Maurice Nuiten and his everyday (un)reality

Let’s postulate, that being born, is an inconvenience.

“On Wednesday, March 16th, 2016 at 11:26, I was 826.28206 seconds old. At that time, I made up the balance of my life. Every year, every month, every day, every hour, every minute, and every second; but why all this?

Because I was born!”

Strange Phenomenon 

“As we know, we don’t have any choice about being born, it’s something that has happend to us. And as we know we are also gonna die. Between that there is time, and that is all we have. Why are we here? What is our goal?

As an artist I find this a strange phenomenon. As long as I can remember I question this. Also I find the fact that we are going to die an inconvenience. That made me think; we are born for the inconveniences in live. The first thing that I can remember dealing with this issue was the fact that I had a question for my mom and dad. “Dad, Mom, can I live in the clouds?” They looked at me surprised and were quiet for a while. After that they replied. “Boy, stop dreaming, just do what you are supposed to do, get good grades in school, find a good job, because in the end you also have to pay the rent and work to make a living!”

I never understood. Later in life I enrolled the art academy, and graduated with a project about the fact that I wanted to make my mom and dad proud, to show them this was a right choice. A work about the fear of graduating and not being able to live up to their standards, or the general standards in life.”

Making Choices

I want to live, I want to die, I want to laugh, I want to cry,

I want it slow, I want it fast, I want to hold, I want to repel,

I want to feel, I do not want to feel,

I want to be loved, I want just wanna have sex,

I want to continue, I want to stop, I want to stay, I want to go.

I love the extremes, I love the middle.

“Life is confusing, life is full of contradictions and full of choices. With my subjective view,  I try to give meaning to a meaningless existence in this absurd world with all its contradictions, by using lens-based media, installation, performance and text.”

Things you don’t share on Facebook

“At the moment I am researching the karakter of my work. This is in my opinion strongly linked to reality TV and social media. My work is not about happiness or how fabulous life is. I mostly talk about the inconveniences I bump into in life. Like the fact that I realized that my parents are going to die at one point, a realization that made me think. That I wake up alone after a wild night, have been single for a long time. Had a fight with a friend, drink to much, smoke to much, pain in my body because of illness, and so on. That I’m alone on the couch with a glass of wine while I get onto Facebook and see everybody going out and having fun. Things you don’t share on Facebook. We filter what we show. We as human beings can only be happy, strong and be loved, at least that is what we show there. On the other hand we love to watch “Big Brother” and other reality-tv shows, we love to see drama, pain, sex, love, fighting, crying, everything we don’t share on social media ourselves. But what we see on television is edited by directors, to make it more spectacular.”

Welcome to my everyday (un)reality

“Within my own artistic practice I also filter what I show, take the things from my own live. My own life, the body, sexuality, identity, and everyday environment help form the foundation of my work. This all comes together in an aestheticised, abstracted form that is still figurative. The work is often sculptural and performative involving the naked body. There is where I play the director, and want to welcome you into my everyday (un)reality. So be welcome on Cultuurnacht to get a look in an aestheticesed reality.”

Maurice Nuiten, Master of Fine Art, year 2