Artist: Jeanne van Heeswijk

Jeanne van Heeswijk is a ‘network’ artist form the Netherlands. I want to highlight her project Draw a Line (2000), based on an old Dutch territorial game. In collaboration with Rolf Engelen, she filled an area in the gallery 25 metres square with soil, a reference to the Dutch tradition of land reclamation. Besides forming the setting for a game, this square was also a flat, almost two-dimensional sculpture bearing a strong resemblance to the work of such Dutch Constructivists as Mondriaan and others.

The installation was a reworking of the traditional Dutch game of landjepik ('land grab'), which centres on gaining and losing territory, land and space. A companion booklet lays out the rules of the game, which can be played in three variants: Wanna Play, Wanna Fight and Wanna Act. In the third variant, the objective is to create space for the opponent instead of taking space from him - an impossible task in a game of conquest. The game brings together competition and competence, and participants are invited to lay bare their deepest motives at the most basic level. The rules are simple: each player throws a knife into the ground, and the point where the knife lands forms the outer boundary of that player's new territory. By altering one of the basic rules - how players take turns - the game never ends. This simple act draws the viewer's attention to the endless struggle over territory.

Reference: Jeanne van Heeswijk - http://www.jeanneworks.net/

This way of a battle or game, is a good way to invited the viewer to play. But how much do you need to participate, to create a work? How to start with no direction, but with an Open Frame?