application delfina residency

Installation of "Shards of Happiness, May 2018, Yerevan, Armenia, Yerevan Expo Centre.

All Photos free of rights

Photo credits:

Photo Flaxit, pick up & video’s: credits by Artist

Photo Installation and detail: credits by Hans Verduin, and Nata Sokolowska



Applicant: Philipine Vinke, MSc, RM/RT, bubble gilder


Philipine Vinke, (1968, Netherlands) works and lives in the artists village of Nunspeet and is a founding member of „The Nunspeet School”. She plays a role in the artist community of Nunspeet where she works and lives with her family.


She coined her innovative technique Bubble Gilding, of which first works were created in 2015. The technique evolves and flows as time passes.

Core themes in Vinke’s work centre around specific social constructs she calls ‘bubbles’. Powerful examples are national flags, the monetary system and paradoxes in (lack of) transparency in public and private lives.

“Bubble Gilding is a technique I developed in 2015. My pieces contain 24 carat gold leaf, vast amounts of pure pigments, bubbles (secret ingredients) and resins. My latest series “Obsolete Egos’s“ are made with recycled mirrors.


I integrate modern materials, such as epoxy, with old techniques as water gilding and "verre églomisé".

Questions I ask my viewers are: What do you see? Can you see through the bubbles? Do you prefer transparency or opaqueness? What is 'real gold' and what isn't? Which do you prefer? What are the origins of your likings?


We all live inside our own bubble. Omnipresent as bubbles are, we hardly notice them. If we do, we can decide to pop them or to accept them for what they are and where they have brought us. To enhance the importance of bubbles, I gild them.”


In order to fully appreciate the context of her ideas, Vinke strives for a symbiotic relationship between herself, her curator Kruiswijk, her audience and the location of the exhibition.


Vinke’s pieces are held in private collections internationally.

For Exhibitions, shows & fairs, please view here

Vinke has a personal working plan. 2018-2019. Please view here


Goal of residency:

As a bubble gilder, I will investigate the influence of ‘Brexit’ on long term value creation/value depreciation.  Is the notion of Brexit a bubble? In January 2016 I started this investigation with the site-specific installation of “Flaxit” on market square, Nunspeet.

I take an interest in site-specificity. As a former Real-Estate appraiser I am interested in how locations and venues affect people’s everyday life. How does Brexit affect locations and venues? Have locations been transformed through Brexit? And how does this affect people’s everyday lives?

Questions I ask:

Why does a nation vote to opt-out of an (economic) system?

What is the perceived value of Brexit?

Is value added/destroyed by Brexit? For whom? By whom?

How do these changes affect everyday life?

In which/on which locations in London is this visible?

What location is exemplary for the creation or depreciation of value emanating from Brexit?

The concept of site-specificity is part of my ‘bubble gilding art’, I currently exhibit in a former Bank office. In addition to this, I will exhibit in October 2018 in a former “Theekoepel” (A tea-dome is typically Dutch 17 th phenomenon. It is a small elegant building, usually located on an estate, built by wealthy families to impress).

The aim for this residency is to pin the value (or depreciation) of Brexit to a location/site thus depicting the impact on everyday lives.


Working plan:

During my residency in London, I will be location-scouting for venues.  Are these locations after the Brexit-decision still relevant? Are they affected, either positively or negatively by Brexit? How do people interact with these locations? How have they interacted with them in the past? What are the consequences on everyday life? Is this process exemplary for ‘Brexit’? If yes, how so? What location is exemplary?

I will keep notes/make pictures, record interviews and/or videos for my own use.

During this process the locations will inspire me to create a site-specific artwork/show, preferably to be exhibited in one of the studied locations/venues.

Report of progress:

Report of progress will be done through a dedicated Instagram-account (e.g. @brexitbuildings, @lostlocations) where I will mini-blog my day-to-day-experiences. Mini-stories of the locations as well as pictures will tell the stories of value creation of depreciation emanating from Brexit decisions.


The result of the residency will be an end show, to be exhibited in a space connected to the research.

The end-result to be exhibited in the location can be an installation, a show, new artwork, an empty space, depending on the outcome of the research and my subjective experiences in the research process.


Funding of costs will be done from my personal funds. The experience will add value to me as an artist and a person.