In 2023 the gallery is adapting to its new environment. Co-directed by Fiona van Schendel since 2012, another chapter will be added to FLATLAND's 40 years of history.
Fi's goal is to transform the gallery from an international high-profile art gallery into an international project space focused on ethology. The past few years Fi has committed herself to studies on behavioural ecology and ethology (animal behaviour) at the University of Wageningen and later in 2023 at the University of Oxford. Her interest for this planet's species and their habitats stems from her general curiosity in the survival mechanisms of all animal species. Understanding the functions, causes, development, and evolution of animal behaviour, is key to their survival.
Placing animals central will also highlight the evolving knowledge that surrounds their behaviour (adaptive traits, emotions, living structures, coping mechanisms) which in turn will shed light on our own behaviour.
With artists that are concerned with how animals are represented, the gallery will also show artists who regard art as a platform to show the complicated relationship between humans and nature, between us and all other life forms and species.
As such, FLAT // LANDs goal is to engage and become compassionate, and distribute scientific findings to generate knowledge across species and beings. By reassessing the wider natural environment in which all living forms are interconnected, FLAT // LAND hopes to soften the distinction between humans and other species. __________
To mark this change, FLATLAND will become: FLAT // LAND. Our new logo with spatial spelling is a reference to the land, the earth of this planet as an important platform for the survival mechanisms of species. The blue letters are the colour of the ocean and seas, the largest single habitat on earth.
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Fiona van Schendel was born in Guildford, UK. She lived in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia until the age of 7. She attended secondary school in The Hague and received her master’s degree in Social and Economic History from the University of Amsterdam and pursued her study at the International Institute of Social History (IISH) in Amsterdam by working on her PhD in history on labour relations during late-colonial period in Indonesia. Her book Djolotigo, a case-study of a plantation economy was published by the Netherlands Economic History Archive (NEHA). Prior to joining FLATLAND she worked as freelance writer on art, photography and society for newspapers and magazines. As director and co-owner of FLATLAND social issues have always held her core interest, such as the exhibition ‘The voice of cameramen and women’, that included Martin Usborne’s disconcerting documentary ‘Where Hunting Dogs Rests’ on abandoned and killed dogs in rural Spain and the documentary work of Katharine Cooper on the Syrian civil war. In 2023 the gallery presented at Paris Photo the work of award winning wild life photographer Vincent Munier, the Australian artist Leila Jeffreys and Dutch photographer Charlotte Dumas. In Milan 2024 the gallery presented the work of Daniëlle van Ark who readdressed a photograph of a "Pair of Cranes" from a Sotheby's catalogue.
Fi van Schendel is a member of the international Jury The Spider Awards 2022, 2023 and 2024. She is also a certified Canine Training Instructor. She has 2 dogs, a Weimaraner and a stray.
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The gallery underwrites the Fair Practice Code:
The code
The gallery in question records in writing the relationship between the gallery and the artist, including agreements regarding the duration of the agreement, prices and any applicable discounts. Other matters that may be recorded in this document include: monitoring and evaluation of the agreements, both parties’ targets (e.g. regarding international visibility), the relationship with a second gallery, agreements regarding the settlement of any discounts, regarding commissions from third parties, or the settlement of other expenses such as for transport, photography, insurance or the construction of an exhibition. Model contracts are available on the Dutch Gallery Association (NGA) website.
The artist remains the owner of their work until the full amount is paid to the gallery, with the exception of secondary trading. This also applies in the case of gallery bankruptcy or attachment.
The gallery shall transfer the full artist’s share of the sales price agreed with the customer within 60 days following the sale of the artist’s work, and provide the artist with the buyer’s name and address details, and a copy of the invoice.
Unsold artworks in the charge of the gallery must always be returned to the artist within a month, if requested by the artist.
The relationship between galleries may involve competition and rivalry, but in the case of different galleries representing the same artist, the galleries should in all respects remain loyal to the interests of the artist in question. If a gallery exclusively represents an artist, thereby acting as their ‘mother gallery’, and another gallery would like to organise an exhibition with this artist, the involved parties should make written agreements regarding the conditions under which the exhibition can be held (see appendix for a Dutch Gallery Association (NGA) model contract).
The gallery is expected to be professional and competent, and to maintain this professionalism and competence.
The gallery vouches for the authenticity of the work that they are selling. In the case that a work is adjudged to be fake by a recognised independent party, the customer may return the work to the gallery owner and have the amount paid for the work refunded.
A gallery states the following on their website: their objectives, programme, working method and the artists that they represent.
A gallery is expected to act in accordance with the Fair Practice Code (fairpracticecode.nl), which includes an assurance against inappropriate behaviour at the gallery and elsewhere.
History
Flatland Gallery was established in 1983 by multi-genre professional musician-turned-art dealer Martin Rogge. It has been known for representing innovative and daring contemporary artists. The gallery has showcased their work for 40 years, first in Utrecht, and thereafter in Paris and Amsterdam. The gallery acquired a strong reputation for its artists who would later gain worldwide recognition.
Flatland has also been present at art fairs that include; Art Brussels; Paris Photo; Art Rotterdam; Code Art Fair, Copenhagen; Art Paris; and viennacontemporary. The gallery also participates in annual festivals in Amsterdam, such as Unseen Amsterdam and Amsterdam Art Weekend.
One of the first exhibitions of Marlene Dumas and the gallery was in 1984, The artist as a young girl (simultaneously with one of her first museum shows Ons land licht lager dan de zee at Centraal Museum, Utrecht). Another highlight is one of the first exhibitions of photographer Erwin Olaf, in 1987, who has been with the gallery until 2019. In 2012 Olaf received the Johannes Vermeer Award 2011 - the state prize for the arts - for the high quality of his entire oeuvre. In 2018 The Rijksmuseum received 450 photographs by Olaf for its permanent collection. In 2019 3 major shows were dedicated to Erwin Olaf: Kunstmuseum Den Haag, Fotomuseum Den Haag and Rijksmuseum. Other early exhibitions at Flatland include shows for leading artists like Erik Andriesse, Rob Birza, F. Franciscus, Ronald Ophuis and Wim Izaks (to whom the Wim Izaks Award is allocated).
Video, Film, Installations
Since the eighties Flatland experimented with the convergence of art with film, music, video and multimedia installations. Flatland brought in 1997 the club and art scene together at the KunstRai (nowadays Art Amsterdam) with the installation The White Room, Part II, by pioneer of veejay-ing, the artist Micha Klein and photographer Danielle Kwaaitaal. Other multimedia artists at Flatland were Dutch pioneer of video art Lydia Schouten, A.P. Komen & Karen Murphy and video artist Rob Johannesma.
Later developments
In 2005 Flatland started representing Ruud van Empel. Beginning 2009 4 solo-exhibitions of Van Empel were held in New York, Tokyo, Düsseldorf and Paris. In 2007 sculpture artist Carolein Smit joined Flatland Gallery. In 2010 she received a request from the Manufacture National de Céramique de Sèvres in France. A large solo show was held at the Kunsthal Rotterdam beginning 2010. In 2011 her work was included in the Olbricht Collection, Berlin.
Dutch documentary photographer Rob Hornstra has been with the gallery for 10 years. Hornstra’s five year project on Sochi (The Sochi Project) has culminated in 2013 in worldwide exposure, from Time Magazine, Euronews to the Russian news site Lenta.ru. In 2010 Jaap Scheeren joined the gallery. In 2011 he won the Bouw en Beeld Award that resulted in a museum show in the Cobra Museum, Amstelveen.
Since 2014 the gallery represents Katharine Cooper, a South African photographer who received the Photography prize of the Academie des beaux-arts’ for her documentary on the white minority in South Africa 'White Africans. a journey to the homeland'. Since 2016 she worked in the Middle Eastern regions (Syria and Iraq). A selection of her work from the Middle East has been selected for the exhibition ‘Chrétiens d’Orient. Deux mille ans d’histoire’ at the Institut du monde arabe in Paris in 2018. In 2019 Cooper has a solo show at Kunsthal Rotterdam on her African series. In 2021 her work was selected by UNESCO to be exhibited in the headcuaters of NATO in Brussels and the National Militairy Museum in Soest.
In 2015 Flatland started working with Dutch photographer Anoek Steketee, who is nominated for the 2015 Prix de Rome. Steketee exhibited her work recently in the 'On the Move photography' exhibition at the Stedelijk and FOAM: a trans-medial project, about the process of reconciliation in post-genocide Rwanda, based around a popular radio soap. In 2015 she was also offered the assignment of the Rijksmuseum ‘Document Nederland’. The project of Steketee was exhibited in 2017 in the Philipsvleugel of The Rijksmuseum.
Another notable Flatland artist is the energetic Israeli painter Guy Yanai (1977). Yanai lives and works from Tel Aviv. Influenced by a variety of ‘Masters of Art’, from Matisse to David Hockney, (yet also by contemporary photography, television, paintings, and advertisements) Yanai portrays an intimate and personal environment in his paintings that include ordinary everyday items and simplified forms in vibrant colours. Being on the edge between figuration and abstraction, the work is nearly timeless, between real and fake, consequence and insignificance. A more recent artist that joined Flatland is Kim Boske. Director Fiona van Schendel: ‘I have wanted to work with her for many years; I enjoy how her images are built up layer by layer, referring to time as something fluid. Past and present as time elements have no real meaning'.
The gallery was also delighted that Dutch artist Jasper de Beijer joined Flatland. De Beijer is seen as a leading figure of expanding the language of photography. He is celebrated for his scale scenes and carefully assembled tableaux as material for his photographic images. In 2019 De Beijer received an exciting solo show at WIELS, Brussels, engaging visitors in a VR - environment.
Publishing House
In 2007 Martin Rogge started a foundation to create a vibrant photography and art collection of museum quality. To achieve this objective the choices made by the Flatland Foundation are based upon the originality, authenticity, artistic appeal and quality of the work of artists. The collection consists of Erwin Olaf, Damien Hirst, Ruud van Empel, David Hockney, Tessa Mars, Sam Taylor-Wood, Carla van de Puttelaar, Nazif Topçuoğlu, Sally Mann, Frank van der Salm, Hans op de Beeck, Hellen van Meene, The Sanchez Brothers, Keith Carter, Cristina Garcia Rodero, Nan Goldin, Rob Hornstra, Mark Seliger, Thomas Struth, Miles Aldridge, Zhang Xiaogang and many other artists.
Flatland Foundation
In 2007 Martin Rogge started a foundation to create a vibrant photography and art collection of museum quality. To achieve this objective the choices made by the Flatland Foundation are based upon the originality, authenticity, artistic appeal and quality of the work of artists. The collection consists of Erwin Olaf, Damien Hirst, Ruud van Empel, David Hockney, Tessa Mars, Sam Taylor-Wood, Carla van de Puttelaar, Nazif Topçuoğlu, Sally Mann, Frank van der Salm, Hans op de Beeck, Hellen van Meene, The Sanchez Brothers, Keith Carter, Cristina Garcia Rodero, Nan Goldin, Rob Hornstra, Mark Seliger, Thomas Struth, Miles Aldridge, Zhang Xiaogang and many other artists.
Team
The team of FLAT // LAND is strengthened with professionals from in and outside the field of arts. Senior member is Pieter Sanders, director at Aventory and Advisor at Nieuw Dakota and Paul Bonnike, who owned the succesful agency in executive recruitment Bonnike for years. A very bright and innovative aid for the gallery is Josephine van Schendel who graduated cum laude at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague in 2018 and in 2022 received her Master degree in Environment and Resource management; she currently holds a job at Rijkswaterstaat and advises on issues on sustainability.
Membership
FLAT // LAND is member of the KKR (special loan agreement for art buyers) of The Mondriaan Foundation.