Yasmijn Karhof was born in the Netherlands, where she now lives and works. Her studies included a stay at Cooper Union School of Art in NY, and were followed by a residency at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. As a multimedia artist, she uses photography, film, performance and installations in various combinations. Her work explores the sculptural connections between humans and their environment, be it natural or architectural space.
Yasmijn Karhof stayed at the JCVA during June and early July of 2006, at the same time as Japanese artist Yasui Tomotaka. She participated in Tel Aviv's White Night festival, when art galleries and museums stayed open into the night, and met many artists and curators. During her stay, she researched the nightclub crowds in Tel Aviv clubs as preparation for new work.
You & I
A voice and sheer-curtain installation set the stage of the gallery interior. The curtains divide the room, turning it into a labyrinth. While wandering through the path demarcated by the curtains, the visitor hears murmured bits of a lovers' conversation. Seen from a bird's-eye view, from a deck higher up in the gallery, the undulating installation reveals itself as a pathway carved by the words: You & I.
The work is chimerical. The curtains create an ambivalent impression: at times they suggest a skin-like membrane, and at others dividers or barriers. The evocative sound track plays an important role, cajoling the visitor to search for its source. The piece seems to speak of a relationship between lovers, but can concurrently reflect a never-to-be realized encounter between any two people, as well as the relationship between artist and audience. It thus operates at several levels of meaning but remains appealingly open-ended.
