THIRTIETH EDITION OF KUNSTHAL LIGHT BY MARILYN SONNEVELD

For the thirtieth edition of Kunsthal Light, the artist Marilyn Sonneveld (Rotterdam, 1990) will be creating the work When the Sun Comes Up in the space behind the over twenty-five-meter-long display window of the Kunsthal. With this site-specific work, which consists of coloured glass panels and glass sculptures, Sonneveld is highlighting the interaction between the progression of time and the constantly changing light in the iconic HALL 6. In doing so she is symbolically referring to her pregnancy, a transformative period that apart from joy, has also brought her anxiety and insecurity.

The human body, which she explores in her oil paintings and glass sculptures, is a great source of inspiration for Sonneveld. When the Sun Comes Up is her first work to focus on her own body. In anticipation of her upcoming role as a mother, Sonneveld is more acutely aware than ever of the influence time has on her body, and is also confronted with traumatic events from her past. She conveys these emotions in drawings and paintings that form the point of departure for When the Sun Comes Up. Sonneveld uses the nine glass panels she created to, layer by layer, interweave depictions of the body. As if painting with glass she is portraying the intensity of her pregnancy and the mental and physical changes she is undergoing.

Multidisciplinary artist

Marilyn Sonneveld graduated from the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam. After her graduation, she developed and co-founded ‘wipsite’; with this website she wants to offer sex education in a factual, honest, and positive way. Over the past few years, Sonneveld has been developing a multidisciplinary artistic practice that includes installations, oil paintings, and glass sculptures. Sonneveld recently participated in the residency programme No Man’s Art Pop-up Gallery in Mexico City, and exhibited her work at Unfair Amsterdam. Her work has also been shown in various international exhibitions and galleries, among other places in Lisbon and Madrid.