Frank Koolen
Summer 2012
In the Summer of 2012 Frank Koolen lived with his wife and two children at The Fifth Season. In the first weeks of his stay he built the ‘Olympic Karaoke Pavilion '. A nearly six feet tall wooden structure inspired by a design of Gerrit Rietveld and a Japanese temple. On June 27, the day the Olympics in London began, it was finished. A few days later the pavilion opened, complete with karaoke set and large format flatscreen.
In his work Koolen creates unexpected situations. His work is context bound, he is guided by the experience in a particular area on a particular location. He strives to create situations that become a breeding ground for spontaneous actions. The Olympic Karaoke Pavilion can be seen like this. At the edge of a path that leads to the woods, on the roadside in front of The Fifth Season this beautiful piece of temporary architecture arose. A structure that seamlessly embraces the environment (with space for a tree through the building). Right in its form but as a foreign body in the area.
In the weeks thereafter this 'Pop-Up' pavilion functioned as an open platform for clients and employees Altrecht. Accompanied by several (music)therapists nostalgic classics were covered and new repertoires tested. A summer long the Olympic Karaoke Pavilion offered home to live performances, spontaneous encounters, strange conversations and ‘Olympic’ karaoke.
During his stay at The Fifth Season contact and finding involvement with patients the major challenge to Koolen. To what extent cooperation and creative processes occur naturally and to what extent they are controlled and initiated by the artist? And even: Is the presence of the artist not the actual artwork? For Koolen-like for many artists who have previously stayed at The Fifth Season- it raised questions about the relationship between commitment and the autonomy of art and the artwork.
Frank Koolen (1978, Maastricht) studied at the School of the Arts in Utrecht, the Ateliers and the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunst in Amsterdam. The work of Frank Koolen consists of video works, photography and installations. His most recent work is characterized by semi-scientific approaches towards his subject. He made for KAAP -a family exhibition at Fort Ruigenhoek- an archeological site where kids could dig up everyday objects and place these objects in a museum for the future. Koolen is also a lecturer at the department of fine art from the School of the Arts Utrecht and curator of KAAP in 2012. His work is displayed in galleries and museums in The Netherlands and abroad and is included in the art collection of the Museum van Bommel van Dam and the collection Océ / van der Grinten.
