Ger van Elk's 2009 Interview Reveals 1960s Dutch Art Scene and Key Exhibitions

Ger van Elk, who passed away at the age of 73, reflected on his early artistic journey in a 2009 interview. His first exhibition took place in Los Angeles during the early 1960s, where he, alongside Marinus Boezem and Jan Dibbets, played a key role in bringing Dutch art to an international audience. They participated in Harald Szeemann's 'Junge Kunst aus Holland' at Kunsthalle Bern in 1968 and the 'Arte Povera + Azioni Povere' festival in Amalfi. In 1969, at the Stedelijk Museum, van Elk produced installations such as Luxurious Streetcorner and Apparatus Scalas Dividens. He substituted a square meter of earth with a photograph for 'When Attitudes Become Form' in Bern. He perceived the late 1960s as a period for art liberated from commercial constraints, inspired by Edy de Wilde and curator Wim Beeren. This interview was included in 'Exhibiting the New Art' (2010) published by Afterall Books.