“WUNDERKAMMER”

Fantastic collections from Hans van der Weijden

December 15, 2019 – January 19, 2020 due to great success extended to February 2, 2020!

In the 16th and 17th century “Wunderkammer” curiosities of various kinds were collected in a special room or cupboard. Beautiful shells and coral. Beautiful stones, seed casings, fruits and ingeniously made objects of ivory and stuffed exotic animals. The Wunderkammer showed the unknown world without wanting to be scientific. The worlds of Hans van der Weijden, near and far, dreamed or tangible, can be seen in Museum Valkenburg in its wonderful objects and fantastic collections.

The Maastricht artist Hans van der Weijden (Echt 1956) is fascinated by giving meaning to objects and memories. He makes small objects, boxes and cupboards containing found objects such as shells, beads, feathers and strings. Ostrich eggs, sea urchins and remains of old glassware hide in their inner tubes with sand, stones, maps, twigs or sea water.
Hans studied at the City Academy of Applied Arts in Maastricht. He completed his education at the Department of Design in Metals and Plastics in 1986 with distinction. In his objects and assemblies the characteristics of the goldsmith’s art, such as the use of details, the use of materials and the craftsmanship are clearly recognizable.

Hans has collected many tangible memories on all his trips over the years. He keeps and finds his finds in boxes and diaries as a report of his search for future memories. These personal souvenirs from his private collection serve as inspiration and starting point for new works of art. Over the years, the assemblies, boxes and diaries have been mixed up. Diary excerpts and photos are packed and become part of a larger work.
His objects have a weathered appearance. As an archaeological find.

In the eighties and nineties Van der Weijden makes assemblies and viewing boxes. He works with old and discarded materials, accidentally found objects, remains of abandoned lives, pieces of map that no longer show the way, torn and incomprehensible texts. Remnants of humans and nature that have lost their function. All that stuff, that rejection that no longer served anything and was left behind in the collapse of history, is placed in a different context and therefore acquires a new value.

In his current work Hans van der Weijden is inspired by the curiosities of medieval princes and relics from the treasures of old churches. The remains of saints are preserved and worshiped in antique reliquaries. Both the reliquaries and the objects of the artist show and hide their secret. Collecting, storing and arranging in a box or behind glass creates a world of its own, but also distance. The dividing line between content and packaging disappears. Museum Valkenburg would like to invite you to come and visit the “wunderkammer” by Hans van der Heijden!