Iratxe Jaio + Klaas van Gorkum

A tryptich on power relations, representation and the long shadow cast by history

Shadow Play is the artistic result of two years of research into the copies of the famous painting ‘The Surrender of Breda’ by Diego Velázquez, and the semi-public spaces where these can be found in Breda. The point of departure for this project is the idea that the context determines the meaning of a work of art. The original, for example, which hangs in the Prado Museum in Madrid, celebrates the glorious victory of the Spanish during the siege of Breda. In the Stedelijk Museum Breda, however, this ‘defeat’ does not prevent this painting from being used as the centerpiece in an exhibition about the grandeur of the royal Orange-Nassau family. And at the city hall of Breda, the canvas serves as an everyday backdrop for countless wedding photos.

The video installation shows the different copies of the painting next to each other, paying particular attention to the situations that take place around or before them. For example, in the museum, curators carefully hang Kees Maks’ 1903 canvas in its place, while in the city hall, students from the St. Joost School of Art & Design stage a squatters’ demonstration from the 1970s in front of Fernando Coll’s 1929 copy. Diplomats from the Dutch Embassy in Madrid pose in front of the original from 1634 at the Prado Museum, and at the military academy, uniformed cadets stand to attention in front of André-Julien Prévost’s 1872 painting.Sound artist Roel Meelkop composed a soundtrack for the videos, which accentuates or distorts the acoustics of the various spaces in which they were filmed, thereby emphasizing the distance between audience and the images.

A famous painting hangs in the town hall in Breda, just outside the wedding rooms. It can be seen in the background of hundreds of photos that are taken right after the marriage ceremonies.

The artists Iratxe Jaio and Klaas van Gorkum have called on the residents of Breda to search through their albums for such photos and to submit them for a large, joint exhibition. The result of the many submissions can be seen in Nieuwe Veste during the Breda Month of History.

On October 4, the artists Jaio and Van Gorkum will give a lecture in the Stedelijk Museum Breda. They will talk about their project that they are carrying out at the invitation of Witte Rook, in which they go in search of the backgrounds of the copies of the painting by Velázquez. The lecture in the auditorium is accessible with a ticket for the museum. Monique Rakhorst, curator of old art at the museum, will be present at the lecture to provide a historical perspective on the painting.

October 1 - November 24, 2024:
- Exhibition in the Nieuwe Veste, Molenstraat 6, 4811 GS Breda.
October 4 3:00 PM:
- Lecture by Iratxe Jaio and Klaas van Gorkum in the Stedelijk Museum Breda
October 11 7:00 PM:
- Opening in the Nieuwe Veste

We are honoured to announce our participation in Ten Thousand Suns, the 24th edition of the Biennale of Sydney, curated by Inti Guerrero and Cosmin Costinas. The Biennale has commissioned us to produce a new series of sculptures for the installation False Flag.

These sculptures are inspired by the surrealistic warplanes painted by René Magritte in 1937, when he learned of the Nazi bombardement of the Basque town Guernica. They will be displayed together with a video in which the mountains surrounding Guernica play the main role. Read more about this project here.

Witte Rook has invited the artist duo Iratxe Jaio and Klaas van Gorkum for a residency project. Their working period and artistic research delve deeper into the shared Spanish and Dutch history—particularly that of Breda and Madrid—by placing it in a contemporary context. The starting point for the project Las Lanzas is the presence of various copies of the famous painting La rendición de Breda by Diego Velázquez in Breda, which depicts the surrender of Breda during the Eighty Years’ War with Spain.