Discernible throughout the multi-disciplinary work of Sander Breure and Witte van Hulzen is their fascination for the human condition: the behavior of people, the encoded structures in that behavior, the influence of time and place on the relationships between people. This interest becomes visible not only in their performances, but also in their video work, photography, installations and drawings. Theater has been an important factor in Breure & Van Hulzen’s work from the very start. In 2017 they began making sculptures – assemblages in the form of human figures, but also separate heads in ceramics. Observations of daily life tend to form the point of departure for Breure & Van Hulzen’s works. The basis for their first sculptures was the notion that people are, in essence, always playing a role. Such a role is accompanied by certain personality traits, a specific ‘mask’, an individual body language, and deliberately chosen attributes such as clothing. The sculptures are presented as representatives of certain ‘roles’.
Sander Breure (1985, Leiderdorp, NL) & Witte van Hulzen (1984, Bolsward, NL) both live and work in Amsterdam. Breure graduated from the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, and Van Hulzen obtained his degree from Artez in Arnhem. Their multidisciplinary practice is based on research on body language and its interpretation. Their work has been shown in solo and group presentations in the Netherlands and abroad, including exhibitions at Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort (2022, NL); Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam (2020, NL); Marres, Maastricht (2019, NL); the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (2019/20, 2014, NL); BAK, Utrecht (2019, NL) and the Contour 7 Biennial for the Moving Image in Mechelen (2015, BE). They have been residents at Platform Garanti in Istanbul (2009, TR); Hangar in Barcelona (2010, ES); the Foundation of the Arts NYFA, in New York (2012, US), and at CCA Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw (2015, PL). In 2016 and 2017 they participated in the residency program of the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam (NL). Their work has been awarded multiple prizes, including the René Coelho prize and the TENT Academy Award in 2009, the main award at the Seoul New Media Festival in 2016 and the Charlotte Köhlerprize in 2018. In 2019 Breure & Van Hulzen were nominated for the prestigious Prix de Rome and as part of that prize their work was shown in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam (NL).