For the past three months Visual Artist Esther de Bont (1981) has been Artist in Residence at Maastricht University. She has visited and explored all faculties of the University and has captured her visual experiences on paper. She has been talking to scientists, attended meetings, visited laboratories, followed students in their education and also approached service centres of Maastricht University.
De Bont took minutes of these meetings in the form of drawings. With this input, the exhibition Artist in Residence in the museum space of the Minderbroedersberg has ‘grown' and still does. The artist also encourages staff and students to contribute to the exhibition with their own observations.The exhibition shows a drawn world that tells the story of the University, as seen through the eyes of the artist. The exhibition can be visited during office hours until the 15th of February 2017.
Drawing plays an essential role in the work of Esther de Bont. Wandering, while sketching quickly, she aims to re-order details and tell the story of her world through studies, snapshots and notes. These graphic observations are worked into reports and installations - parallel worlds are built in paper, to capture the viewer, and interfere with daily life. Her work is often created in situ, and is thus often temporary.
'How do you look, what do you see? By drawing you see more and more, whether organizing works, can be questioned, but worth exploring', Esther states.
Artist in Residence as a project was made possible by the current Executive Board. They offered this art project as a parting gift to Luc Soete because of his retirement as rector magnificus of Maastricht University.
Mieke Derickx