Indebt Studio

SPOTLIGHT - William Grob

(UK/CH) is a Berlin-based painter. He took part in our exhibition 2012 Never Happened (2023), where a selection of his works from his series Lost Millenials was presented.

Developed during the global outbreak of coronavirus, the series portrays a generation that is collectively present yet fundamentally isolated, navigating conditions shaped by consumer society and emotional dislocation.

Unable to express himself verbally until the age of seven, Grob developed an early reliance on visual language. The use of colour and form as a means of articulating emotional states remains central to his practice. His work often borders between reality and absurdity within everyday scenes, often depicting the loneliness of the human condition, at times underscored by a subtle sense of satire.

Working primarily in oil, his practice moves between figuration and dreamlike abstraction, shaped by an intuitive process where memory, imagination, and atmosphere converge.

Grob graduated with a BA in Photography from Falmouth University in 2014 and has since exhibited internationally, with shows in Berlin, London, Brussels, and Luxembourg, including presentations at , .london and .reding

We spoke with him over email and Instagram to reflect on his recent work and artistic process.

Looking back on TWIN VESSELS (2024) by artist duo

In Twin Vessels, .baratto & reimagined the story of the mythical twin brothers Hypnos and Thanatos, respectively Sleep and Death, born of Nix, the Night. At our Swalmstraat exhibition space, this tale unfolded through two central sculptures: a bed and a sarcophagus, echoing the twins’ parallel states of rest and stillness.

Grounded in their method called ‘archeodreaming’, a research-based practice at the intersection of archaeology, dreaming, and mythology, the works encapsulated drops of dew, mirroring dreams and death.

What emerged was a quiet dialogue of form and motion: vessels in flux, echoing one another across time, material, and space. The works explored how knowledge is transmitted across cultures and centuries, and how ancient practices remain relevant in writing meaningful tales for the future.

Slide 1: Ο ζών νεκρός της μνήμης μας, μια πτήση στον αιθέρα, στο χάος και στο όνειρο, απελπισία χορτάτος, ceramic, wood, 2023

Slide 2: Details of the sarcophagus

Slide 3-4: Details of Psicopompi - Ψυχοπομποί (2), ceramic, 2024

Slide 5: Veglia al di là del Tempo, terracotta, wood, textile, 2022

Slide 6: Detail of ‘Veglia al di là del Tempo’

Slide 7: Hypnos & Thanatos, pencil on paper and ceramics, 2021-2024

Slide 8: Detail of ‘Hypnos & Thanatos’

Slide 9-10: ‘Dew Catchers’ - a Gesture created in collaboration with Indebt. The pair of glass vessels are intended for dew harvesting- an ancient practice shared across cultures, religions, and eras. Made with Murano glass, 2024.

LOST & FOUND

During the reconstruction process of our new cultural hub at Govert Flinckstraat, we’ve uncovered small traces of the building’s layered past: once an elementary school, later a Turkish mosque. What we’ve found are fragments of those histories of which some deliberately hidden, others simply lost.

Slide 3: a pack of Barclay ci******es, priced ƒ3.35 (Dutch guilder), now worth only €1.52. Estimated production circa 1988.

Slides 4 & 5: a 5 cent coin (stuivertje, 1948) and a 25 cent coin (kwartje, 1980), both found between the plinths.

Slide 6: Pokémon Lickitung card from 1995, discovered hidden behind the wall panelling (someone’s secret stash…?).

Slide 7: A kid’s doodle carved onto the back of a school desk, born from a kind of boredom thats somewhat nostalgic to us all. The three Andreas crosses imply this used to be a former municipal school chair design of which its production year can be dated back to the early 70’s.

Slide 8: A misbaha (prayer necklace) made of 99 purple beads. Found in between some floorboards, most likely dropped by its previous owner.

Slide 9: Fragments of ceramic and lime-rich tiles, red terrazzo and natural stone, materials emblematic of the Amsterdamse School architectural era.