JAN WILLEM DEIMAN: LANGUAGE WITHOUT MEANING

About this activity.

🍾 Opening: Saturday, October 11, 2025, 5:00 p.m.

Jan Willem Deiman (Elburg, 1986) studied at the Utrecht School of the Arts and the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht. He currently lives in Drenthe.

His colored metal objects appear to float in space like abstract drawings. These works are based on symbols from the Phoenician alphabet—one of the first writing systems to represent sounds rather than images. This could be seen as the beginning of abstraction in writing.

Jan Willem focuses on variable patterns, absurd systems, and contemporary architecture, which he rearranges and places in new contexts. Through his interplay of form, rhythm, and repetition, a poetic visual language emerges that is detached from concrete meaning, yet touches on the origins of language and the human desire to grasp the world around us through signs.

His work has been exhibited at 38CC (Delft), NP3 (Groningen), ART Rotterdam, Momart (Amsterdam), Fortlaan 17 (Ghent), AC Institute (New York), and IAUF (Istanbul).

He previously created a permanent work for the Neude Library in Utrecht, and in 2025, he created a permanent artwork for the State Hall of the Provincial House in Assen.

At the initiative of OFF HOOK, a new screen print will be produced in an edition (30) by Jan Willem Deiman (at Zeefdruk Atelier Hogeland in Warfield).

OFF HOOK.

OFF HOOK is an artist run space for contemporary art and exhibitions. It’s located at the corner of a former chemistry laboratory in Groningen, the Netherlands.

OFF HOOK is founded by Dutch artist Lydia Wierenga, with the goal to invite artists to “do what they want”.

OFF HOOK will also present screen-prints in limited editions and “a little something on the side”.

Opening hours: every Friday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and by appointment.

Location.

OFF HOOK
Bloemsingel 200
9712 KZ Groningen
www.offhook.nl/