GIJS VAN DEN BERG
(Vierlingsbeek, 1983) plays with reality in his work. By placing objects out of context, highlighting or reconstructing situations, he presents a different view of reality. This way he gives everyday things a new narrative.
Besides being a graphic designer, photographer and filmmaker, van den Berg is creative director and partner of KesselsKramer, a communication agency with offices in Amsterdam, London and Los Angeles.
Over the years Van den Berg made work for both big and small clients. Produced local and international campaigns. He made some books, invented products, wrote a short film and directed TV commercials.
An organ donation campaign he worked on is registered as Guiness World Record and was awarded an Effie award for effectivity in 2010. Some of his works are part of the Moti Graphic Design collection and in 2015 his poster campaign for Lotte Yoga School was exhibited at the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid.
Van den Berg likes to balance on the fine line between commercial and personal work. In 2015 he photographed the last traditional coffeehouses in Amsterdam and developed the pictures in coffee from the actual places. His series TV-Toes was part of the Malmö Fotobienal 2015. In 2016 he published ‘Cutting Edges’ a photo series about pruning & prosperity. And in 2017 his project ‘Souvenirs From The Sun’ got a nomination for the Sony World Photography Award. In 2019 his work was exhibited at Photoville Festival in Brooklyn, New York.
Gijs still hasn’t figured out the meaning of his last name; There are no real mountains in the Netherlands and he is only 168cm tall.
# Selected Exhibitions
2010
MuseumN8
Group exhibition
De Balie, Amsterdam
2012
Slideluck Potshow
Group exhibition
Oude Kerk, Amsterdam
2015
Gewoon Koffie
Solo exhibition
Volkshotel, Amsterdam
2015
Malmo Fotobienal
Photofestival
Malmö, Sweden
2015
Schijt aan de grens
Group exhibition
Vierlingsbeek, Netherlands
2016
Gewoon Koffie
Solo exhibition
Quartier Putain, Amsterdam
2016
Modern Love
Group exhibition
KK Outlet, Londen
2016
Cutting Edges
Group exhibition
Kaunas Photo, Lituania
2016
Eye See Sound
Group exhibition
Studio de Keuken, Amsterdam
2017
Cutting Edges
FORMAT17: Habitat
Quad Museum – Derby, UK
2017
Sony World Photo Awards
Nomination Still Life
Somerset House – London, UK
2017
Spitting Image
Festival – Schijt aan de Grens
Geijsteren, NL
2017
Cutting Edges
Publieke Ruimte
Kunsthal45 – Den Helder, NL
2018
Souvenirs From The Sun
Solo Exhibition
The Print Space – London, UK
2019
New Amsterdam Coffeehouse
Photo festival
Photoville, New York, USA
2019
Spitting Image
Vans Over the wall Group
Exhibition
Vans Boutique, London, UK
# Selected Publications
2014
Straattaal
Editorial
Parool PS magazine
2016
Pizza Economy
Editorial
Verzameling, Het Parool
2016
Stadstrappertjes
Editorial
Verzameling, Het Parool
2017
Dit is Nederland
Editorial
Vrij Nederland
2017
Hashtag Holiday
Editorial
Vrij Nederland
2023
Interview
Slanted Magazine
# Talks
2010
Teach Me / KK Holiday in Venice
Venice (IT)
2011
Citymarketing CCCB
Barcelona (ES)
2011
AKV St.Joost
Breda
2015
Summerschool
Voordekunst
2015
ABN Amro & Culture
Amsterdam
2017
Masterclass
for Voordekunst
2017
BNO x Dutch Design week
Eindhoven
2019
DEPT
Rotterdam
2019
Het Nieuwe Instituut/BNO
Rotterdam
2019
Centraal Museum
Utrecht
2021
OFFF
Sevilla, Spain
2022
Serifelaris
Getxo, Spain
2023
OFFF
Barcelona, Spain
Q&A
Who are you?
My name is Gijs van den Berg. I like to make things. Many things. I'm not a specialist in a medium. I just do and learn along the way.
Wait before you start your monologue... HOW do you pronounce your name?
Uhmm... most English speaking people call me Hize, which game me the nickname Heinz. But I've heard many variations over the years.
I think you had a much better website before, it has loads of work on it, what happened?
The server crashed. I did program it myself, but never made a backup. #lifelesson. It was way too serious anyway.
Did you save any of the photos?
OK this is rather personal; I read the average height for males in your country is about 182cm. You are 168cm...
I know it’s weird. It does give me a different perspective, i guess. But even weirder is that my last name means ‘from the mountains’. Technically speaking there are no real mountains in the Netherlands. the highest point is 328 meters above sea level.
What is it that you do?
This is what keeps me up at night. I do many things. And I’m not sure if I do any of those things right. If you like boxes and labels, you could call me a designer, photographer, film maker, musician, writer or creative director. I am all of this and none of this at the same time. Just call me Gijs... or Heinz.
Any weak spots?
I really can't draw. I even did a project about it called: "Five-minute-finger-paintings". I'll share it soon.
So what's new?
U have video's with animals? I like video's with animals.
So anything in the pipeline?
I've been working on some digital projects lately. You know blockchain technology, world domination, html5, all while listening to Japanese J-pop screamo. I'm trying to learn how to code. So I made this website myself. Got some help from Semplice.
Japanese J-pop screamo?
Yes it's pretty underrated in the west, but big in Japan. It's a crossover of dancing the ketchup song dance on the beats of a sonic the hedgehog game with female fronted vocoded vocalist interchanged by some of the girls singing screamo parts. One of my favourite acts is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. But recently I've been listening to Passcode as well.
I also made this thumb.
And this installation.
Ⓒ 2023 Gijs van den Berg.
All rights reserved.