Pim Palsgraaf (1979) is inspired by decay and irregularities in the city. The discord between nature and urbanity are relevant topics and perspectives in meta-modernistic thinking. Palsgraaf’s work is a result of an ever-deepening investigation into the erosion of the inner city. Empty spaces – old corridors and ceilings that are about to collapse and where nature is stepping in to take over – nourish his fascination for this process.
Palsgraaf is regularly roaming and working with other artists in the ruins of Industrial Giants such as those found in, for example, former East Germany. He initiated the If Paradise is Half as Nice (IPIHAN) project in 2012, an art project focused on making art in these abandoned buildings. During a period of about a month, IPIHAN takes over a building, sets up living and working spaces, and makes art whatever the building has to offer (materials, space, history, the dynamics of decay). IPIHAN then presents the results in a free-for-all multi-media exhibition that extends throughout the building.
IPIHAN is aimed at leaving the comfort of the studio and to experiment with new ways to think of concepts, of works of art, and ultimately of an exhibition. These conditions give a ‘pressure cooker’ effect: the fast exchange of ideas, the limited time to execute them, finding ways to realize them and the camaraderie to make all of this happen. Growing into a legal/semi-official project that is innovative and original, IPIHAN is an ever-evolving venture which constantly provides new possibilities and challenges.
In his work Palsgraaf focuses on the lines of perspective from which we build the world around us. For a while, Palsgraaf worked within the existing systems of how to draw the world around us, but a few years ago he decided, rather, to investigate the fundamentals of the world around us. The fundamentals, according to Palsgraaf, are in how people construct the world around them. This often leads to dualisms in society. Nihilism and consumerism, irony and naive informality live side by side and simultaneously.
Palsgraaf decided to investigate his own perception and spent five days in a completely enclosed dark room, without time or noise. It soon became clear to Palsgraaf that time is only a concept, perception a construction of the mind. He decided to continue with these discoveries and to investigate how he could interweave these findings and translate them into his work. His aim is to convey his experiences of time and perception and to bring the viewer into a moment of silence and total doubt, in which all the hold of the world is completely gone.