Derived Structures
A solo exhibition by Willem Besselink

Opening
Saturday 1 March, 2025
15.00-17.00

Gallery opening hours
Friday – Sunday
12.00 – 17.00 uur

Address
NL=US Gallery
Mauritsweg 55B, 3012 JX, Rotterdam


Exhibition Statement

The art of Willem Besselink appears very abstract. The starting point is the patterns that define and structure our environment. Such patterns are sometimes clearly recognizable, but often they are hidden from the naked eye, remaining concealed beneath the visible reality.
In any case, both visible and hidden patterns are always and everywhere present – whatever you do, wherever you are. They form the basis of reality. With his work, Besselink draws attention to these structures and patterns so that the viewer can experience them more fully and gain insight into how they define and influence our reality.

DNA: Essence and Uniqueness
According to Besselink, every situation, every location, every human action has its own combination of patterns that together form the ‘DNA’ of that place or activity. This ‘DNA’ forms its essence and makes it unique and distinct.
Many of these structures remain hidden to the naked eye, but they continually influence us – from the rhythms of nature, to the patterns in the apparent chaos of urban spaces, to the structures behind our everyday actions.
Besselink views his work as a search for essence, for the uniqueness of these patterns, their ‘DNA.’ Through intensive observation, he attempts to identify and capture that ‘DNA,’ and record its meaning and influence. What makes a specific space, location, or situation different? How can the patterns surrounding us daily be experienced in a new way?

Systematic Registration and Notation
Willem Besselink employs various methods of observation, registration, and notation. This can range from intensive, systematic, and detailed looking and perceiving to more abstract forms of registration: imagining, moving, and comparing.
The ways in which he visualizes the gathered data can vary greatly, spanning a broad spectrum: from sketches and drawings, to sculptural projects and installations, and other more abstract forms.
Regardless of how different each work is, every piece is rooted in the context of observation and the space being explored.

Derived Structures
In the exhibition Derived Structures, several (new) works are presented that demonstrate this approach. The wall reliefs Landvermessung were created after a working period this past summer in the German town of Wartenburg. The terrain around an abandoned school building appears flat, but in reality, it is gently undulating. You can’t see this because it’s overgrown with tall grasses and shrubs. To reveal the height differences, Besselink planted small wooden beams in the ground across a 20 x 10 meter area, in a 1 x 1 meter grid, with each beam protruding half a meter above the ground. He then stretched red, blue, and yellow threads over the tops of the beams – lengthwise, widthwise, and along the diagonals. This created a three-dimensional, ‘floating’ drawing that made the undulations in the ground plane visible and tangible.

Concrete Crosses: The crosses cast in concrete are modular elements with which Besselink builds an ever-expanding three-dimensional grid. With this, he visualizes an imaginary probe that can measure the space in which the installation is placed.
The installation Gallery Floor Above Your Head is based on the wooden floor of the gallery. It is anything but horizontal: it undulates in all directions. This is hardly visible, but if you walk attentively through the space, you can certainly feel it. Besselink developed a wooden screen made of slender slats. It hangs above your head: you walk underneath it. The distance between the slats mirrors the gaps between the floorboards. The underside of the slats precisely follows the undulations of the floor. In this way, what normally happens beneath your feet is not only made visible but also more perceptible – evoking a somewhat claustrophobic feeling.

Willem Besselink invites you to see, appreciate, and experience the beauty and complexity of the invisible structures that shape our lives.