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Provenance

2008

Provenance (Works)

b&w, silent
6 channel
6 media players, 6 lcd monitors, 6 mounts

Inspired by seventeenth century Dutch portraits in the collection of the Netherlands’ Rijksmuseum, Provenance consists of six filmed portraits of contemporary residents of Amsterdam selected from Tan’s own social milieu. By installing her work on monitors hung vertically like paintings, Tan’s fastidiously composed and lit portraits offer viewers an intimate encounter with the lives of filmmaker Kees Hin, Tan’s mother-in-law Marry Knol, local shopkeeper Najet Olmez and his son Tunahan, Tessel Schole in the guise of Rembrandt’s illegitimate daughter Cornelia van Rijn, cabaret performer Sanne Wallis de Vries and Tan’s own son Niels Dijkstal. Fascinated by portraits that depict individuals in ordinary situations, Tan filmed her subjects in a similar manner, in their homes or places of employment, pursuing their day-to-day activities. Provenance highlights the relationship between film and painting, and Tan questions if it is possible to look at a film in the same way as a painted portrait. The accompanying publication is an integral component of the work and describes the links between Dutch seventeenth century portraits, her contemporary subjects, Amsterdam and Tan’s own life.

Credits

Commissioned by the
Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

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