Meet the nominees for the NN Art Award 2024 IV: Peim van der Sloot

For the eighth year in a row, the NN Art Award will be awarded to a promising artist who completed their studies at an art academy in the Netherlands and is exhibiting at Art Rotterdam. This year, for the first time, the nominees will exhibit their work in the prestigious Kunsthal Rotterdam, from 1 February to 14 April 2024. The nominated artists for the NN Art Award 2024 are Maaike Kramer (Art Gallery O-68), Mónica Mays (Prospects section of the Mondriaan Fund), Jan van der Pol (CREMAN & DE ROOIJ) and Peim van der Sloot (Brinkman & Bergsma).

Peim van der Sloot's abstract work is immediately captivating for its use of familiar round stickers: a familiar sight at art fairs, where they signify whether an artwork has been reserved or sold. In his practice, Van der Sloot critically examines economic systems. He questions concepts of value, scarcity and ownership, reflecting on the complex relationship between capitalism and the art world. The artist introduces alternative pricing systems and experiments with seriality, challenging conventional economic norms and assumptions, and inviting viewers to do the same. This questioning of the established order is also evident in his visual style, characterized by optical illusions, playful and dynamic compositions, vibrant colours, and a hint of chaos and anarchy. Van der Sloot grew up in Argentina and studied at HKU (University of the Arts Utrecht). His works are included in the collections of the LAM and the KPMG Art Collection and in 2021, he received the LAM Art Entrepreneur Award.

Can you tell us more about the work you are presenting at Art Rotterdam and in the Kunsthal?
"At Art Rotterdam, I will offer a diverse overview of my body of work to date. Starting with the conceptual approach to art sales, all the way to the latest works that are poised like magical incantations, ready to enchant the viewer. Some of the most prominent pieces I will display during the fair include 'It Has To Start Somewhere', a series consisting of 3479 pieces, each gradually missing a sticker that the buyer receives to stick next to the artwork on the wall, and 'The Most Expensive Piece', which will be the most expensive artwork for sale at Art Rotterdam 2024.

For the exhibition in the Kunsthal, I am creating a site-specific installation, in which I treat the museum walls as a canvas. In the work 'Peim was here', the red sold sticker will, of course, have a prominent place as well."

What are your plans for 2024?
"Besides ensuring that my work 'Works I Have Sold In My Life So Far' continues to grow, 2024 is going to be a year for experimenting with new materials and techniques. For instance, I want to dedicate time to explore the animation of my artworks in film format. I am also currently working on a collection of 'digital artifacts', artworks engraved on Bitcoin coins. It's a bit of a technical story, but you can see it as putting digital graffiti on crypto currency. As long as two computers on earth are connected, these works will exist for eternity."

Could you describe how you felt when you heard that you were nominated for the NN Art Award? What project would you start if you were to win the award?
"It was a very special feeling. I remember thinking: 'the circle is complete'. In 2015, I won the 'Keith Haring art-challenge' at the Kunsthal, and subsequently made an artwork at Lowlands with the festival visitors. This was the start of my art practice. The opportunity to exhibit my work in the museum now, after all these years, holds added significance for me. I would also like to publish my own book, so perhaps I can realize that dream this year."

How do you view the role of economic systems in the contemporary art world? How do you try to find your own place in it?
"Art is often sold as an exclusive luxury product. The art market is full of written and unwritten rules. But what a work costs and what it's actually worth are two different things for me. In my work, I engage with these rules in various ways — sometimes by disregarding them, at other times by adopting and then subverting them, or by approaching them with a sense of playful skepticism. In doing so, I aim to actively involve the buyer in contemplating these underlying questions. Money has become an abstract concept, while ideally, the sale of art is about human contact. Fortunately, I see more and more artists engaging with this, and I am very grateful that at my gallery Brinkman & Bergsma, I get the space to experiment with this."

What is the best advice you've ever received?
"'Do it yourself' was the guiding principle when a group of friends and I formed a collective during our time at the art academy. We took the initiative to organize movie nights, create protest stickers, and set up exhibitions and festivals. With the collective power of a community, you can make anything possible. It also liberates us from reliance on established institutions and organizations. This led Marnix Postma and me to establish De Bouwput, an inclusive art space in Amsterdam that everyone can use. We embrace a non-selective, non-curatorial approach, pre-approving all proposals, embodying the concept of 'Anarchy in a white cube’."

The winner of the NN Art Award will be announced in the Kunsthal Rotterdam on Thursday 1 February at 20:00 CET. The work of the nominees will be on display there until 14 April 2024. During Art Rotterdam, the work of Peim van der Sloot will also be shown in the booth of Brinkman & Bergsma.

By Flor Linckens