How could anything be free, when so much energy is used to create?
The exhibition Free Monsters toys with the concept that nothing is free. It might seem free at first, and it's presented as such, but nothing ever is.
The Dutch like to say gratis monsters, translating as ‘a free sample’. These words inspired Jannes van Arkel to explore the idea of Free Monsters. How could anything be free, when so much energy is used to create?
What are people willing to do to get a free monster? If Jannes gives something away, maybe the person who is interested in the free object could give something in return. Jannes gave his creativity, he used his energy to create, paid for a workspace and clay to model, and covered the costs of the ovens energy. Can you do something in exchange? Offer him one of your objects or read him a poem?
With his background in advertisement Jannes has an almost philosophical approach to art and life in itself. He likes to conceptualise and write theories that come to mind while working. For his exhibition Free Monsters, he made a zine that explains and illustrates how the best things in life are actually free.
We are proud and excited to present this Dutch artist to you, and with him a bit of the highly conceptual and unconventional art scene of Rotterdam
