Handle with Care

Among the works is Hand Job, a ‘multi-tool’ for the hand created by Neha Kudchadkar, which consists of ten delicate instruments, one for each finger and each with its own function: caress, feed, manipulate and cherish. This is the first time that work by Kudchadkar, an up-and-coming visual and performance artist from Mumbai, India, will be exhibited in the Netherlands. One of the Princessehof’s recent acquisitions, a sculpture by Sharon van Overmeiren (Belgium), will also be premiered in Handle with Care. Dog whisperer and television star Caesar Milan – and his dogs – inspired this work, in which Van Overmeiren explores the boundary between humans and animals. The figure makes a blessing gesture with one hand, and seems to offer something with the other.

Handle with Care includes work by unidentified artists from China, Peru, Suriname, Nigeria, Dagestan, Turkey and the Netherlands. Also on show is work by Rob Birza, Johan Creten, Marie-Josée Comello, Daniël De Bruin, Bing & Grøndahl, Satoru Hoshino, Bastienne Kramer, Neha Kudchadkar, Hanna Mobach, Charlotte Eta Mumm, Pablo Ponce, Rosenthal & co, Akio Takamori, Studio Tjep, Simone van Bakel, Hans van der Ham, Hans van Houwelingen, Couzijn van Leeuwen, Sharon van Overmeiren, Irene Vonck, Pauline Wiertz and Betty Woodman. The lion’s share of the exhibited works are from the Princessehof’s collection, but there are also pieces from the collections of the Fries Museum, the Fries Verzetsmuseum and a loan from Museum Boijmans van Beuningen.

Handy ceramics

Thumbs-up or thumbs-down? Beckoning or dismissing? They’re almost the same hand movements, yet there is a world of difference. This is how hands can make and break us: a hand that caresses can also strike, a hand that invites can just as easily reject. We use our hands to make sketches, add details, and create works of art. Ceramicists sometimes literally leave their impressions in the clay. And a fingertip is sometimes enough to set the largest machines in motion. But the power of our hands also lies in their vulnerability: when communicating, or holding or releasing the people and objects around us.