Chinese Whispers

Chinese Whispers is a collaborative art project between Karin Janssen Project Space in London and Gallery Nasty Alice in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Together the galleries have invited forty-nine artists, twenty-five living in the Netherlands and twenty-four living in the United Kingdom, to take part in the project.

The aim of Chinese Whispers is to research the artistic differences and similarities between Dutch and English artists: how much are artists formed by their country of residence, is there a common language in their art, is there a national difference in how artists respond to a given task?

By asking the artists to play a game of Chinese Whispers, in which each artist reacted on the previous artist’s work without knowing what the rest of the series looked like, the project has resulted in a series of highly autonomous yet interrelated works.

For four months the artists from both countries have made A4 drawings, painting and photographs, bookended by Karin Janssen (Karin Janssen Project Space) and Sebastiaan Dijk (Galerie Nasty Alice), both gallery owners and artists, who created the initial and concluding works.

Chinese Whispers will be exhibited at Karin Janssen Project Space in London from 6 until 23 November and will then travel to the Netherlands where it will be shown from 29 November until 21 December at Galerie Nasty Alice in Eindhoven.

Participating artists from the UK: Eliza Bennett, Benjamin Bridges, Boudica Collins, Sue Cohen, Fran Copeman, Jim Cowan, Antony Crossfield, Rebecca Davy, Karin Janssen, Helen Jillott, Cathy Lomax, Kate Lyddon, Sarah Maple, Emi Miyashita, Anne Moses, Richard Moon, Tamara Muller, Anja Priska, Chris Roantree, Christine Sawyer, Patricia Shrigley, Angela Smith, Stephanie Spindler, Tisna Westerhof.

Participating artists from the Netherlands: Ron Amir, Anouk Bax, Liesje van den Berk, John Boelee, Karin Bos, Alice Brasser, Airco Caravan, Sebastiaan Dijk, Marie Louise Elshout, Jakob de Jonge, Anouk Griffioen, Simone Hooymans, Jacquem, Natasja van Kampen, Erik Klaassen, Danielle Lemaire, Daniëlle Luinge, Edith Meijering, Jolanda Moolenaar, Jos van der Sommen, Marielle Videler, Roos van der Vliet, Rogier Walrecht, Daphne ter Wee, Hanneke Wetzer.