Brant van Slichtenhorst

Brant van Slichtenhorst
Name	Brant van Slichtenhorst
Birth date	1982
Birth place	Rotterdam, Netherlands
Nationality	Dutch
Occupation	Visual artist; performer; curator
Years active	2004–present
Known for	Interdisciplinary installations; sound sculpture; flux performances

Brant van Slichtenhorst

Brant van Slichtenhorst is a Dutch interdisciplinary artist, performer, and curator known for installations integrating sound, sculpture, and participatory performance. His practice interweaves site-specific commissions, collaborative projects, and experimental score-based performances across Europe and North America. Van Slichtenhorst's work engages institutions, festivals, and biennials, positioning him within contemporary dialogues alongside figures from the Fluxus movement to recent cohorts represented at venues such as the Tate Modern and Museum of Modern Art.

Early life and education

Born in Rotterdam, van Slichtenhorst studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie before pursuing postgraduate work at the Royal College of Art in London. During his formative years he encountered pedagogues and practitioners associated with Studio for Electronic Arts and residential programs at the Jan van Eyck Academie. He attended workshops and seminars led by artists affiliated with Fluxus, Sound Art collectives and members of the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague, fostering cross-disciplinary fluency. His education included exchanges with programs at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and collaborations that connected him to curators from the Serpentine Galleries and the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.

Career

Van Slichtenhorst's early career included residencies at the International Studio & Curatorial Program in New York City and the ZKM Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe. He has worked with collectives and institutions such as the ICA London, Ludwig Museum networks, and the Ambika P3 experimental spaces. His curatorial projects partnered with festivals including MaerzMusik, Insomnia Festival, and Le Guess Who?, and he has lectured at the University of Amsterdam, Goldsmiths, University of London, and the Royal Academy of Arts. Van Slichtenhorst collaborated with composers and performers linked to ensembles like London Sinfonietta and Ictus Ensemble while exchanging ideas with artists from Anri Sala to Carsten Nicolai.

Major exhibitions and performances

Van Slichtenhorst's major presentations include solo installations at the Tate Modern's turbine hall satellite programs, a commissioned sound-sculpture for the ZKM main galleries, and a performative intervention during the Venice Biennale. Group exhibitions have placed his work in dialogue at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Kunsthaus Zürich, and the Centre Pompidou. He has performed live works for audiences at MoMA PS1, the Hayward Gallery, and festivals such as Transmediale and Sónar. Notable site-specific projects involved collaborations with the Port of Rotterdam authorities, a commission for the Rijksmuseum perimeter program, and a sound installation integrated into programming at the Royal Albert Hall. He has participated in curated shows alongside artists represented by galleries like Gagosian, David Zwirner, and Hauser & Wirth.

Style and influences

Van Slichtenhorst's aesthetic synthesizes sculptural fabrication, electroacoustic composition, and score-based choreography, reflecting influences from John Cage, Marcel Duchamp, and members of the Fluxus group. He references historical practices found in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, while responding to contemporary experiments by artists such as Ryoji Ikeda, Christian Marclay, and Laurie Anderson. His materials range from industrial metals to repurposed archival objects sourced from institutions like the Nationaal Archief and the Rijksmuseum. Theoretical touchstones in his practice include dialogues with curators from the Tate Modern, musicologists associated with the BBC Proms, and choreographers linked to Rambert and The Royal Ballet.

Awards and recognition

Throughout his career van Slichtenhorst received fellowships and prizes from bodies such as the Mondriaan Fund, the Prince Bernhard Culture Fund, and international grants administered by the European Cultural Foundation. He was shortlisted for the Herman de Vries Prize and nominated for awards administered by the Arts Council England and the Nederlandse Bank cultural initiatives. Institutional recognition includes acquisition by the collections of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and inclusion in public commissions overseen by the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts. He has been awarded residencies at the Villa Medici program in Rome and the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program.

Personal life and legacy

Van Slichtenhorst lives and works between Amsterdam and London, maintaining studios that engage local makerspaces and technical workshops associated with Het Nieuwe Instituut and the Royal College of Art fabrication labs. His collaborative pedagogy has influenced emerging artists linked to the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and Goldsmiths. Curators and critics from publications such as Frieze, Artforum, and The Guardian have written on his contributions to sound sculpture and participatory performance. His projects continue to be cited in catalogs from the Venice Biennale, biennials in Istanbul and Sydney, and retrospectives at institutions like the Tate Modern and the Centre Pompidou, situating his work within recent trajectories of contemporary art practice.

Category:Dutch artists Category:Contemporary art