Dirk van Lieshout is gefascineerd door de inrichting van publieke ruimtes en de wijze waarop deze plekken het leven van mensen bepalen en richting geven. Van Lieshout werkt met diverse media, zo creëert hij o.a. ruimtes die gebaseerd zijn op bestaande ruimtes als winkelcentra, snackbars en reisbureaus. Zijn videowerken hebben vaak een interactief karakter en plaatsen de bezoeker d.m.v. technieken uit de film- en televisiewereld in een andere, door hemzelf gecreëerde omgeving.
Dirk van Lieshout (Helmond 1973) volgde zijn opleiding aan de Academie voor Kunst en Vormgeving en De Ateliers in Amsterdam. Hij woont en werkt in Rotterdam.

Tentoonstellingen (selectie):
De Fabriek, Eindhoven, 2007
Upstream Gallery, Amsterdam, 2006
SMART Project Space, Amsterdam, 2005
Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, 2005

Solo exhibitions
2001 'Dirk' de Ateliers, Amsterdam.
2002 'Tactical Proposals' Artis, Den Bosch.
2004 'No Exit' Gallery Upstream, Amsterdam
2006 'Invisible' (video-panorama) Zaal 5; filmhuis Den Haag
2006 solo exhibition Gallery Upstream, Amsterdam

Group exhibitions
2000 'To be announced' / Rita Mc Bride Kunstverrein Aachen, (D)
2001 'Neighbours/buren' Sted.V. Abbenmuseum, Eindhoven
2001 `The Stork area as a show' Het Storkterrein, Amsterdami.c.w. Skor,Amsterdam
2002 'Global Attic Video Festival' Kunst en Complex, Rotterdam
2002 'Early Works', De Ateliers, Amsterdam
2002 'Porta-cabin' De Paraplu-fabriek, Nijmegen
2003 'Hunting Lodge' Consortium, Amsterdam
2003 'Cineboards' Video projection Pathe, Schouwburgplein, Rotterdam i.c.w. Stichting Picos d 'Europe
2003 'groupshow' ' Galerie 'Upstream', Amsterdam (o.a Folkert de Jong, Marc Bijl).
2003 Particpation 'groupshow' The Maria-kapel in Hoorn
2004 'Futureways a "Middelburg' Triennial The 'Vleeshal', Middelburg 2304
2004 solo-exhibition Gallery 'Upstream' Amsterdam
2004 groupexhibition 'Gemine: Muse' Historical Museum in Roman, Roemenia
2005 work period and exhibition. Platvorm Garanti, Istanbul.
2005 Participation Art Rotterdam 'Upstream Gallery',Amsterdam.
2005 Participation at 'Adam' Smart Project Space,Amsterdam
2006 the 'Salon' groupshow in the Historical Museum in Rotterdam
2006 Participation at 'First 3 Sec'. Projectspace 'Nuans' Dusseldorf.

Prizes:
2006 Prize 'Workspace 06'; (10.000,-) from the city of Den Haag to produce a new video work.

Commissions:
2002 'The 'Storkarea as a show', Storkarea,Amsterdam
Proposal for a new model in corporation with Skor, with; Luc Deleu, Dominiqu Gonzales Foerster, Bik van der Pol.
2006 Selling the 'Side Scan Sonar' to the 'Westerpark, Amsterdam

Publications:
1997 R.Ponzen, 'de Verzoeking van de Heilige Anthonius', Metropolis M (1997)5
1999 S.Bronwasser, 'Jongensdroom in een binnen-boomhut', de Volkskrant.
2000 E.Quint, 'Mediteren in de snackbar', de Haagse Courant, 26 Juli 2000.
2000 J.kostermans,'De boomhut, 1999, installatie, Basta 2000
2000-2001 'Buren' tent. Cat. Sted.van Abbenmuseum Eindhoven
2002 J. Reijnders 'Autonomie is alles, zonder context ben je nergens, Metropolis M (2001)4
2002 R.Ponzen, Zie jezelf als product, publicatie Vrij Nederland (Juni 2002, nummer 24)
2002 'Early- Works, tent. Cat. de Ateliers, Amsterdam.
2002 'Exedra', tussen lijn en Fictie, (tent. Cat. over vier jaar)
2003 'Standsplaatsen', Nijmegen 2003 (tent. Cat.)
2004 publicatie in catalogus ' Futureways': The Middelburg Triennial 2304.
2005 pubicatie in Flash Art door Douglas Heingartner.

Additional activities:
2002/2003/ Commissioned at FBKVB, Amsterdam
External examiner at PostStJoost, Breda.
2004 Guestteacher at post St.-Joost autonomous Masters, Breda
Teacher at Rietveld academy
2006 External examiner at Aki, Enschede

Upcoming Projects:
2007: groupexhibition at projectspace 'Nuans',Dusseldorf.
2007: groupshow at 'Brakke Grond', Amsterdam
2007: groupshow at 'Raid Project Space', L.A.

2007 opening a second studio place in Dusseldorf

A Short Introduction of my Work:

Conditioning:
Even at art school I had a preference for constructing temporary accommodation: for material that was 'still in motion'. The theme - if any comes up at all - is the conditioning of human life. 'Conditioning' is a rather unspecific concept denoting the fact that something is being stipulated as a condition, leaving something or someone dependent on them. This is in fact the essence of much of my work. As an artist I create the conditions under which people see, or sensually perceive, my work or its surroundings. This is occasionally physical, when I almost literally lead visitors through an exhibition space, and occasionally intellectual: happening within the scope of a video screen or scale-model. Another important aspect of my work is its non-linear narration. My work does not offer a neat rounded story or an unambiguous message, but includes sketchily produced situations that allow different explanations.

Temporary Accommodation:
My work takes place in public spaces. The exhibition context often plays a part. This is so, for instance, in the 1999 'Boomhut'. I constructed a tree house to live and work in for a couple of weeks in artist enterprise Artis in Den Bosch. I meant to create an intellectual sanctuary for myself to translate my thoughts into a never-ending diary of Polaroids and texts. All outside communication went by message tray. Visitors were confronted with the day-to-day worries of an 'artist-in-an-artist-enterprise' and with the role or function of the art institution.

Shopping Spirit:
After I left Art School I mainly focussed on group behaviour and the way shopping audiences are manipulated by the interior decoration of shops and companies. 'Office', constructed in De Ateliers in 2000, is a production of an office situation. 'Sedate fm' is a 2001 moveable meditation centre constructed in the Van Abbe museum. Besides room to relax, furniture and artificial grass there was a radio station broadcasting meditative sounds I produced together with Grace Ndiritu. In 2003 I recorded the video film 'Friction Mall': about a shopping audience and extras playing parts in a patterned choreography, together with Jetske de Boer.

Scale Models and Waiting Rooms:
Scale models are an important part of what I do. Building them, I study the (im)possibilities for realising installations. On other occasions scale models are the basis for future work, as was the case with the 2001 'Chroma Key World' which resulted in 'Surveillance' in that same year. The work consists of a surveillance room with five [later: six] monitors showing images of people loitering in a mimical world of fast food restaurants, employment agencies and waiting rooms. My installations are actually experiments, carefully matched to their environment and anticipating group behaviour. For Upstream gallery in Amsterdam I build an 'non-place tube that shuffles passengers between gate and aircraft (No Exit, 2004). The entire gallery space is taken up by the construction, except for a small opening near the ceiling that reveals the feet of the gallerist sitting at his desk, working Oz-like to control the entire glossy spectacle below. The work leaves the visitors to their own devices when navigating their way through the strange and narrow space, as they implicitly become part of the piece. In the Vleeshal museum in Middelburg I made a waiting room for the future. The 2004 'Waiting Room' turns waiting into an almost absurd experience. For the first time I combined three aspects of my work: installation, video film, and performance.

Sometimes my works are 'instruments' or tools to understand or learn about the direct surroundings. The Side Scan Sonar (Smart Project Space, Amsterdam, 2005) is an enormous floating sound pavilion on the water which amplifies and sends out live sounds from the direct surroundings (also under water) which are normally not heard. The sounds could be activated and heard by the visitor who enters the sound pavillion (the orange upper part). In the ground floor section of the Sonar I sometimes work to develop the sounds. Recently I produced and made a 16 meters tall urban video panorama (Invisible, Filmhuis Den Haag, 2006). The film shows the parcours of 6 professional bodyguards protecting an invisible person in different areas of the city. Standing inside the middle of the panorama, you feel as a visitor being protected by the bodyguards. 'The invisible fear' is a very controversial and discussed political issue in society in Holland (and beyond).