Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again.
Fail again.
Fail better.
Samuel
Beckett | 1983 | Worstward Ho
cover: DISTANT SUFFERING LVVII | i.d. of a self-perpetuating cloud
Photo
Oleg Kharch Group and Hans Overvliet at Open Open'$
KyivUkraine, Ivan Bilik Street 11, Room 155
March 5, 2026 to April 22, 2026
âIn 2022, the whole world began to closely follow the open military invasion of country 404 against Ukraine. Hans was one of the first in the Netherlands to look for ways to support Ukrainian artists. Oleg Kharch was fortunate enough to meet Hans in 2020 and even organize a joint art action in Kyiv with Hans' poster âi.d. of ineauality.â
âHans went to âhisâ coast in February 2022. The clouds on the horizon reminded him of the painful news from Ukraine. He began to see certain signs and symbolsâsuch as explosionsâalthough in reality, of course, these were only the artist's imagination.â
âLater, he sent a small package to me with the landscapes that are now on display, accompanied by warm words of support: âDistant Suffering XXXIexcept for joyful peace, no news from the western front, with the connotation "what idiot came up with the idea of fighting each other over a piece of land?
On February 24, 2022, Oleg and Olga's sovereignty was challenged. Russia then began to destroy Ukraine."â
February 2026 | Oleg Kharchenko
Oleg Kharch Group and Hans Overvliet at Open Open'$ | KyivUkraine
Click here for the catalogue
DISTANT SUFFERING together with Pier Pennings in plan.d. produzentengalerie e.v. | DĂŒsseldorf
March 21 - April 19, 2026
DISTANT SUFFERING XXI | i.d. of a shared ice bullet
DISTANT SUFFERING LI | i.d. of the persistence of the clinique
DISTANT SUFFERING LIV | i.d. of a vanishing object
DISTANT SUFFERING LVI | i.d. of shared betrayal
DISTANT SUFFERING LVIII | i.d. of the face (i.d. des Antlitzes)
Thanks
S.B.K.M. Vleeshal
DISTANT SUFFERING LVI | i.d. of shared betrayal
Work
Un-edited video, courtesy by ©Myuz Ahmed, July 27, 2025, Gaza Strip; 24â TV- Samsung LF22T450FQUX | Speedlink BRIO - Stereo Soundbar; cotton pouches with bullet holes caused by air pistol Webly Tempest 4,5 mm, nr. 221796, Webly&Scott LTD; Shagai Parboil rice, mixed with Riz noir interdit, Maison Sabarot; Albert Hijn reusable vegetable bags; brown paper bag from bakehouse ât Zand, Middelburg; Monzana Storage Rack Bookcase, 5 Shelves, 135,5 x 58 x 27 cm; July 27, 2025 â February 27, 2026.
Link to the catalogue; Link to a short introduction video.
DISTANT SUFFERING LVIII | i.d. of the face
German version | revisited (2025)
i.d. des Antlitzes
Click here for a short introduction video
Abdallah Alwan
Holy Quran Radio, Midan, Mugtama, Al-Jazeera Ermordet in Jabalia, 18. Dezember 2023.
Den Haag war leider unbeeindruckt.
The Torentje, the office of the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, German version, seen from the Mauritshuis, from the room with the last self-portrait of Rembrandt van Rhijn from 1669.
The work
Three monitors | each controlled by a Mini HD Media Player - afinjo.nl;
Videos with photos of 186 media representatives who were assasinated by the Israeli army between October 7, 2023, and September 14, 2025;
Video with 186 postcards of places I visited in Europe while commemorating these colleagues;
186 Postcards on 300 gm; Prints by de Witte Print&Design, âs Gravenpolder; Handi Stitch Classic pinking shears | 4 teeth - 2 mm high / 18 mm wide; Plywood sheet 18 mm | 150 x 60 cm; Glass plate support 18 mm | glastotaal.nl | PT027537001;
Two photobooks | title blind embossed on front cover (280 mm x 265 mm x 50 mm) and two cassettes for the photobooks, title blind embossed on the side De Boeckenherrebergh | Ruth Bonnewel.
The German version was conceived for an exhibition at plan-d in DĂŒsseldorf, April-May 2025.
Click here for the catalogue.
Click here for the catalogue of an earlier version, included in the collection of the Verbeke Foundation.
DISTANT SUFFERING LIV
| i.d. of a vanishing object
Leiden 1959 | West Bank 2025
DISTANT SUFFERING LIV | i.d. of a vanishing object
Leiden 1959 â Gaza 2023 - 2025
Work from our family archive: 10 black and white photoprints; 9 x 14 cm | 300 grs Plano; folding mattress BASIC F15 | JYSK; 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
DISTANT SUFFERING XXII | i.d. of inequality
DĂŒsseldorffBRD | kunstverein plan-d | 13/02/26
Catalogue
utterly endlessly repurposed naive incantation gesture AIR BIEKORF | 10.0: âTINâ
April 10 - June 7 2026 curator Jan Verhaghe
Work
DISTANT SUFFERING LVVI | i.d. of a treacherous sky
9 kites, bamboo sticks Ă4-4.5 mm, upright ±55 cm, cross bar ±40 cm, attached to the upright on ±17 cm; Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant, December 2025;
9 A3 black-and-white prints of clouds / explosions
In the Netherlands / Gaza;
Tesa flexible masking tape, beige, 20 mm; Ledent braided rope white polyamide, Ă3 mm; Albert Heijn water-based craft glue; Bison wood glue; GAMMA interior paint, white, matt; Bieme double-sided, acid-free adhesive tape, 20 mm; Foamboard, 5 mm; Velcro fastener.
Click here for the catalogue.
ik geef je mijn raam / i give you my window | Vlissingen
ik geef je mijn raam / i give you my window | Vlissingen
An art exhibition project by Sylvia Hubrouck
Window Exhibition #32
Monday, April 20th - Sunday, May 31st, 2026
coincides with May 4th - 5th - Remembrance and Liberation Liberation Festival Vlissingen
DISTANT SUFFERING LVVII | i.d. of a self-perpetuating cloud
Material
Doubled cloud / explosion;
12 texts in Candara, varying languges, varying font;
12 viscose cloths Albert Heijn, yellow, before washing 38 x 40 cm;
12 textile transfers for inkjet, A4, Quantore;
Inkjetprinter Canon TS 700;
Ink: 123inkt.nl, CU-581C XXL.
On one cloth:
Text in Candarra (font size 14)
DISTANT SUFFERING LVVII
i.d. of a self-perpetuating cloud hans overvliet | 2026
Click here for the catalogue.
pakje kunst | 20 photo prints 6 x 9 cm on 5 mm foam of a double explosion with the text ânever again?â in 20 languages from around the world.
Martha Jager, curator Vleeshal in MiddelburgNL about the oeuvre after a studio visit: 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, in 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.
Since 2013, by means of the ongoing art-series DISTANT SUFFERING, the Dutch artist Hans Overvliet (Leiden, 1952) investigates the role of the media in their representation of (military) violence. This, in the context of themes as perception, memory 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.
Aspects of power, politics, exclusion, censorship and the connection between artist, artwork and viewer infiltrate his multifaceted conceptual oeuvre.
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.
Elements of DISTANT SUFFERING were exhibited in the Netherlands, Belgium, Pakistan, England, France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Sweden, Albania, Germany, Lebanon, the U.S.A., Brasil, Argentina and Spain. In 2023, his whole body of paper collages ( 1999 â 2012 ) joined Geert Verbekeâs 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 works were included in the permanent collection.
Next to his art-work Hans is, together with his wife Willy van Houtum, the founder and every day guardian of ruimteCAESUUR, the 30-year old space for contemporary art in Middelburg in the province of Zeeland.
acknowledgement
Thanks | people
Willy, Giel, Jorieke, Jochem, GeertBelgium, MarieBelgium , Ko, Johan, TinekeBelgium , CarlitaBelgium , JĂŒrgenGermany , Dani, Bo, Erjee, Ilja, leon, Chris, Edwin, WilfriedGermany , Leni, Pier, Anke, Thomas, OlegUkraine, OlenaUkraine , Ruth, Jan, IssamYemen , ElizabethSpain , JyrgGermany , AnnaUkraine, Ingrid, Andrea, IsaGermany , MyuzGaza , Sylvia, Rita, Barbara, IbrahimSpain , peterGermany ,
Thanks | instututes kunstwerkplaats Kipvis / Vlissingen, Verbeke Foundation / Kemzeke Belgium , ruimteCAESUUr / Middelburg, no-intitute / KasselGermany , plan-d / DĂŒsseldorfGermany, Bloom Gallery / ValenciaSpain , Hope Foundation / The Hague, CultuurCentrum / BruggeBelgiĂ« , Ik Geef Je Mijn Raam / Vlissingen, Pakje Kunst / Terneuzen, Open Oâpen$ / KyivUkrain ,
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.
An object that tells of loss, destruction, disappearance of objects. Does not speak of itself.
Tells of others. Will it include them?
Deluge. Jasper Johns
Sketchbook | 1964
DISTANT SUFFERING in KyivUkrain | March â April 2026
Thanks to Oleg & Olga Karchanko
