Revealing The Invisible: The Art of
Stansfield / Hooykaas
From Different Perspectives
27th Nov 2010 - 30th Jan 2011

'Revealing the Invisible' is a major exhibition and retrospective focusing on the art of the seminal visual arts duo Stansfield / Hooykaas in a series of video, sculpture, photography and sound works from the 70s to recently completed works hosted across Street Level Photoworks and CCA. The artists are considered pioneers in the field of video art with their work influencing many multimedia artists today.

In their installations they developed unique associative principles between images, words and sound. Their work is about space and time: the tides, the cycle of seasons and natural elements of physics such as radio waves and magnetic fields. In addition, they use video and photography, combined with materials like stone, aluminium, glass, phosphorus and water. In almost all their work, they refer explicitly to the earth and nature, and spirituality is part of their life philosophy. Although Elsa Stansfield died unexpectedly in 2004, Hooykaas has continued their oeuvre in new work, some of which is included in "Revealing the Invisible ".


'Re:vision', 2005, Video Still

Elsa Stansfield (Glasgow, 1945) and Madelon Hooykaas (Maartensdijk, 1942) began their artistic collaboration in the early-seventies. The background of both artists included film and photography, subjects which eventually led them into the making of video tapes and installations. Their first video works were of a distinctly conceptual nature, whereby the investigation of characteristics of the - at that time - new artists' medium, played a prominent role. Their work places strong emphasis on factors such as 'time' (its passing/duration) and 'space'. Countless journeys form the initial inspiration for new works. Recurring subjects are natural phenomena and the elements.


'As Far As Japan' - Audio / Video Sculpture, 1996

The year 1975 marked the beginning of their productive partnership with video in an exhibition 'What's It To You', a two screen installation made for the Third Eye Centre (now CCA) in Glasgow. Their final installation as a living collaboration was at Centrespace at Dundee Contemporary Arts in 2004 where they exhibited 'Day for Night', the results of a residency at the Visual Research Centre. After the death of Stansfield in 2004, Hooykaas continues to create visual work in the spirit of their collaboration.

The practice of Stansfield / Hooykaas is very well known internationally and their works have been exhibited in Sydney (Biennale), Kassel (Documenta) and London (Whitechapel Gallery), and their work is included in the collections of the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam) and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.

A richly illustrated book highlighting their work has been produced to coincide with the exhibition - "Revealing the Invisible - The Art of Stansfield / Hooykaas from Different Perspectives", published by De Buitenkant, Amsterdam, and includes 11 international authors. The book is in english and is available from the Street Level bookshop.


'Day For Night II' - Inkjet Print, 2001