Chourouk Hriech - In 17th Heaven

In 17th Heaven is a new installation by visual artist Chourouk Hriech. Museum de Fundatie invited Hriech to create a work in dialogue with the exhibition At Home with Ter Borch. The commission is part of the museum’s Art in the Atrium programme, a series of site-specific installations in the atrium of the museum. A part of Hriech’s installation can be seen in an adjacent room.

At first glance, there is little to connect Hriech and the Ter Borch family. They’re from different periods in history, come from entirely different parts of the world, and their work has little in common. But one thing unites them: drawing. Hriech was both captivated and inspired by  the striking depictions of domestic spaces in works by the Ter Borch family. She was equally entranced by the historic architecture of the city. She promptly began searching for connections between the past and the present. 

In de schilderijen ziet ze veel mooie details: sierlijke vormen, tapijten, zijden kleding, muziekinstrumenten, marmer, tegels en tafels. Deze dingen laten veel zien over de Nederlandse handel, macht, rijkdom en tradities.

She noticed the abundance of details in the paintings: the elegant shapes, thick carpets, silk clothing, musical instruments, lots of marble, tiled floors and ornate tables, all of which spoke volumes about Dutch trade, power, wealth and traditions.

The installation these inspired, In 17th Heaven, is composed of drawings – in both the atrium and an adjacent room – and a series of videos. The work draws together the old and the new with elements from present-day Zwolle and the 17th century. In the work, Hriech explores how objects, landscapes, and buildings – often from other countries – have become part of our art and history. She also looks at how they help us understand the world and imagine what it could be like.

The display in the room next to the atrium includes two videos, made with the participation of primary school students from groups 5a and 5b of the Park School in Zwolle. The children came up with stories inspired by Hriech’s drawings, which further enhance the link between past and present and bring the work to life. Hriech describes this as “the migration of the imaginary”.

As with a landscape, In 17th Heaven invites us to experience drawing as a playground for the imagination and memory, a place from which new stories, both collective and personal, can emerge.

Chourouk Hriech (b. 1977) lives and works in Marseille, France. Hriech uses drawing, installation, performance, video and photography as means to explore space and time. Her works – on paper, walls and surrounding objects – invite contemplation of both ancient and contemporary architectures, real and imaginary figures, animals, plants and chimeras. Her art interweaves urban architecture and everyday motifs and follows the chaotic course of the world with serenity, embodying a desire for resistance and utopia. Her work is, in essence, an ode to life and the living.

Hriech’s work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including, most recently, the 17th Biennale de Lyon, France (2024); Museum of Tomorrow, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2023); Drawing Lab, Paris, France (2022); and Art Factory, Daegu, South Korea (2022).

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