Eva van Ooijen
Work
Power Pose
Power posing—adopting expansive, open body postures—became popular through a successful TED Talk by social psychologist Amy Cuddy. In her research, she claimed that power posing increases assertiveness and confidence by boosting testosterone levels.
However, later scientific studies have debunked this claim. Despite this, it remains the third most-watched TED Talk, and tutorials promoting the power pose are still being created.
By making glass negatives of power poses, I aim to show that, like the glass negative itself, Power Poses are outdated. Through this, I also seek to question the idea that testosterone equates empowerment.
34M3
ULRIXA is the collective artist identity of Eva van Ooijen (me), Ivo van den Baar, Karma Hamed, Nicole Driessens, Sixin Zeng and Wout Peeters
After her solo exhibition: Looking for Ulrixa at Kunstpodium T, Ulrixa is getting ready for her first exhibition abroad. With help from Wout Peeters, Karma Hamed, Sixin Zeng and Eva van Ooijen, Ulrixa’s works are wrapped and gathered inside the back of a van bound to Watou, Belgium.
The van embodies a place of change, where the artworks take on ‘fluid’, shifting forms as they move towards a new destination guided by an audio piece.
A van full of potential, a transition to the future of an artistic career. Ulrixa’s move to Watou stands as a metaphor for her evolution—from an aspiring artist to one who confidently claims her place in the art world.
With this presentation we ULRIXA won the Jan Naaijkensprijs 2024.
In the words of the Jury: Vincent Uilenbroek, Mirthe Demaerel en Casper Herselman.
“𝘓𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘜𝘭𝘳𝘪𝘹𝘢’ 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘴: 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘜𝘭𝘳𝘪𝘹𝘢, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘥𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘵𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘻𝘦 𝘶𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘶𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵. 𝘞𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘚𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘏𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘜𝘭𝘳𝘪𝘹𝘢!”
ULRIXA is the collective artist identity of: Eva van Ooijen, Ivo van den Baar, Karma Hamed, Nicole Driessens, Sixin Zeng and Wout Peeters /
Pictures by Margo van de Pas and Eva van Ooijen
While the female is brooding the male has taken his observation post.
Looking for Ulrixa
KunstpodiumT (2024)
ULRIXA is the collective artist identity of Eva van Ooijen (me), Ivo van den Baar, Karma Hamed, Nicole Driessens, Sixin Zeng and Wout Peeters
One step from shame.
For this exhibition, I contemplated ULRIXA’s oeuvre. When looking at established artists, their body of work always seems organised and logical. If there are any twists and turns, there is an explanation. Thinking back on the 20 years of my career and trying to find a red thread through it, the works that kept popping up into my head were the ones that I was ashamed of.
I decided to make a new work for this exhibition using one of these unsatisfactory pieces and asked all other participating artists to share one piece of work that they were not happy with/ashamed of.
I approached these works as an archive, trying to find a new connection to them by intuitively molding them into new works. With the time pressure of making these works, the possibility of shame and failure were always lurking in my mind.
Is it art yet?
In this installation, I not only challenge the artist oeuvre but also the exhibition format. Because what is an exhibition anyway? A short moment in time, of which only pictures will be left. I decided to get ahead of that, the works already in a storage unit, only part of them visible. The documentation of the exhibition is also on show.
It’s a Bird. No, it’s a Swan. An attempt to capture Loes.
Eva van Ooijen, ft. Mindy Lamers, ft. Loes.
This work is about Loes, an artist who spent her life in obscurity.
In 2020, I began an investigation into Dr. A., a potentially fraudulent scientist who claimed to have made an archaeological discovery in the Amazon region. I discovered that he was not the author of his work, but rather the pseudonym of his wife, the artist Loes.
Fascinated by her story, I decided to create an exhibition about Loes and approached various museums, including the Stedelijk Museum in Enschede. To my surprise, I received a response: curator Mindy Lamers had submitted a similar proposal five years earlier but had been unable to fully capture the essence of Loes’ work at the time. As a result, her planned monographic exhibition was never realized.
When I learned about Mindy’s plans, I knew they had to be showcased. With Mindy Lamers' exhibition models, I aim to draw attention to Loes’ artworks, which are both impressive and elusive due to their diversity of styles and media.
Attachment to Mindy’s email:
A Scenic Route to Self
Nest (2022)
Dear Dr. A.
Installation: Dear Dr. A. Part of the: In Pending Waters, Yearly Master Artistic Research show.
Dear Dr. A,
I am looking for you.
This is what I know about you so far.
People Are Googling Prayer
In March 2020 I participated in a digital artist residency.
I used this residency to explore cyber pilgrimages and online religion, inspired by the book ‘Doing Ritual Criticism in a Network Society: Online and Offline Explorations into Pilgrimage and Sacred Place’ by Paul Post and Suzanne van der Beek. During this residency the Corona virus broke out in the Netherlands and the first lockdown started. Online religion became more common as more and more churches started to stream there services to the internet. And preachers started to preaching from their homes.
I made collages from screenshots of online sermons during the first lockdown due to the corona virus.
Lourdes aan de Amstel
Go on a cyberpilgrimage to the Lady of All Nations at: www.lourdesaandeamstel.net
The Lady of all Nations, or as most people know her: Mary, came to Ida Peerdeman (1905-1996) in an apparition for the first time when she was 12 years old.
During her life Ida Peerdeman was visited by Mary 56 times. Although not commonly known in the Netherlands, you could compare the magnitude of this apparition with that of Lourdes. Journalists and devotees even refer to Amsterdam as “Lourdes by the Amstel”.
When it comes to Spirituality, nobody can say what is real and what’s not, but in this work Eva van Ooijen tries to believe.