START POINT PRIZE – Prize for emerging artists

Joost Mellink’s art experience can be generalised relatively easily. In the beginning, there is always action in the landscape recorded on video. In these the artist investigates personal physical limits. Unlike the often exalted strategies of historical body-art, Mellink’s events have more of a playful or even intentionally infantile character. He tries to see how deep a pit he can dig that he can still climb out of. Or he tries to jump over a moat several times in a row, but the moat is too wide for him to clear. He is simply searching for extreme experiences in the midst of the Dutch landscape – which at first glance seems entirely devoid of extremes. The list of events shot with a static camera is similarly simple. In contrast, though, how they are presented in galleries is complicated in form. Screenings are projected from various constructions or shown on large, three-dimensional objects, creating a comprehensive spatial installation. (Ondřej Chrobák)

Born on the 23rd october 1989 in Zwolle. Lives in Utrecht. Studies: 2008 - 2012 Utrecht School of Arts.