This project by artist Manon de Boer offers a look at experimentation and the creative process. The four films presented focus on informal learning during infancy and childhood and the breathing space required for creativity and imagination.

Part of a project started in 2018, the exhibition will show for the first time the complete trilogy From Nothing to Something to Something Else by Manon de Boer, filmed by the artist in three different countries – England, Portugal and Belgium.

These works, featuring young people aged between 16 and 20, explore learning processes that do not fall within the formal system of artistic education, the periods of downtime needed for the creative processes, and improvisation as a space/time of freedom and construction. Downtime/Breathing Space also shows a fourth film, The Untroubled Mind, made in 2016, which is an essay on play, experimentation and creativity during infancy.

The project and the exhibition are the result of Manon de Boer’s in-depth research and confirm her fascination with those moments when suspended time and the freedom to imagine and to act allow for creation, experimentation and exploration, bringing to life something from nothing.