Peer Vink and Tom Putman are collaborating for the first time in an installation that balances on the border between seduction and unmasking. Duo exhibiton at Heejsteck# in Utrecht.
Add to Cart
Artists: Tom Putman and Peer Vink
September 20 – November 15, 2025
Heejsteck#, Utrecht
Peer Vink and Tom Putman are collaborating for the first time in an installation that balances on the border between seduction and unmasking. Their starting point is the shopping mall, not as a nostalgic tribute, but as a status icon from their youth that has not stood the test of time and has lost its shine. Think of the sets of old spaghetti westerns: impressive from a distance, almost a reality in themselves, until you get closer and discover that behind the facades there is nothing more than wooden struts.
How much of our daily lives are constructed in this way? In a capricious world where nothing stays the same for long because perspectives are constantly shifting, people often present themselves through carefully constructed façades. What remains when the decor disappears? But just as a timeless masterpiece can be recorded within the phony world of a film set, there is also an eye for the layered metaphorical beauty of the fake within this presentation.
Because we live in a reality where fake is real and real is fake. The virtual world is supplanting the physical domain. Consumers shop in digital showrooms while shopping streets are empty. The mall lives on in nostalgic aesthetics, in vaporwave videos, retro games and online simulations, but is increasingly difficult to find in the real city. What was once the heart of the future is now an empty shell. And it is precisely there, in that decay, that a reflection of who we are can be seen.
In Heejsteck#, Putman and Vink display an artificial cave like the ones you might have found in a high-end shopping centre. A constructed setting that exposes the seduction and mechanics of appearance. It is no coincidence, for example, that natural beauty – although often imitated in non-climate-neutral materials such as plastic, polystyrene and synthetic resin – is used to put people in the right mindset for consumption.
Putman and Vink each explore the essence of objects in their multimedia work. Diverse inspirations, associations and references merge into a unique visual language that feels both familiar and new. Nothing in their work is coincidental; every material, every technique used, every form chosen is a deliberate reference resulting from a long process of research and craftsmanship (both by hand and with machines).
In "Add to Cart", their sculptures and paintings enter into a relationship with the rock installation, creating a layered reflection on our society's addiction to consumption and humanity's ongoing, often elusive search for happiness.
