At the invitation of the Secession, de Rijke / de Rooij and Christopher Williams are collaborating on an exhibition that will occupy all the spaces of the building.

Their independently developed approaches enter into a dialogue that reveals both the similarities in their methodologies and the differences in their execution.

Drawing on a documentary-oriented aesthetic, both Williams and de Rijke / de Rooij examine the condition, presence, and impact of photographic images. Omnipresent in contemporary visual cultures, these images have taken on a peculiar transparency—it is not the image that is perceived, but what it depicts. Both through their subject matter and the use of specific techniques and forms of presentation, the three artists re-establish a connection between photography and the photographed.

“Art is artificial, and we like that.” With their works, de Rijke / de Rooij challenge the taken-for-granted aspects of seeing and overlooking. Images, they reveal, are produced in two ways—concretely as films, photographs, and installations, but socially through the conventions of perception and staging. Whether developing slowly, visually opulent, or in confrontation with texts, their works provoke ways of seeing that sharpen their focus on changes in detail without relying on consistent narratives: Their images tell no story other than their own.