Diane Mahín (Groothuysen)
I am a Dutch-Iranian human who makes art and a sociologist (born: Netherlands, 1993). I aspire to be a 'lifelike artist', a term which comes courtesy of Allan Kaprow.
A lifelike artist does and does not make art. I make a performance today and pick an eyelash off someone's cheek tomorrow. Art is not something higher than everyday life, everyday life is more compelling than art. Life is meaningful, but only in particular: sweating, eating a pickle, making a sculpture. I like to make art, or not make art, that makes me attentive to the strangeness and excitement of the everyday. The strangeness of shaking hands, applauding, laughing, a glass of beer. I also think life is pointless. Art is not separate from life, but life is not art. Art is experience. An artist should not be celebrated more than a market seller. I like to do life consciously, while sometimes creating an installation, sometimes putting on a coat and some other times having a squeaky conversation.
A common thread of influence in my artistic and life practice is my attitude towards death and its implications. Like many humans, I fear the discontinuity of my own consciousness. Regrettably, I also have nihilistic tendencies, which leaves me with only my current living body to rely on, as there seems to be no further meaning in life. Most of my work uses the human body, either of the spectator, the performer, or myself, as a medium to search for a temporary feeling of immortality. Alongside philosophical perspectives of mainly Georges Bataille and Julia Kristeva, I search for this ‘transcendence’ either indirectly through affective responses of my work, and/or directly through thematics of my work. Through this work, I am to achieve attentiveness to the immanence of our own bodies, as I believe this attentiveness is the key for many human related issues (whether it be escaping the fear of death or becoming a more balanced citizen).
When it seems right, I use my visual sociology training to combine social scientific research methods and theory with visual and sensory artistic practice. Studying sociology stimulated my interest in how the social reality of humans is constructed. I question the extent to which 'humans remain humans' within this social reality. My dual heritage allows me to compare two socialized cultures in this respect.
Education
2020 -
Master in Theatre (directing/scenography), Institute of Performative Arts Maastricht
2018-2019
MA Visual Sociology, Goldsmiths University of London [distinction]
2016-2017
BSc Sociology, Utrecht University
2016-2017
Preparatory Course Fine Art, University of the Arts Utrecht
2016
Exchange semester, University of California, Santa Barbara
2013-2017
BA Liberal Arts and Sciences, Utrecht University
2012-2013
Minor Media and Culture, Utrecht University
Exhibitions / Performances
02.2020
11.2019-12.2019
02.11.2019
26.07.2019
18.05.2019
05.04.2019
01.05.2016
(solo) Postmortem Recordings, Expocafé Zamen, Amsterdam
(group) Intervention for the occasion of De Laatste Aai, Museum Tot Zover, Amsterdam
(group) Museumnacht Amsterdam [museumnight], Museum Tot Zover, Amsterdam
(group) SNACK - Sociology is Not a Complete Knowledge, Greenwich West Community & Art Centre
(group) Things to Do When You're Dead, Cambridge City Crematorium
(group) Residual Matters, Goldsmiths, University of London
(group) Residual Matters, Goldsmiths, University of London
(solo) Imprisoned, University of California, Santa Barbara
Commissions
2019
2019
(trainee) Public Program, Prince Claus Fund, Amsterdam
(set designer) VASSILINA, Albany Theatre, London
2019
(performer) Sorry, What?, shown during Prelon Musk: Acts of Kleinness, at Asylum Chapel, Peckham, London, directed by Eilidh Delves
2018
(voice-over artist) Under Construction, selected by BFI Top 200 Best Video Essays of 2018, directed by Julia Sterre Schmitz
2017
(performer) Alles Over Iets en Dingen en Niets, shown at Het Amsterdams Theaterhuis (NL), directed by Diede Daalman
2008-now
Many waitressing and office jobs