Eva van Ooijen
Work
It’s a Bird. No, it’s a Swan. An attempt to capture Loes.
More coming soon.
Power Pose
In this work, Eva van Ooijen explores the lingering influence of “power posing”, a concept popularized by social psychologist Amy Cuddy’s TED Talk, which claimed that adopting expansive, open body postures could increase confidence and assertiveness by raising testosterone levels.
Although this claim has been scientifically debunked, the idea remains culturally pervasive, particularly in YouTube tutorials aimed at women that continue to promote power posing as a way to success.
By creating 5 glass negatives depicting the most prominent power poses Eva aims to show that, like the glass negative itself, the power pose is an outdated framework, still visible but no longer fully valid.
A glass negative is an early photographic process in which an image is captured on a glass plate coated with a light-sensitive emulsion. The use of glass negatives, supported by wooden constructions, references both the rigid, vertical forms of traditional (often male-created) columnar sculptures and the posture of stretching oneself taller to appear more powerful.
Through this work, van Ooijen aims to open a conversation about how power and confidence are represented, and to challenge the simplistic equation of testosterone with empowerment.
34M3
ULRIXA is the collective artist identity of Eva van Ooijen, 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)
One Step From Shame
For this exhibition, Eva van Ooijen contemplated the artist 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 her ten-year career and trying to find a red thread through it, Eva found that the works that kept resurfacing in her mind were the ones she felt ashamed of.
She decided to create a new piece for this exhibition using one of these unsatisfactory works and invited all participating artists to share a piece they were unhappy with or ashamed of.
Eva 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 her mind.
She questioned: Is it art yet?
In this installation, Eva van Ooijen challenges not only the notion of an artist's oeuvre but also the exhibition format. After all, what is an exhibition? A brief moment in time, of which only photographs remain. Anticipating this, she displayed the works already in a storage unit, with only parts of them visible. The documentation of the exhibition itself where also on show.
Part of the archive : One step from shame.
On February 27, 2024, Eva van Ooijen photographed the lego guns she found lying around the house.
Inspired by the work, titled: A Thought About Wars in One Day by Sixin Zeng , Eva van Ooijen looked around her house, wondering what war looked like from her perspective. What caught Eva’s eye was one of the LEGO pistols her son had made. He started making them when he first became aware of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
ULRIXA is the collective artist identity of Eva van Ooijen, Ivo van den Baar, Karma Hamed, Nicole Driessens, Sixin Zeng and Wout Peeters
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, Eva van Ooijen began investigating Dr. A., a potentially fraudulent scientist who claimed to have made an archaeological discovery in the Amazon region. She discovered that he was not the true author of his work, but rather a pseudonym for his wife, the artist Loes.
Fascinated by Loes’ story, Eva decided to create an exhibition about her and approached various museums, including the Stedelijk Museum in Enschede. To her surprise, she 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, the planned monographic exhibition was never realized.
When Eva learned about Mindy’s earlier plans, she knew they deserved to be showcased. By showing Mindy Lamers' exhibition models, she aims to highlight Loes’ artworks, which are both impressive and elusive due to their diversity in 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.
Watch
People Are Googling Prayer
In March 2020 I participated in a digital artist residency.
During this residency, Eva van Ooijen explored cyber pilgrimages and online religion, drawing inspiration from 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. Partway through her residency, the coronavirus outbreak reached the Netherlands and the first lockdown began. As a result, online religion became increasingly common, with churches streaming their services online and preachers delivering sermons from their homes.
In response to this shift, Eva created collages using screenshots from online sermons held during the first lockdown.
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.