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hans overvliet | distant suffering portfolio | selection

DISTANT SUFFERING XX | i.d. of a shared cup of tea Edition Tuesday, 11 August 2026

DISTANT SUFFERING II

anatomy of a cloud [ gaza ]

82,2 x 84 cm. - 2014

DISTANT SUFFERING III |

i.d. of a recovery

video link

DISTANT SUFFERING VI

i.d. of a shared key #1

2015

selection from in total 215 old, cleaned tin cans an imprint of a key, pressed into plaster in the shape of a gold bar

Presentation 2024 / 2025 oeuvre exposition Verbeke Foundation, KemzekeBelgium

Palestinian refugees whom I met from the early eighties, to the present day, keep up the keys of their homes from which they were expelled from 1948 on by the state of Israel. The current generation Palestinians carries all kinds of keys and key chains as jewellery. In 1991, for the first time I read the book Pity the Nation, Lebanon at War by Robert Fisk1. The chapter "The Keys of Palestine"2 associating me with my own experiences, I always remembered. The artwork consists of 215 scoured biscuit tins, of which I removed the enamel and / or paint. Inside the tins are a print of a key, pressed into plaster in the shape of a gold bar. The can functions also as a container of the memories of my own childhood storing my treasures. It is also the metaphor of the forgotten memory [with forgotten postcards, far forgotten coins from countries visited, etc.] that everybody has tucked away. Each exhibition image is determined in situ.

1 2 Luxfer Open Space | Česká SkaliceCzech Republic photo ©Lukáš Jasanský2021 | courtesy by Luxfer

Pity the Nation | Robert Fisk | Oxford Paperbacks ISBN 978-0-19-280130-2 | 1990 This chapter can be read on http://www.archipelago.org/vol6-3/fisk.htm

DISTANT SUFFERING VII-VIII-IX ‘out-lines’ of filing cabinets, each 134 cm. x 49,5 cm. x 71 cm. [ h x w x d ] each filled with 1,000 images, printed on sheet – 2016 a commentary on global warming, war and destruction -2538031 | -3490053 | 37SBT5691709784

DISTANT SUFFERING XVIII | defacing palestine | the nakba

1948 - 2018

I spent 40 days - starting April 24, 2018 – charting 417 destroyed Palestinian villages / towns with the name, both in Latin and in Arabic script, the geographical location, the number of inhabitants in 1948 and a photo of the remains of that village / town. I poured that information into 417 obituaries and stored them in a steel archive cabinet. To complete the installation, I made a video of my laptop screen, which shows all the actions I made and which shows all the sources I used that led to each individual obituary. click here for the catalog

DISTANT SUFFERING XX

[ difference and repetition ]

i.d. of a shared cup of tea

version#1

2021 click here for the catalog

DISTANT SUFFERING XX1 | [ difference and repetition ]

i.d. of a shared assemble game set - 2019

photo ©Lukáš Jasanský | courtesy by Luxfer

photo ©Bo de Jong at SmitsArt | Middelburg

Luxfer Open Space | Czech Republic – 2021

DISTANT SUFFERING XXI i.d. of a shared bullet a bullet of ice, made using a cartridge from a Kalashnikov A-47 click here for the catalogue

Juxtapose Art Fair | Aarhus | Denmark – 2021

Cultuurcentrum Brugge | Belgium - 2022

Supermarket | Stockholm | Sweden - 2022

Artist-house Slipvillan | Långholmen / Stockholm - 2022

Bahnhof25 | Kleve | Germany - 2023

Courtesy of 2025 ©Willy van Houtum

Verbeke Foundation | Kemzeke | Belgium | November 23. 2024 – April 28, 2025

Verbeke Foundation | Kemzeke | Belgium | November 23, 2024 – April 28, 2025

DISTANT SUFFERING XXI | i.d. of a shared ice bullet

opening performance OPEN NIGHTS festival | Larissa | Greece October 9 – October 19, 2025

produzentengalerie plan-d | Düsseldorf | opening performance by Peter & Sonja March 21 – April 19, 2026

Special thanks to Willy van Houtum | research, production, first / original video Loek Overvliet | console Jochem Weststrate | def. timelaps video and stills Roman Rejhold and Kate Štroblová | curators for Luxfer Open Space Sasha Rose Richter | Pamela Grombacher | Jacob Juhl | Cecilie Bernts curators for the Juxtapose Art Fair Wilfried Agricola de Cologne and Yarina Butkowska | curators for The New Museum of Networked Art Jan Verhaeghe | curator for Cultuurcentrum Brugge | photos by Jan Verhaeghe & Ivan van de Capelle Alice Máselníková | Creative Director for Supermarket – Stockholm Independent Art Fair Rikard Fåhraeus of Studio44 / Slipvallen in Stockholm Team Bahnhof25 / Kleve Team plan-d / Düsseldorf Click here for the time-laps video

DISTANT SUFFERING XIX0 | dissection of a disappearing cloud \ work in progress nine parts total dimensions work | 287,7 x 192,9 cm. | March 26 - April 26, 2019 Cloud, actually painted with rubble from the spot in Gaza where annihilated Mishal Cultural Center was situated, in extremely diluted East-Indian ink & Arabic gum on Simili Japon, 225 grs. 96,0 x 65,0 cm. in nine wooden frames, each 97,9 x 66,3 x 4,5 cm. Total dimensions 287,7 x 192,9 cm. Connecting the Said al-Mishal Cultural Center Gaza - obliterated in a bomb strike by the Israel Defence Forces on August 9, 2018 with the Watermans Arts Centre in London. Radical Immersions in parallel with the Digital Research in the Humanities and Arts [ D.R.H.A. ] conference | 2019. The exhibition was curated by Klio Krajewska. From every exhibition space in which I display work within DISTANT SUFFERING, I collect dust and I paint a picture with that dust mixed with the debris of the Mishal Cultural Center. At the moment 23 works, displayed in 18 art spaces in nine countries.

Watermans Art Centre | London | 07/09/2019 | ©photo Dani Ploeger

Installation in the studio | 01/06/2023 please click here for the catalogue

Verbeke Foundation | Kemzeke | Belgium | curated by Marie Verboven Photo courtesy of Dirk NickhoffGermany

DISTANT SUFFERING XXXI

other than joyful peace, no news from the Western Front december 22, 2022 – february 24, 2023 click here for the catalog

Oleg Kharch Group & Hans Overvliet in Open Open'$ | KyivUkrain March 5 - April 22, 2026

DURDEN & RAY Gallery | Los AngelesUSA

Verbeke Foundation | KemzekeBelgium November 2024 – April 2025

September – October 2023 Slipvillan | StockholmSweden April – May 2023

ruimteCAESUUR | Middelburg August – September 2023

DISTANT SUFFERING XXX

i.d. of a shared ceramic bullet | 2022 - 2024 utterly endlessly repurposed naive incantation gesture video portrait by Jochem Weststrate Verbeke Foundation | Kemzeke | Belgium | November 23, 2024 – April 28, 2025

Click here for the catalogue Click here for the video

Stichting Bewaerschole Weststraat 18 4328 AB Burgh-Haamstede

DISTANT SUFFERING XXXIII

i.d. of a deadly pattern attempts to keep alive the memory of the journalists who were brutally killed while trying to cover the massacres in the Gaza Strip and in Israel in October 2024 – February 2024. With their very lamented deaths, the voices of the victims are also silenced and, at the same time, most of the crimes - in particular those which the Palestinian people endured – are relegated to obscurity. The website of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) provided the sad information . . . Photos courtesy of ©2024 Giel Louws

DISTANT SUFFERING LIV

i.d. of a burned future Leiden 1959 | Gaza 2023 - 2025 Work from our family archive 10 black and white photoprints 9 x 14 cm | 300 grs Plano plexiglas cube 30 x 30 x 30 cm wooden console | 30 x 30 x 20 cm painted matte white Soap Nablus soap, imported by Zepig from the Nablus Soap Company Photo Leiden, 1959 | Wil Freeke Pieter de la Courtstraat 67 grandparents back garden Left to right: our niece Annemieke Freeke, me and my brother Marten Catalogue Click here for the catalogue

DISTANT SUFFERING XXXXV | i.d. of a shared gold-plated bullet gold plated ceramic bullet, silk roses, blue velver, classic bell jar 50 cm Ø | 22 cm gold plated ceramic bullet, nest of a great tit, blue velvet, classic bell jar 50 cm Ø | 45 cm gold plated ceramic bullet, silk lilies, blue velvet, classic bell jar 50 cm Ø | 22 cm

DISTANT SUFFERING XXXXVII

i.d. of an encased bullet performance | multiple (47 + 7 A.P.’s) Zeeuwse Art Fair Pop-up the Machine Vlissingen | October 25 and 26, 2024 Photo’s courtesy of ©2024 Sylvia Hubrouck Bo de Jong | Giel Louws

A project by Bo de Jong & Bert Dorrestijn May 3, 2025 | KipVis / Sloeweg – Flushing nine yellow cleaning wipes | nine languages | one question

Click here for the catalogue with the five editions

DISTANT SUFFERING XXXXVI | i.d. of the shared tale of a bullet

( difference and repetition ) Toonbeeld | Verbeeldingsroute / Imagination Pathway 2025 July 5 – September 13, 2025 Museum ‘ING-gang’ | Stadhuisplein / Terneuzen

DISTANT SUFFERING LI i.d. of the persistence of the clinique Colmar | Deir al-Balah -

Work Triptych November 2024 – January 2025 Intra-Venous (IV) material folding mattress BASIC F15 | JYSK three plexiglas cubes 35 x 35 x 35 cm wooden console 110 x 105 x 35 painted matte white Click here for the catalogue.

DISTANT SUFFERING XXXVIII

i.d. of a shared white kite “If I die / you must live / to tell my story … let it bring hope / let it be a tale.” Refaat Al-Areer Three kites made from newspapers with articles about the genocide in Gaza and war crimes in the West Bank form a kind of protective canopy. The tails are made with 106 names of murdered journalists in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel and Lebanon between 07/10/2024 - 14/09/2025. To be heard is the poem by Refaat Al-Areer (1979 - 2023) If I must die in Dutch, German, Arabic and English*. Refaat Alareer was a Palestinian writer, poet, professor, and activist from the Gaza Strip. He taught literature and creative writing at the Islamic University of Gaza. Refaat co-founded the organization We Are Not Numbers, which matched experienced authors with young writers in Gaza, and promoted the power of storytelling as a means of Palestinian resistance against the Israeli occupation. On 6 December 2023, at 6 P.M. Alareer was deliberately targeted by a surgically Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza. *

Click here for the audio of the poem.

Locations: Nieuwe Kerk | Middelburg Supporting an exhibition with artworks of Gazan artists Grote Kerk | Driebergen Supporting the ambassadors' meeting of Tent of Nations National Theatre ’t Spui | Den haag Supporting Movies Tha Matter

DISTANT SUFFERING LVI | i.d. of shared betrayal Click here for a short video-introduction; Click here for the catalogue

photos from the studio

DISTANT SUFFERING LVIII | identification of a deadly pattern Click here for a short video-introduction; Click here for the catalogue.

paper collages 1999 – 2012

In 2023, all of my paper collages joined Geert Verbeke’s renowned collection of collages and assemblages. A selection is on display from November 19, 2023 until April 29, 2024 at the Verbeke Foudation, Westakker 1 in Kemzeke in Belgium in the section Collagemuseum. Photos courtesy of ©2023 Giel Louws

Acknowledgement

A long-term project like DISTANT SUFFERING is impossible to work out on your own. Apart from all the people living in my library, I also want to thank the people who made the execution and exhibitions possible: Willy van Houtum, Giel Louws, Dani Ploeger, Jorieke Rottier, Peter Steutel, Loek Overvliet, Ingrid Rollema, Robbert Jan Swiers, Rinus Roepman, Jan VerhaegheBE, Chris GreenwoodGB, Suzanne GroothuisBelgium, Alina AchenbachLB/DE, Ruben & Anne HordijkBRD, leon riekwell, Loek Grootjans, Hendrik Driessen, Harmen Eijsenga († 2017), jen en Frie GosséBE, Maarten van ’t Hof, Johan de Koning, Leni van den Berge, Ramon de Nennie († 2024), Manuel ZoiaIT, Fred van den Berge († 2017), Martina ButtiglieriIT, Fiek Smitskamp, Frank ÅsnesNO, Rolf van der Mije, Ko de Jonge, Luuk Vulders, Niek Hendriks, Mehreen HashmiPK, Klio KrajewskaGB, Stef Fridael, Mohammed Al jawariGaza, Jacob JühlDK, Klaartje Esch, Roman RejholdCZ, Kees de Valk († 2019), Riet van Gerven, Kate ŠtroblováCZ, Yvette LardinoisNO, Sasha Rose RichterDK, Christine Veraart, Virginie Gmelich Meijlingt van Dooren, Lukáš JasanskýCZ, Julia Fidder, Jan Gmelich Meijlingt († 2021), Pamela GrombacherDK, Frie J. JacobsBE, Hans Bommeljé, Jochem Weststrate, Jan-Willem van Rijnberk, Pim Steinman, Sylvia Hubrouck, Hans EnemanBE, Kris van der Hart, Cecilie BerntsDK, Huibert-Jan Vader, Hynek ŠnajdarCZ, Masoud ShahsavariSE, Rikard FåhraeusSE, Laetitia DeschampsSE, Jannike BrantåsSE, Roel van der LindenNL/CZ, Alice MáselníkováSE, Rana AnaniLB, Jörn BurmesterDK, Sebastian BernburgLB, Wilfried Agricola de CologneBRD, Yarina ButkowskaUA, Olga & Oleg KharchenkoUA, Ivan Van de CappelleBE, David DelifioraUSA, Dina MattarGaza, Raed IssaGaza, Robin Weijers, Harriët Rademakers, Weijers, piet

Raed IssaGaza, Robin Weijers, Harriët Rademakers, Ormira LulaniAL, Geert VerbekeBE, Beste GürsuTR, Helidon HalitiAL, Galid Al Kholani Al FakeehYEM, Zake PrelvukajKOS, Jürgen O. OlbrichBRD, André Smits, Tineke SchuurmansBE, Marie VerbovenBE, Adam RoussopoulosUSA, Jatun RisbaRS, Franco G. LiveraRS, Issam Al Kholani Al Fakeeh, Bo de Jong, Zeus Hoenderop, Iris Van ’t Bos, Geeske Pluijmers, Tineke Smit, Ulrike E.W. ScholderBRD, Sait ToprakTR, Dirk D. KnickhoffBRD, Elisabeth SchinkBRD, Ruggero MaggiIT, Emillio MorandiIT, GordanaSP, Silvio De GraciaBR, Chris Kors, Lutz AndersBRD, Luiz Sacilotto&Marcia RosenbergerBR, Anne-Lyke van den Elshout, Fé Wielemakers, Floor Zegers, Arjelien van Dijke, Hein Verwer, Cor de Lange, Willy van Meegen, Marlize Laport, Roula KaraferiGRC, Kees-Pieter Geschiere, Pier Pennings, peter clouthBRD, Matthis Heugen, Sonja TintelnotBRD, Erin Chang, Elizabeth Hefty-KhouryESP, Ibrahim KhouryLBN/ESP, Lucia CarotenutoARG, Nélida Torres BaltazarARG, KappaIT, Fabio BonacinaIT, and the numerous participants in the poster project I.D. OF INEQUALITY.

exhibitions / art-related activities | selection 2026 / 2027 Miniprint / Buenos AiresArgentina | Invertebrados Internacionales Curators Lucia Carotenuto & Nélida Torres Baltazar (July 2027) Pakje Kunst | small pack of art Terneuzen (February) Open Open'$ | KyivUkrain | Oleg Kharch Group& Hans Overvliet (March 05 – April 22) produzentengalerie e.V. plan-d | art initiative | DüsseldorfGermany (March 21 – April 19) | Curator Pier Pennings Cultuurcentrum BruggeBelgium | ‘TIN’ (April 10 – June 07) Curator Jan Verheaghe ik geef je mijn raam / i give you my window | Vlissingen | editie #32 in conjuction with The Liberation Festival Vlissingen May 5th (April 20 – May 31) | Curator / Sylvia Hubrouck Bloom Gallery | ValenciaSpain (April 25 - May 03) | Curator Bo de Jong 2025 KemzekeBelgium | Verbeke Foundation (November 17, 2024 – April 2025) oeuvre retrospective | Curator Marie Verboven VeniceItaly | Visione Altre Galleria (February 1 – February 16) Art direction: Adolfina de Stefani | Antonello Mantovani Den Haag | Nationaal Theater aan ’t Spui | during Movies That Matter ( Match 21 - March 29) | Curtor Fé Wielemaker Goes | Grote of Maria Magdalenakerk / Stone&Glass - IT’S IN IT Curators Willy van Megen & Marlize Laport ( July 8 - August 17 ) Terneuzen | Toonbeeld | Imagination Route 2025 Curator Arjelien van Dijke ( July 5 – September 13 ) Filmfestival ‘Film by the sea’ | i.d. of an artist’ portrait (12 – 21 September) LarissaGreece | Open Nights Festival Curator Roula Karaferi ( October 9 – October 19, 2025 )

2024 Middelburg | Roofprintpers | Leporello (November 29, 2024 – January 1, 2025) | Curator Leni van den Berge A selection of my paper collages 1999 – 2012, is published in BALLUSTRADA, idiosyncratic literary magazine since 1986, volume 38 no.1/2, spring 2024 Curator Ko de Jonge Turkey İzmir | Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi (May 15 – 21, 2024) Curator Güzel Sanatlar Fakültesi Burgh-Haamstede | Bewaerschole | MIGRATION (August 24 – September 22) Curator Geeske Pluijmers KemzekeBelgium | Verbeke Foundation | winter exhibition | exhibition collages Curator Marie Verboven Municipality of Middelburg | Makers Scheme: Hallways, a study / images of corridors and halls in private homes and (semi-) government buildings in Middelburg. Vlissingen | ik geef je mijn raam – I give you my window presentation project Sylvia Hubrouck a selection of poetic videos - LOOKING THROUGH THE EYE OF W. #1, in conjuction with the film festival Film by the Sea Vlissingen 2023 ChaskaU.S.A. | THE ARTISTAMP REVUE | Curator Adam Roussopoulos StockholmSweden | Slipvillan | Curator team Studio44

Dishoek - Bunker WWII | curator leon riekwell

KemzekeBelgium | Verbeke Foundation | all paper collages 1999 -2012 are included in the collection of collages and assemblages by Geert and Carla Verbeke-Lens selection shown at the winter exhibition collages ’23-‘24 | curator Marie Verboven

2023 | continuation AarhusDenmark | Juxtapose Art Fair | Curated by Cecilie Bernts, Pamela Grombacher, Sasha Rose Richter and Jacob Juhl Middelburg | ruimteCAESUUR with Gallery Durden and Ray | Curated by Jorieke Rottier StockholmSweden | Längholmen | KEEP ON BREATHING | Curator Masoud Shahsavari Los AngelesU.S.A. | with ruimteCAESUUR at Gallery Durden and Ray | Curated by Carlos Beltran Arechiga Middelburg | Smith Art | Curated by Johan de Koning KleveGermany | kunstverein bahnhof24 2022 LahorePakistan | In the glare of grey moon | Ranrez art gallery | Curator Mehreen Hashmi BruggesBelgium | Expect an Occasional Attack … and Flee | CultuurCentrum Brugge | Curator Jan Verhaeghe Geelong Australia | KART | David Delifiora PragueCzech Republic | LIPA art collection Peace letters to Ukrain #2Germany [ no. 38 – video i.d. of a shared bullet ] BeirutLebanon | Kite project as part of the exhibition Salute to the Prisoners of Freedom Art Exhibition at Institute for Palestinian Studies Curator Sebastian BernburgU.K., Arts Coordinator London StockholmSweden | presenting teamCAESUUR with Giel Louws and i.d. of a shared bullet Supermarket Independent Art Fair | curator Alice Máselníková, Creative Director StockholmSweden | part of the summer exhibition in Slipvillan | Curator team Studio44 Česká SkaliceCzech Republic | Luxfer Open Space | part of the presentation of the Lípa Art Collection Curator/collector Roel van der Linden Albania Tirana | part of the (first) Tirana Biennial of Graphic Arts - first edition | Art Gallery of Tirana curators Beste GürsuTurkey, Helidon HalitiAlbania, Zake PrelvukajKosovo 2021 Česká SkaliceCzech Republic | Luxfer Open Space | residency AarhusDenmark | Juxtapose Art Fair | Curator Sasha Rose Richter

Financial support Municipality Middelburg Mondrian Fund SBKM / Vleeshal Middelburg the Province of Zeeland Frits Lensvelt Stichting KulturrådetSweden Region StockholmSweden kulturamt der landeshauptstadt düsseldorfGermany

Awards, residencies, commissions and public collections Winner Global Arts Award 2020 from Red Line Art Works, a UK-based global arts project, category art series Sea foundation | Tilburg | [ residence ] September – October 2018 / Mondrian Fund Work in private collections, Independent ArtistsItaly, Ramírez Art GalleryPakistan, LIPACzech Republic, VeniceItaly | Visione Altre Galleria, Karpuchina GalleryCzech Republic, The Institute for Palestine StudiesLebanon | Palestine | London | Washington Verbeke Foundation, KemzekeBelgium Public spaces in Axel and Neeltje Jans Art-related activities Hans Overvliet as part of his art praxis 2015 - 2021 Co-initiator of Association Art House Zeeland, platform for artists 2012 Co-creator / co-curator Kunstpark Vlissingen / Landscape Art Park Vlissingen 2009 - 2019 Chairman Foundation Studio Complex KipVis 2009 - 2014 Chairman Foundation decreet / concrete, Art magazine decreet 2005 - 2012 Chairman PLUS MIN Foundation, Renesse, succeeded by IK Foundation, Vlissingen 1995 Founder, curator and co-director of Art Space ruimteCAESUUR 1995 Curator / art educational projects / advising governmental institutions on art hans overvliet studio address | Dreesstraat 2, Vlissingen +31 6 282 77 052 www.hansovervliet.com curiositas@zeelandnet.nl

Hans Overvliet | DISTANT SUFFERING Since 2013, by means of the ongoing art-series DISTANT SUFFERING, the Dutch artist Hans Overvliet investigates the role of the media in their representation of (military) violence. This, in the context of themes as perception, memory, equality and identity formation. Overvliet uses a various range of media, symbols and codes, bringing together dichotomies like beauty and violence, refinement and brutality, the sublime and the vulgar. As a reporter, Overvliet was an eyewitness to the events in the Middle East during the 1980s. Of course these experiences resonate in DISTANT SUFFERING. So aspects of power, politics, exclusion, censorship and the connection between artist, artwork and viewer infiltrate his multifaceted conceptual oeuvre. Martha Jager, curator Vleeshal in Middelburg about the oeuvre: The dedication to art as a relational verb is central to Overvliet's work. On the one hand, the balance between poetry and criticism is special, so that the work never becomes bitter or pedantic, while at the same time the dialogue with the viewer is actively maintained. It is a tender form of activism that moves and urges action and also continuously questions the role of art. .

Elements of distant suffering were exhibited in the Netherlands, Belgium, Pakistan, England, France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Albania, Germany, Lebanon, the U.S.A., Brasil, Argentina and Sweden. In 2023, his whole body of paper collages ( 1999 – 2012 ) joined Geert Verbeke’s renowned collection of collages and assemblages. In 2024 - 2025 the whole oeuvre of DISTANT SUFFERING was exhibited in the museum part of the Verbeke Foundation. All the work will then be included in the permanent collection. Hans Overvliet was born in Leiden in 1952; he lives in Middelburg and works in Vlissingen, both in the province of Zeeland in the South-West of the Netherlands. Next to his art-work he is, together with his wife Willy van Houtum, the founder and every day guardian of the 29-year old space for contemporary art: ruimteCAESUUR. Here you’ll find his extended portfolio.

hans overvliet studio-address | Dreesstraat 2 Vlissingen home-address | Lange Noordstraat 67, NL-4331 CC Middelburg www.hansovervliet.com | curiositas@zeelandnet.nl team member of www.caesuur.nu team member of www.ikbeneengod.one click here for my condensed portfolio click here for my extended portfolio click here for my C.V. International reference: DutchCulture