend (der Stadt Zürich, circa Limmatquai). Feuerwehr rast in der Ferne. (…) Das 6) Letzte, was ich sehe, ist ein Tier, das durch und über den Zürichsee daherkommt und das Aussehen (glührote Farbe) eines langgezogenen (glühwürmchenförmigen) Papierlampions hat, aber seine Dimensionen sind viele hundert Meter, vielleicht sogar Kilometer, schon ist es da: Das Gesicht fegt, eilt durch den Limmatquai; mir wird klar, dass es wohl ein Wurm sei, der sich vielleicht auf der Suche nach Menschen fortbewegt, die er, wie winzigste Käferchen für ihn aus den Ritzen hervorleckt und verschluckt.’’

The artistic work of Marcel van Eeden (b. 1965) is part of a long-term project. The focus is on images and text that were created before his year of birth. In his solo exhibition ‘Den Haag – Zürich, 1934-1936’, he refers to the novel “Die Notizen” by Ludwig Hohl. The Swiss author (b. 1904) wrote his book between 1934 and 1936 in The Hague. The text consists of notes and thoughts, some of which are often just a few lines and are based on Hohl’s experiences, such as a dream of Zurich in 1934. Van Eeden uses these notes as a starting point for his latest drawings, such as Limmatquai, where the dream took place. The drawings recall and depict the atmosphere of the dream. The other part of the drawings refers to a day in the life of the writer in The Hague. During a walk to a park, Hohl recorded what he had seen and experienced. Van Eeden establishes a connection between The Hague and Zurich, which he now shows together in the installation of life-size drawings of compressed charcoal on canvas. The artist himself has a personal connection to The Hague, where he has been born and grew up, and to Zurich, where he now lives with his family. The exhibition title of the work is based on this connection. Through the combination of drawings and handwriting, a mixture of reality and fiction is constructed, or as Hohl has described his work: everything has been a fragment that has ever been created.

Marcel van Eeden was born in 1965 in The Hague and studied painting at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague. He lives and works in Zurich, Karlsruhe and The Hague. His work has been shown at the 4th Berlin Biennale, Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Hamburger Kunsthalle, GEM, Den Haag, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Albertina, Vienna, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham, Louisiana Museum, Humlebæk, Magasin 3, Stockholm, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin; and is represented in many international collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, US, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, US, Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, NL, Bundeskunstsammlung, Bonn, DE, Sammlung Goetz, DE, Burger Collection, HK.