Failed Fountain IV, 2024
Militza Patrasco
Head of Roma or Sinti Woman, 1930
(unintentionally broken)
Design by Anouk de l'Ecluse
On wall: Piet Zwart
Danskostuums, 1920
Sculpture: Joseph Mendes Da Costa
Forward, Sitting Monkey, 1894
Failed Fountain I, 2024
Superposition
Barbara Visser
Documentation + text design
24.01.2026 – 05.06.2026
Kunstmuseum Den Haag
24.01.2026 – 05.06.2026
Kunstmuseum Den Haag
The exhibition 'Superposition, in search of the elusive Elsa von Freytag Loringhoven' is the first in the Mix & Match series at Kunstmuseum Den Haag, and can be seen as somewhat of a sequel to 'Alreadymade II', shown in Zürich. It builds on the research for the film 'Alreadymade' (Barbara Visser/ Tomtit Film, 2023), Visser's alternative whodunnit that explores the boundaries between genuine and fake, revolving around the rumour that Marcel Duchamp's iconic 1917 readymade 'Fountain' was in fact conceived by the Dada artist Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven. For this new presentation, Visser reused different graphic elements such as the 'Subjective Wall Graph', which I designed, and combined it with pieces from the museum's own rich collection, this time focusing on the role of women in the arts: as makers, as extras, and as muses and models.
I had previously worked closely with Barbara as her sparring partner on the Kunsthaus Zürich presentation of 'Alreadymade II', responsible among other things for the Subjective Wall Graph, which shows a timeline of Von Freytag-Loringhoven's life and the graphic design within the exhibition. For Superposition, my involvement was more minimal. I thought along with her on the installation, again as a sparring partner, and helped with the typography in the exhibition.
Kunstmuseum Den Haag is the first venue where Superposition is shown.
I had previously worked closely with Barbara as her sparring partner on the Kunsthaus Zürich presentation of 'Alreadymade II', responsible among other things for the Subjective Wall Graph, which shows a timeline of Von Freytag-Loringhoven's life and the graphic design within the exhibition. For Superposition, my involvement was more minimal. I thought along with her on the installation, again as a sparring partner, and helped with the typography in the exhibition.
Kunstmuseum Den Haag is the first venue where Superposition is shown.
barbaravisser.net
kunstmuseum.nl
Can I Hug All These Flowers? / Ala Younis and Ali Eyal
Onomatopee
Exhibition design
Can I Hug All These Flowers? is the third exhibition in the five-year program Systems and Territories. The program focuses on monographic and thematic exhibitions, which stem from long-term investigations and collaborations between artists, researchers, and communities critically examining categories, structures and ideologies upholding global modernity.
Can I Hug All These Flowers? focuses on the artists’ shared explorations of what history leaves behind: fragments, ghosts, and tangled narratives. Through works that interweave personal and collective experiences, Younis and Eyal expose the erosion of families, museums, and ideologies. They examine the traces left by the politically charged events in the Arab World, creating spaces for affective solidarities.
more info about the exhibition here
Colophon
Concept & design
Anouk de l’Ecluse
Font
GeigyLL
Calluna
A Queer Gaze / Marian Bakker
Velvet Publishers
Book design
A Queer Gaze is the long-awaited retrospective of photographer Marian Bakker. Between 1980 and 1999, Bakker documented lesbian, queer, and gay life in the Netherlands and beyond in her own distinctive way. Her work is characterized by a sensitive, intimate presence: whether she’s capturing the everyday life of her lesbian commune, Citadel, the queer deaf community, or the massive EuroGames in Paris, she’s always close by without ever disrupting the moment. This approach turns the viewer into more than just a spectator. Each photograph makes you feel as if you’re standing beside the people it portrays, sensing the power of a defiant, loving, celebratory, and athletic community. Eight leading young queers describe how the images of the past continue to resonate with today’s queer generation, in brief reflections on a photograph of their choice.
In A Queer Gaze, we see ourselves reflected through the lens of Marian Bakker.
Colophon
Concept & design
Anouk de l’Ecluse
Edit
Marian Bakker
Anouk de l’Ecluse
Lithography
Alex Feenstra
robstolk®
Binding
Van Hees – Patist
Paper
Genesis Stone Grey 270g
Gardapat Bianka 135g
Font
Calvino Grande
Calluna
Calluna Sans
Wälzende, 1926 Bronze
Alreadymade II (installation)
Barbara Visser
Documentation + text design
08.02.2024 – 12.05.2024 Kunsthaus Zürich
08.02.2024 – 12.05.2024 Kunsthaus Zürich
‘Fountain’, a urinal
that was declared to be a work of art in 1917, is perhaps the best-known
conceptual object of the 20th century. Signed ‘R. Mutt’, it was
submitted anonymously to an exhibition by the Society of Independent
Artists in New York; since then, everyday objects can be ‘readymades’
and qualify as art too. Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968) claimed authorship of
the work. However, there are rumours that it was not he who
masterminded it but rather the Dada artist Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven
(1874–1927).
The film ‘Alreadymade’ (2023), which forms the basis for Visser’s site-specific installation at Kunsthaus Zürich, is an alternative whodunnit that explores the boundaries between genuine and fake. ‘Fountain’ is the starting point of the artist and film-maker’s investigation into the speculation surrounding Duchamp’s authorship. Adopting the readymade approach, she produces the work from existing material: found film footage from which she creates her own moving images, employing new technologies such as motion capture and meta-human modelling. The result is not an art-historical documentation; rather, the mix of existing and newly created material serves as a reflection on such fundamental questions as ‘what is reality, and what is fake?’ Who is the author? What is an original and what is a copy?
Barbara asked me to be her sparring partner for this exhibition and give shape to parts of it. Working closely together we discussed the installation and I became responsible for the time line of Von Freytag-Loringhoven her life with all the ambiguity surrounding it, the sketches of Djuna Barnes her ideas of the biography she would never write of Von Freytag-Loringhoven and helped on multiple parts consisting of the graphic design within the exhibition; such as the ‘do not touch’ items + a reader consisting of all the writing of Von Freytag-Loringhoven. I also assisted Barbara during the installation of the exhibition in Kunsthaus Zürich.
Kunsthaus Zürich is the first museum where this new work was shown. It will also be shown in Germany and possibly in the Netherlands.
The film ‘Alreadymade’ (2023), which forms the basis for Visser’s site-specific installation at Kunsthaus Zürich, is an alternative whodunnit that explores the boundaries between genuine and fake. ‘Fountain’ is the starting point of the artist and film-maker’s investigation into the speculation surrounding Duchamp’s authorship. Adopting the readymade approach, she produces the work from existing material: found film footage from which she creates her own moving images, employing new technologies such as motion capture and meta-human modelling. The result is not an art-historical documentation; rather, the mix of existing and newly created material serves as a reflection on such fundamental questions as ‘what is reality, and what is fake?’ Who is the author? What is an original and what is a copy?
Barbara asked me to be her sparring partner for this exhibition and give shape to parts of it. Working closely together we discussed the installation and I became responsible for the time line of Von Freytag-Loringhoven her life with all the ambiguity surrounding it, the sketches of Djuna Barnes her ideas of the biography she would never write of Von Freytag-Loringhoven and helped on multiple parts consisting of the graphic design within the exhibition; such as the ‘do not touch’ items + a reader consisting of all the writing of Von Freytag-Loringhoven. I also assisted Barbara during the installation of the exhibition in Kunsthaus Zürich.
Kunsthaus Zürich is the first museum where this new work was shown. It will also be shown in Germany and possibly in the Netherlands.
barbaravisser.net
kunsthaus.ch
Mijn lesbische roman / Renee Gladman
Velvet Publishers
Book design
Velvet Publishers is the Dutch publisher of les-bi-queer literature. By publishing LBQ stories, Velvet Publishers aims to actively contribute to the positive representation of les-bi-queer individuals with editions of LBQ classics, modern translated literature and the launch of a special new series: the les-bi-queer Pulpature series. Their mission is a wider and happier representation of les-bi-queers' lives in Dutch-language literature.
‘Mijn lesbische roman’ (My lesbian novel) by Renee Gladman is written as an interview that spans many years and weaves into and out of memory and fiction, the book chronicles the author’s—or “author’s”—project to explore the genre of lesbian romance as both a reader and a writer.
For the cover I had many options because I related so well to everything that the book is but in the end we decided that it made the most sense to use a work of Renee herself for the cover, as she is also an artist. The artwork “Untitled 2019“ resembled the book so well that it became the obvious choice.
Colophon
Concept & design
Anouk de l’Ecluse
Image
Renee Gladman, Untitled 2019
Land Zonder Grenzen
Mister Motley
Identity design
In what ways can we give meaning so that understanding arises? In Land Zonder Grenzen – Country Without Borders – series, Mister Motley investigates and highlights four facets of inaccessibility in the arts field together with four different expert authors. What degree of inaccessibility do people with a ‘physical’ disability, older people, parents of growing children and neurodisabled people experience? It is about the importance of representation, finding words for which there is not yet much language, and actively working towards a more inclusive and representative (art) world. With Land Zonder Grenzen, it gives the opportunity to expand our collective vocabulary, making access more visible and tangible.
For the identity of this series I wanted to play with the accessibility to do with boundaries / borders. This made my think of islands surrounded by water. Their borders are constantely in motion. It also displays the complexity of access, the grey areas but also the idea of walking around the problem/island and finding other and new insights through experts.
Colophon
Concept & design
Anouk de l’Ecluse
Font
PrincipiaVF
First publication
https://www.mistermotley.nl/land-zonder-grenzen-kun-je-van-een-ander-die-niet-in-jouw-hoofd-zit-verlangen-dat-die-je-snapt/
A World Shaped Differently
Caroline Kist
Exhibition (text) design
After designing Caroline her website I had the honour of continuing our great collaboration. For her first solo exhibition at Atelier K84 I was responsible for all the design output such as the poster, a booklet and all the typography in the exhibition. You can almost say I’ve managed to create an identity which is very fitting and at this moment in time, timeless.
To see what Caroline is up to now, have a look at her website!
Colophon
Concept & design
Anouk de l’Ecluse
Images
Caroline Kist
Fonts
ABC Dinamo Diatype Light
Freight Text
carolinekist.nl
De derde vrouw / Natalie C. Barney
Velvet Publishers
Book design
Velvet Publishers is the Dutch publisher of les-bi-queer literature. By publishing LBQ stories, Velvet Publishers aims to actively contribute to the positive representation of les-bi-queer individuals with editions of LBQ classics, modern translated literature and the launch of a special new series: the les-bi-queer Pulpature series.
Their mission is a wider and happier representation of les-bi-queers' lives in Dutch-language literature.
For their series Vintage publications Velvet publishers asked me to design the cover of ‘De derde vrouw’ by Natalie Clifford Barney. In English the book is know as ‘Women Lovers, Or the Third Woman’ and is a lesbian love triangle avant la lettre. It is an intense and poetic modernist novel about three women deeply devoted and in love with each other, and chronicles the transformation of their relationship. The idea of the “Third Woman” is not only a reference to one of the women in the novel being left out by the others, but also to the idea that being a lesbian was being part of a “third sex”.
Due to the fact that the book was the first within the series, I had to not only design a captivating cover but also create a concept for the coming books within the Vintage series. The traingle became the core element in which I constructed the concept. It is a prominent shape within Velvet’s identity and ties it together to the V of vintage. 1 + 1 becomes more.
For this title we chose to have the design reminiscent of a kaleidoscope. But the concept is so that it is very versatile in usage. Cool fact – the image on the cover is Natalie Clifford Barney herself!
Colophon
Concept & design
Anouk de l’Ecluse
Image
Natalie Clifford Barney, c. 1898, photograph by Emery, Bar Harbor (Maine)
To look is to wait
Caroline Kist
Website design
Photography is waiting, waiting to see that which is unknow if it will come. Only when Caroline has found it does she know what she was looking for. That takes time. Most of her images hover between coincidence and attribution, between what she sees and what she is looking for.
But just as the unknown can only emerge from the known, so can freedom of the imagination only really emerge from limitation, from a structure.
This structure sends the looking in a direction that seems to lead outside the image. Seeing by looking, and doubting.
In the way Caroline talks about her work I wanted the viewer of the website to be able to meander and touch upon the waiting element. When you make a choice it sets something in motion. Elements appear and disappear, similar to what you see in Caroline’s images. So instead of just stumbling into her images, I gave the text a prominent roll to really settle down and tap into a concentrated state of mind. This way the website stacks meaning on top of each other to eventually create space to absorb the idea of ‘to look is to wait’.
Colophon Photography & text
Caroline Kist
Concept & design
Anouk de l’Ecluse
carolinekist.nl
3:1
Elisabeth van Sandick
Book design
A book which comes in three parts plus an index. As Sandick puts it: ‘Nothing is ever the same, for what I see today may seem entirely different tomorrow. The formal object I observe is a shape that bears an identity, a character that I can relate to and that manifests itself in fresh ways each time I see it. That turns them into landmarks* in the world I set out into. And to which I return. Always in a different manner. Going back does not mean standing still, even if it feels that way at times. Until I spot something I hadn’t known before, and find that I can return and move forward at the same time.
*Landmarks: objects that I know and do not know.’
*Landmarks: objects that I know and do not know.’
This publication plays with the conceptual idea that images can return and have a different meaning. A zooming in and out, a rotation in time and place, a returning but with different meaning. The monumental structures you think you have seen before but by keeping the design and edit structured and minimal, everything has its place where it is. However subtle it may initially appear. You could even think there is not an order as such; all to keep returning to it as if it were a first encounter.
ColophonPhotography & text
Elisabeth van Sandick
Concept & design
Anouk de l’Ecluse
Edit
Elisabeth van Sandick
Karianne Bueno
Anouk de l’Ecluse
Lithography
Marc Gijzen
Pantheon Drukkers
Binding
Binderij Voetelink Haarlem
Paper
Rebello 100g
Font
Fieldwork
elisabethvansandick.com
Let’s build a mountain
Frederike Kijftenbelt
Website design
All around the world, scientists are working on new techniques that resolve our inconveniences, repair deficiencies, or simply entertain us. We generate snow when we want to ski on a green Alpine meadow, or we create two identical snowflakes to show that we are capable of something so exceptional. Science and technology as a toolbox for the shapable world.
In the ongoing 'Let's build a mountain' Frederike explores the limits of the shapable, in which the Rhône glacier is a metaphor for the friction between the human urge to control and the resilient autonomy of nature.
With these factors in mind and really knowing how Fredrike goes about her work, I came up with the concept of having all the work displayed in such a way that every part is naturally linked and interweaved. The website then gives you a sense that there is no beginning or end – something Frederike plays with within her work and topics. But looking closer the website does consists of a grid of three columns, linking to every part of the site with gives you a grounded feeling. You never get lost but have room to lose controle.
‘Anouk really listens and very quickly knows to unravel what you long for.’
— Frederike Kijftenbelt
Colophon Photography & text
Frederike Kijftenbelt
Concept & design
Anouk de l’Ecluse
frederikekijftenbelt.com