Making Money For My Friends was a group exhibition of work by Juliaan Andeweg, Bob Eikelboom and Daniel van Straalen. The exhibition was guest curated by Julia Mullié.

On October 31, 2020, the NRC published a shocking article about the violent behavior of Juliaan Andeweg, one of the participants of the exhibition. For a link to the article click here.

At the Bonnefanten we have taken note of the news with horror. The management of the museum and the guest curator have never been aware of the facts mentioned in the article and they expressly distance themselves from such behavior. As a result of this, the Bonnefanten management decided to end contact with Juliaan Andeweg and to ban the representation of him and his work from our museum and our online communication platforms.

We sympathize with the victims and express the hope that more victims will have the courage to speak up in these matters. The museum will continue to do everything it can to provide a safe environment for our employees, our relations and our public.

In this context, we would like to point out the existence of the Mores website (https://mores.online/), an online reporting point for undesirable behavior in the performing arts, television and film sector, art education and museums.

Making Money For My Friends

The three artists in Making Money For My Friends share specific interests and use similar materials, often from outside the art world. Consider, for example, a shared fascination with the rapper Lil B. and the use of car paint, film and cartoon images and advertising posters. Making Money For My Friends was a journey of discovery and an introduction to the work of a new, young generation of artists. Julia Mullié was guest curator of this exhibition.

Daniel van Straalen (1987) plays with the thoughts of the viewer. By using images that are immediately recognisable, he gives us an opportunity to interpret his work. Yet this opportunity is also misleading, as whatever is immediately recognisable gives no further scope for other associations. This also raises questions about authenticity, which is one of the key elements in Van Straalen's work. He investigates what authenticity still means in a world that is dominated by the internet. Does it even matter nowadays what is 'real' and what is 'fake', or who was the 'first' to come up with an idea?

Bob Eikelboom (1991) is showing his Liberal Picture Service (2017), a room with rounded walls. In this room, all the shadows disappear, so you no longer have a sense of depth and look into total emptiness. You hear a composition of sound recordings made by the artist and samples from films and music. This creates a wave of images and sounds that only take shape and gain meaning in the mind of the viewer. As with his 'magnet works', the viewer (here also a listener) can control the composition and is guided towards playing the role of the artist.