During the first lesson, we had to make groups. I didn't know anyone in the class except the other exchange student so we decided to join a group together. We went into a group together not for any particular reason. I didn't know exactly what their style was so it was also difficult to decide who I would fit in with.

While we were talking, different ideas for an artwork came up. We talked about light art and the Bayeax tapestry. I decided to show what I had made for the homework assignment to the group. For the assignment I used the painting 'The Sleeping Venus' by Giorgione. I was happy with the concept behind it. I showed it not necessarily so we could choose 'The Sleeping Venus' for our exhibition, but more for inspiration. I was quite surprised when everyone was enthusiastic about the painting as it is quite an old-fashioned painting. But I think everyone in the group liked the idea of giving a modern take on a Renaissance painting We all decided to do individual research on the painting and then meet again later

To document our research we decided to start a miro board. There were a few things I discovered during my research that I found interesting about the painting. First, a subject that always interests me is the difference between male and female gaze.
I think in this painting you can see very well that it was made by a man.
Something else I find interesting is that this painting has caused this pose to become a recurring aspect in other famous paintings. Many other artists, such as Titian and Manet have recreated this pose in their own way.
Also, I myself am very interested in how myths and other stories are depicted in different ways by different artists. Like how Venus has been depicted in many different ways throughout art history. I decided to make a list of these kinds of stories and myths that have often been used for art. At that point, I thought we might want to choose another piece of art for our project. I especially thought the story about Narcissus was also an interesting starting point. This story has also been used by a lot of artist in different ways for a piece of art. For example, by Caravaggio and by Yayoi Kusama.
When we came back together as a group, I noticed that the rest of the group had focused much more on deeper details of the painting. Like the symbolism in the painting.
It was clear at that point that we were unlikely to choose another work of art.

After talking to each other one more time and also getting feedback, we started brainstorming. During the feedback, I came up with an idea. I have often used a projector for previous projects. And that is always something I have a lot of fun with. My idea was to make a film and project it on a wall. On the film you see people walking around a room and occasionally standing still and looking at you. In front of the projection, we would put a bench that you could sit on. That way it would be as if you were the painting itself. I was particularly inspired for this idea by the idea that when you look at the painting, it actually ruins a very private moment of Venus.
The group liked the idea of disrupting a private moment. But not the projection,
I think they preferred that the audience at the exhibition disrupt a private moment rather than people on a video.

We came up with the idea of making people's private moments public. For example, one of our ideas was to livestream someone doing something you usually do by yourself, like sleeping or brushing their teeth.
I also had the idea of making a tent that you could look through and then see something you weren't actually allowed to not see, but the group preferred to make something that everyone could see
The idea was to recreate a realistic room. We wanted it to be as realistic as possible so that the audience would have the feeling that they were standing in someone's room.
During another feedback session, we quickly got the feeling that we needed to do more research into the symbols in the painting. We also felt we needed to do more research on the time in which the painting was made, which was the Renaissance. We decided to come up with as many ideas as possible in a short time. Phil had recommended a documentary( I can't find what the documentary was called, unfortunately) and I watched it. The documentary explained how viewing a painting now differs from viewing it then in the Renaissance. Back then, a painting was only viewed by a few people. Now, thanks to mass production and the internet, a painting can be seen by the whole world. 'The Sleeping Venus' was made for a newly married couple but now it is seen by many people every day.
After the documentary, I came up with an idea. I thought maybe we could ask for private information from people around us. Some kind of secrets. We could put those secrets in envelopes anonymously and give them away at the exhibition.
A few years ago, I saw the artwork 'Woman to Go' by Mathilde ter Heijne. I still find the image of the racks with cards in them quite a cage image. The group liked the idea of asking questions to people around us. But it soon became clear that they wanted to stick to making a realistic room. So we continued with that. We decided to make two groups. One half was going to work on instagram and put a private question on it every day that people could answer. The other half, which I was in, was going to work on the design of the room.

We decided to make posters for the background that explained the symbolism in the painting. I was responsible for the posters. In the beginning, I found it very difficult to make the posters. The posters had to be realistic but also not personal to any one person, because the room had to belong to no one and at the same time to everyone. I found that very difficult because the posters in someone's room always say something about the person who lives there. To understand symbolism properly, I read the article 'What they don't tell you about Venus' written by Aengus Dewar. In the article, Dewar explains that the trees in the background represent a man and woman. I decided to draw two trees representing a man and woman. But while I working on it, I actually found that it didn't really explain the symbolism enough. After all, they were still two trees.

At one point, I thought we could also personally build the room to Venus and pretend it is her room. The modern-day Venus might be a mother, a feminist or a sex symbol. But the group had already bought stuff for the room and they thought it was a better idea to make it anyone's room.

I decided to recreate family family shots for the symbol. This is something a lot of people have in their homes and if they don't have it, it is at least a familiar image. I just didn't know yet how I wanted to draw the people. First I used photos but they soon became too personal. But to use drawings soon became unrealistic. Andthat I think was the biggest problem with our idea. Half of our group wanted a very realistic and messy room and the other half wanted a room that looked more like an illustration. During feedback, we got the artist Julian Opie as inspiration. He makes portraits of people that are very impersonal. I decided to use that as a starting point for my illustrations. At this point, we decided as a group to move more in the illustration direction. Which was especially nice for me because then I didn't have to use photos.

Like in the Renaissance, people still order wedding portraits from artists. Something that is popular now are faceless portraits. You often see them on wedding invitations.
I used this style as inspiration. I don't really like flat illustration, so I gave it my own personal interpretation. The people in the photos are not recurring they don't have anything that makes them stand out. They could be anyone. Later, I changed the backgrounds of the illustrations to match the colour of the wall. I thought it would be nice if the people in the pictures looked like they are standing on the mountains that are painted on the wall. I coloured the people so that they were the same colour as Venus in the painting

I struggled quite a bit with portraying the symbolism of the houses. At first I had made these collages. But then I realised that by doing so I was not explaining symbolism. I decided to wait until I saw what the room was going to look like before continuing.

We decided to make a design on the wall so that the room looked a bit more like an illustration. We decided to go for a green colour scheme, we wanted the colours to have a calming feel just like the painting.

I was mostly finishing and printing my posters, but I also helped painting the walls and the picture frames. At one point we decided to where the houses would be we would put the bookshelves. Since we didn't have that many book covers left I decided to make more. After all, The room still looked pretty empty. Because the houses symbolized good harvest and growth I decided to make different covers with nature patterns. I really enjoyed doing this as I had always wanted to make a book cover. It is definitely something I will do more often.
The book covers are also a little more yellowish since the houses are also yellow-green.

There were also things I had ended up not doing due to lack of time or uncertainty. One was that I also might have wanted to illustrate explicit photographs or some kind of porn magazine. I wanted to see if I could bring back the sexual undertones of the painting somewhere. But soon as
I made these images I noticed that the male gaze was too present in them.
I decided to continue when I had more time, which unfortunately I didn't.

The finished room and some details

I am not completely satisfied with the room. I think because it took us too long to decide what style the room should be in we still didn't know exactly what style we wanted it in the end. It caused a lot of confusion. I think we should have chosen a certain style much earlier. In the end we did what we were able to do. I'm satisfied with my own illustrations. I think I depicted the symbols well.

I also thought at one point that maybe we could change the color scheme slightly that it was a little more vibrant, but my group really wanted the same colors as the painting.

Our future vision would be to recreate the room in a very public space. We want to make sure people have an introduction to Renaissance paintings. The room is for everyone and not for a particular group. Those public spaces could be at a bus stop, for example, or on a bench in the park.