Joep van Lieshout

Atelier Van Lieshout's most relevant recurring themes are domestication, politics, complex functioning systems, and the re-contextualization of familiar, domestic objects. The Atelier van Lieshout claims to make no distinction between "real artworks" and "just building something for someone."[8]

Atelier van Lieshout, Drop Hammer House, 2018 as exhibited at OPEN HOUSE, Geneva in 2022

Many projects by Atelier Van Lieshout include livable "houses" each with their own "theme", such as the "Mobile Home for Kröller Müller" (1995), "Autocrat" (1997), Dynamo (2010) or Drop Hammer House (2018), with special functions and the according materials and furniture elements.

Joep van Lieshout focuses on creating artworks whose design principles challenge conventional ideas of utility and functionality by reinventing how the viewer perceives or approaches an object and the environment in which it is placed. This is achieved by the implementation of non-traditional materials and color palettes, odd or unusual subject matter, and through the strategic positioning or locale of the artwork.[8]

AVL-Ville, 2011

For example, in the 2010 public artwork Funky Bones it is impossible to see in its entirety except at a distance, preferably from above. Moving close enough to actually interact with it produces an entirely different perspective.[9]

AVL-Ville is the Free State of Atelier Van Lieshout in the Rotterdam harbour during the Rotterdam Cultural Capital year 2001.[10][11] Originally designed as a place for experiments and inventions for the city of Almere. After Almere rejected the proposal Atelier Van Lieshout decided to realize its pioneer city on own property in the Rotterdam harbour.

The Autocrat and Workshop for Weapons & Bombs found a home along with new works like the Pioneer Set and AVL Transport.

AVL-Ville also created its own flag, its own constitution and its own currency.

In October 2017, an AVL work titled "Domestikator" (2015) was scheduled for inclusion in the exhibition Hors Les Murs, (Foire Internationale d'Art Contemperain's outdoor program of architectural projects, sculptures, performances, and sound pieces that runs concurrently to the fair) held in the Tuileries Garden at the Louvre in Paris. On 17 October 2017 the President of the Louvre, Jean-Luc Martinez pulled the work from the exhibition, on the grounds that the piece, in which two interlocking buildings appear to be engaged in a sexual act, would have been displayed near a playground. The work was instead displayed by the Centre Georges Pompidou in the front square outside of that art institution for a simultaneous run.[12][13]