Florian Borstlap

socio-social, sculpture, cooperation, public space, performance, interactive, installation,Experimental, Community

My work as an artist and curator is shaped by my life journey. As a child, I traveled the world with my parents, discovering how powerful stories and performances can connect people. Later, I spent 15 years working at sea as a first mate (Captain's deputy), learning how to balance being alone with working closely with others. These experiences—working with crews from different cultures and taking on big responsibilities—taught me the value of teamwork and creativity.

From 2014 to 2022, I founded and ran The Performance Bar, where I organized over 500 performances. These events were all about experience together with others to create something new. My approach to art mixes playful ideas and humor with careful planning and thought. I'm interested in breaking down social rules and helping people feel a sense of shared ownership in art projects.

Now, I focus on creating mobile art installations that travel to different places. These installations invite people to explore art in new ways, where I encourage equal collaboration as a means of connecting people with each other and their environment. Soon, I will open a new studio called 'Het BorstLab'. Here I can experiment with other artists and visitors. In this space, we'll blur the lines between research, rehearsal, and performance, exploring art through improvisation and experimentation.

My goal is to create interactions that feel a little awkward but also meaningful or fulfilling. Using humor, creativity, and an eye for social dynamics, I aim to break routines, celebrate the richness of life, and build spaces where people can connect, grow, and create together.

**The Performance Bar** - The Performance Bar (TPB) was more than a bar; it was a participatory art object that we could transform into a stage, an instrument and a canvas 'on the spot'. For nine years, twice a week, TPB became an immersive place where various performances, happenings and presentations took place, where artists and spectators created new experiences together. During those years, I not only organized more than 500 happenings, but also contributed to them artistically.

**Her Reveal** - Art in public space changes with time and its surroundings. Some works are cherished, others are forgotten. This raises questions about ownership and meaning: who takes care of these works and how do they remain relevant? In the first part of this performance, an existing artwork is carefully cleaned and maintained, with respect for the original intention of the artist. This process went beyond material preservation; it was a form of active conservation in which both the physical and cultural value of the work were reconsidered. In the second part of the performance, the public and the local community are actively involved in the reinterpretation of the work. Through conversations, observations and participation in the re-unveiling, visitors were given the space to share their perspectives and assign new meanings to the work. The revaluation of the artwork took place in dialogue with the environment. Through reflection and co-creation, the work was not only preserved, but reactivated as a living part of the public space. in collaboration with: Jasper van den Berg

**The Treehouse Club** - 🌳 The Treehouse Club an interactive performance installation In the summer of 2021, the overgrown garden of Weelde became my playground—a memory of endless summers of getting lost, rummaging, and building huts. For me, that has always been the ultimate form of freedom: without a plan or goal, just building, creating something together, disappearing into something. The Treehouse Club was an attempt to rediscover and share that feeling. Together with others, I went in search of the value of play, improvisation, and temporary togetherness. No fixed structure, but a place that grows as you create it. The installation was a hut, but also a stage, a clubhouse, an experience space. We worked intuitively, with what we found—wood, ropes, memories—and let the audience help build the story. In the spirit of The Performance Bar, the boundaries between performer and visitor blurred. The audience became part of the work: they dived into the bushes, whispered through tubes, left messages in bottles. There was no script, but there was a collective feeling, as if you were building something secret together. The installation changed daily, depending on who came, what the weather was doing, or what we found in the garden. The Treehouse Club was an ode to getting lost, to the power of the temporary, and to the space that opens up when you dare to let go of control. It was also a preliminary study for how I work now: on location, in interaction, with performance as an invitation to connect.

**Hair salon at Theater Rotterdam** - Immersive theatre concept that we were allowed to develop together with Tjon Rockon, Tommy Ventevogel and Theater Rotterdam. Visitors were brought up in small groups with an elevator and then ended up in the performance via a birth canal. Here they could choose to actively participate or observe.

**Pop-up Studio at Zuidplein Shopping Centre Rotterdam** - A mobile installation with recording studio in the Zuidplein shopping center in Rotterdam, in which my interest in interactive and connecting art comes together with music production. In this installation I spontaneously made music together with passers-by, which resulted in an album of the undiscovered talent of Rotterdam South. https://soundcloud.com/florianborstlap/albums

Performance during Exhibition The Entity of ZOON — **Performance during SOLO Exhibition Little Red Riding Hood - The Entity of ZOON** - The Entity of ZOON is an alternative world where imagination and research come together. This project arose from a need for silence, detailed study and a search for meaning in a complex world. By creating the magical figure 'ZOON', questions are raised about the fate of man, responsibility and the influence of symbolism and imagination on our thinking and behavior. The development of The Entity of ZOON included diaries, sketches, photography, music and long walks in places where my journey took me. This research grew through various residencies and exhibitions, including a solo exhibition at Roodkapje (Rotterdam, 2013). Here the balance between introspection and interaction became tangible: visitors were disinfected in a quarantine car wash by performers in suits, which created an oppressive atmosphere. This sense of threat and transformation was reflected in large drawings, refined sculptures and interactive installations, workshops and happenings.

**Dutch Snack Art** - This playful and sometimes humorous project gives shape to my interest in the history and the unique cult experience surrounding Dutch snacks. Here I can also use my artistic skills in a more applied form. I call it Pop art fried in Dutch culinary heritage. The hyper realistic sculptures and drawings have been included in the art collections of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and various corporate collections such as those of Unilever and KPMG. drawings by Ko de Kok

Snack Art

Date: 01-05-2021

In association with: Ko de Kok

Art to die for. Florian and Ko's hyper realistic snacks are almost indistinguishable from the real thing. A snack-tacular collection including very realistic drawings of hamburgers and fries with mayo, ice creams, designer snack jewelry, ceramic croquette sculptures for the wall and much more. Cultural heritage fried in Pop Art

www.snackart.nl

The Performance Bar

Date: 16-04-2014 t/m 01-04-2022

Location: internationaal

In association with: Stichting WORM

The Performance Bar was a successful unconventional performance art initiative and community that shone like a bar. Every weekend you could visit the bar and be amazed at how artists and audiences transform the bar into a stage. Popular for its diversity of visitors and cultural experiences, praised for blurring the boundaries between café and theater, bar and stage, artist and audience.

https://www.studioborstlap.com/the-performance-bar

This artist has no awards yet.