Kunstinstituut Melly Archive

Item sets

• Transit
  Transit, 6.18 min., Egypt/Palestine, 2004 In 2004 Taysir Batniji photographed his journey to the Gaza Strip. The work Transit presents these images and reflects on the extremely difficult conditions under which Palestinians must travel. For the last few years, most especially since the second Intifada broke out in 2001, the Rafah border has been the only way for people from the Gaza Strip to leave or enter the region. People travel via Cairo airport, men traveling alone separated from the other travelers, and under heightened Egyptian guard. All the travelers encounter each other in an open-air transit zone in Rafah, waiting for the moment when the Israelis will permit them transit to Gaza. This wait can last from a day to several weeks. Time Suspended and Transit are on view at the Bergen KunstHall, www.kunsthall.no, from 21 January to 20 February 2005. Opening Friday 21 January, 8 p.m. Participants Taysir Batniji Curators Catherine David Network Kunsthall Bergen <div class="
• Untitled [Tower and Square]
  In a curious counterpoint to the accumulation of comfort and anxiety on the ground, Rotterdam finds liberation in its phantasmagoric skyline. From a distance, it is a promise of urban intensity, but once the city is entered, on the ground level, the intensity is gone. In essence, the project by Untitled is positive: to (unabashedly) embrace Rotterdam’s dream of creating a city of towers and to redirect this power to reshape the public domain. In this project of ‘towers and squares’, the main question becomes how the tower volumes relate to the (public) surface level. Untitled is founded in an intention to make architecture, to try and tackle (any given) topic with architectural project. At odds with the contemporary architectural discourse, Untitled tests whether architectural design can still be poignant when put in parallel with urban scale enquiries. It formulates methods for composing (architectonic) spaces and for doing research by making projects. It practices architecture as a discipline of space and phenomenology and tries to investigate the consequences of these ideas. Fear of the City Rotterdam’s public ground reveals a pattern which is to a large extent build to the comfort of its inhabitant. Ticket machines, ATM booths, pavement protection, video cameras, paid parking places, fences, poles and signs, the ‘neighborhood watch’, the rubber-tile playground, are the city’s sedimentation of certainty. The Untitled project is developed in the context of Groepsportretten 04 [group portraits 04]. For more information on Groepsportretten and the program of the whole day, check www.gp04.nl. Group portraits of young architects 2004 (GP04) is a project from the Architecture Fund and the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture organized by Urban Affairs. A project by UNTITLED: Milica Topalovic, Bas Princen, Office Kersten Geers David van Severen. Participants Kersten Geers, Bas Princen, Milica Topalovic Curators Catherine David <div class="
• Life, Once More
  These days, the term “reenactment” usually refers to live reconstructions of historic events, often of a military nature, performed by hobbyists. In the U.S., there are many enthusiasts (primarily men) who take part in Civil War reenactments, while in Europe the Napoleonic era is the most popular. In the world of visual art, there have in recent years been many reenactments of historic performances from the 1960s and 1970s – works which otherwise only exist in the form of photos, videos and descriptions. But what exactly is being reenacted, and what is the effect of the representation? Jackson Pollock already had the feeling that his existential “act” for the painting session filmed by Hans Namuth degenerated into “acting” in the sense of theatrical performance – something he found insufferable. Is it not the fate of reenactment to eventually become an image, a representation in the form of film, photo or video? And are such representations just part of a spectacle that breeds passivity or can they in some sense be performative, active? Mainstream historical reenactment struggles with some of the same issues: reenactors are critical of Hollywood’s depictions of history and of media representations in general; however, not only do reenactors make photos and videos during their staged battles, their quest for a “period rush” is also influenced by watching films and over the last decade, reenactors have frequently been used as extras in historical feature films (for example Saving Private Ryan). Against this backdrop, it is hardly strange that some artists make work which is based on ”aspects of” this culture of reenactment. Their work becomes a doubling and – in some cases – a critical questioning of mainstream reenactment. The exhibition Life, Once More couples examples of artistic reflection on historical reenactment with (registrations of) reenactments of performances, in an attempt to fight repetition with repetition, to break open and activate the past. The exhibition includes work by Mike Bidlo, Bik Van der Pol, Rod Dickinson, Omer Fast, Andrea Fraser, Robert Longo, Eran Schaerf, Catherine Sullivan and Barbara Visser. It is accompanied by a publication with text contributions by Jennifer Allen, Andrea Fraser, Peggy Phelan, Sven Lütticken, Barbara Visser and others. The project Life, Once More is part of Exploding Cinema, the side program of the International Filmfestival Rotterdam which takes place from January 26 – February 6, 2005. Participants Mike Bidlo, Bik Van der Pol, Rod Dickinson, Omer Fast, Andrea Fraser, Robert Longo, Sven Lütticken, Eran Schaerf, Catherine Sullivan, Barbara Visser Curators Sven Lütticken Network International Film Festival Rotterdam Supported By International Film Festival Rotterdam Mondriaan Stichting <div class="
• Lukas Einsele — One Step Beyond
  In his project One Step Beyond (OSB), www.one-step-beyond.de, Lukas Einsele has been researching the worldwide phenomenon of the landmine, its victims and its relation with the social and physical environment. Einsele traveled together with photographer Andreas Zierhut to minefields and other areas in the world’s four most heavily mined countries: Angola, Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Cambodia. Einsele’s work explores the interrelationships between landmines and their victims against the backdrop of global politics, revealing his findings in the form of photos, graphics, texts and interviews. OSB is based on memory and stories: People injured by a mine recount the events leading up to the accident in an interview with the artist. Some make a rough sketch of the incident’s location. With a field camera Einsele makes a photographic portrait of each participant, and leaves a Polaroid copy behind. Finally, in a public forum, the victims’ stories, drawings and portraits are set alongside the documentation of the landmine and the photos of the area. With the specific cohesion of the various visual elements and project components (website, presentations, publications and installations) Einsele strives to articulate a new esthetic and political space, in which a wide range of information and visual materials can be communicated and presented to the public in a distinctive manner. OSB is based on collaborations, relationships are a central component of the project. The core group of collaborators includes: Jessica Beebone (project coordination), David Promies (Internet representation and programing), Carolyn Steinbeck (design concept) and Andreas Zierhut (photography). OSB is a project connected with international contexts and spaces. Further solo presentations in 2005 include: Museum Haus Esters, Krefeld (February 20 – May 8), United Nations and Goethe Institut, New York (November 2005). In addition to these presentations, from July 2005 OSB will be presented in the countries that inspired it and where its material was gathered. A publication, a collaboration between Lukas Einsele and Carolyn Steinbeck, is planned for release in April 2005 and includes texts by Sherko Fatah, Fabrizio Gallanti, Jonathan Kaplan, Thomas Küchenmeister, Frank Masche, Pedro Rosa Mendes, Bertrand Ogilvie and Ralf Syring. Participants Jessica Beebone, Lukas Einsele, David Promies, Haim Steinbach, Carolyn Steinbeck Curators Catherine David Network Goethe Institut Supported By Kulturstiftung des Bundes Mondriaan Foundation Hessische Kulturstiftung medico international Kulturstiftung NRW Akademie Schloss Solitude ifa <div class="
• Printing Matters
  With the Printing Matters event, Witte de With will be focusing on independent publishing for just over two weeks. The inspiration was the traveling exhibition KIOSK, an exceptional collection of independent publishing projects (artists’ books, periodicals, fanzines, record labels, and video and audio projects) assembled by Christoph Keller of Revolver publishers (Frankfurt). With this collection, Keller aims to present an overview of various models of multiplication and distribution for artistic publications or projects, focusing on the activities ‘behind the scenes’ (publishers, editors, multiplicators, distributors) and their driving forces, strategies and motivations. At each place it is presented, KIOSK takes on a new form. At Witte de With, KIOSK is the point of reference for an event about independent work in printed form with L.A.T. (Amsterdam), PrintROOM (Rotterdam), Piet Zwart Institute (Rotterdam), and others. L.A.T. (Kees Maas, Kasper Andreasen, Tine Melzer) and PrintROOM (Karin de Jong and editorial team) have been invited to respond to KIOSK in a presentation in the spaces of Witte de With. A series of panel discussions, book presentations, and interventions has also been organized. What is the reason for the proliferation of books and magazines in recent years? How does this relate to the production of other visual strategies, such as installations, performances, film/video, and the globally accessible Internet? And what do designers, artists, and publishers think about the future of printing and distribution? These are the questions that will be addressed during Printing Matters. Kiosk Update Right now (November 2005) the Kiosk is being deinstalled at the Istanbul Biennial and will travel on to the ICA London, where Liam Gillick has designed a display for the forthcoming presentation of the archive on independent publishing, which will open on the 16th of December. After the exhibition at the ICA, the Kiosk will travel on: In spring and summer 2006 Revolver will present the archive in New zealand (Artspace, Auckland) and Australia, in September 2006 the Emily Carr Institute in Vancouver, Canada will host the presentation, from where it will travel on in Canada and the US. Network Master Fine Art Piet Zwart Institute, PrintRoom <div class="
• Be what you want but stay where you are
  Witte de With presents from April 29 till June 19 the exhibition Be what you want but stay where you are by guest curators Ruth Noack and Roger M. Buergel, in cooperation with assistent curator Sophia Prinz and Witte de With. Let us start with a Dutch group portrait from the so-called Golden Age as a very particular ‘i.e. egalitarian‘ model of community. And let us ask, addressing that image, what went so fatally wrong with the liberal ideal of tolerance and equality among free individuals? There is of course no answer readily available. Although the cost of excluding people from the image has been excessively high (the free individual still has its price), it would be utterly vulgar to blame that seventeenth century vision of community, performed by the male citizens themselves, for the recent clash between Western and Islamist ideologies that shook (not only) the Netherlands. However, while slowly taking in the painting, one cannot help speculating about possible connections between a vision of society which proposes to be indefinitely expandable and those forms of life which remain excluded from that vision. The murder of Theo van Gogh as well as the arson attacks on mosques have been traumatic events. At least in part, these events belong to a realm where symbols and meanings are mute or simply absent. (In a media world it might be worth remembering that an image of a burning mosque or a dead body on the street is not necessarily an act of symbolization, as this requires that events are worked through consciously as well as collectively.) Be what you want but stay where you are is a another group portrait, albeit a purely aesthetic one. It is a group portrait as exhibition, bringing together a variety of artworks from different geopolitical areas that share a concern with “government”. But while the Dutch group portrait disseminates government among free individuals, forming a social body of immobilized identities, the exhibition envisions government in more abstract terms. It looks for an agency that makes that social body appear in the first place. Government, in other words, is not associated with political agents conceived of more inclusively as an action or a set of actions that acts upon other actions (the action of others). The exhibition as a dynamic group portrait might help us to contemplate those forms of connectedness that usually cannot be perceived because we are taking part in the image. Put differently, the exhibition gives us access not to a realm beyond power but to a realm beyond immobile designs the realm of aesthetics. With works by Sonja Abián & Carlos Piegari, Ibon Aranberri, Archivo Tucumán Arde (Graciela Carnevale), Maja Bajevic, Ricardo Basbaum, Matthijs de Bruijne & Javier Martínez, James Coleman, Jan Daemen Cool, Alice Creischer & Andreas Siekmann, Danica Dakic, Ines Doujak, Peter Friedl, Andrea Geyer, Sanja Ivekovic, Joris Ivens, Wendelien van Oldenborgh, Rainer Oldendorf, Alejandra Riera, Dierk Schmidt, Allan Sekula, Imogen Stidworthy, Lidwien van de Ven, Simon Wachsmuth, Francesca Woodman and others. Special program Special program for students May 25, 2005, 7.30-10 p.m., Witte de With, auditorium. (Reservation necessary: [email protected] or 010-4110144) Be what you want but stay where you are is the fifth and last exhibition of the series ‘Die Regierung / El Gobierno / The Government’. Different versions of the exhibition have been presented at the Kunstraum der Universität Lueneburg (November 6, 2003 – May 20, 2004), at MACBA in Barcelona (September 22 – November 7, 2004), at the MAC in Miami (November 30, 2004 – January 30, 2005) and at Secession in Vienna (February 24 – April 24, 2005). For general information about the exhibition series ‘Die Regierung’ see:dieregierung.uni-lueneburg.de. Related links: www.miamiartcentral.org www.secession.at www.macba.es Participants Sonia Abian, Ibon Aranberri, Archivo Tucumán Arde (Graciela Carnevale), Maja Bajevic, Ricardo Basbaum, Matthijs de Bruijne, James Coleman, Jan Daemen Cool, Alice Creischer, Danica Dakic, Maya Deren, Ines Doujak, Patrick Faigenbaum, Harun Farocki, Peter Friedl, Andrea Geyer, Jean-Luc Godard, Dmitry Gutov, Sanja Ivekovic, Joris Ivens, Jocelyne Lemaire-Darnaud, Lorenzetti Ambrogio, Javier Martinez, Wendelien van Oldenborgh, Rainer Oldendorf, Carlos Piegari, Lisl Ponger, Florian Pumhösl, Alejandra Riera, Dierk Schmidt, Allan Sekula, Andreas Siekmann, Imogen Stidworthy, Lidwien Van de Ven, Simon Wachsmuth Curators Roger M. Buergel, Ruth Noack Supported By Kulturstiftung des Bundes Mondriaan Foundation <div class="
• Lagos Wide and Close
  On the occasion of the launching of the DVD Lagos Wide & Close by Bregtje van der Haak, there will be a special video installation in Witte de With during the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam(IABR). The installation, in which the different video and audio tracks of the DVD can be ‘simultaneously’ seen and heard, is part of the City Program of the IABR and will be on view until 19 June. Opening: Friday, May 27, 19:30 hours. Rem Koolhaas in conversation with Bregtje van der Haak: Wednesday, June 1, 20:00 hours. In 2002, Bregtje van der Haak, in cooperation with architect Rem Koolhaas and The Harvard Project on the City made Lagos/Koolhaas, a documentary on self-organization and urbanization in Nigeria. As a sequel, together with designer Silke Wawro, she developed a new project: Lagos Wide & Close, an Interactive Journey into an Exploding City. This innovative DVD contains an interactive video documentary (60), edited from 55 hours of unused material that brings the viewer closer to the explosively growing megalopolis Lagos. With bus driver Olawole Busayo, the viewer moves through the city and has a choice of a distant (‘wide’) or an involved (‘close’) perspective, at any random moment in the documentary. Director: Bregtje van der Haak Designer: Silke Wawro Camera: Alexander Oey Sound: Rik Meier Submarine, 2005 Rem Koolhaas in conversation with Bregtje van der Haak On the occasion of the publication of the DVD, Rem Koolhaas will join Bregtje van der Haak in a discussion led by Hans Maarten van den Brink on Wednesday June 1, at 20:00 in Witte de With (Auditorium). There are only a limited number of seats; therefore it is necessary to make a reservation. This can be done by sending an e-mail to [email protected] by calling: 010 4110144. Tickets cost EUR 5,00. In addition to the installation in Witte de With, the documentary will also be interactively viewable on VPRO from 28 May to 5 June, at 21.00 through a special cooperation between digital channels Holland Doc and /Geschiedenis (/History). produced by Submarine in co-production with VPRO Participants Bregtje van der Haak, Rem Koolhaas, Submarine Supported By Amsterdam Foundation for Visual Arts Dutch Cultural Broadcasting Fund <div class="
• Occupying Space
  Three Rotterdam institutions show a unique collection of visual art This summer Witte de With, TENT. and the Nederlands fotomuseum are showing a selection from the art collection of the Austrian Generali Foundation. Since the late 1980s Generali has been building a collection of international visual art, in which the emphasis lies on conceptual art, social involvement and the use of electronic media. For the first time a survey exhibition of the collection has been assembled, which will only be seen in Munich, Rotterdam and Zagreb. The exhibition includes work by Harun Farocki, Bruno Gironcoli, Dan Graham, Hans Haacke, Martha Rosler, Allan Sekula, Heimo Zobernig and many others. The Generali collection: history, scope, topicality The Generali Foundation was established in 1988 by the Generali Vienna Group, with the goal of promoting contemporary art. With a collection of Austrian sculpture as its point of departure, the emphasis later shifted to the thematization of art as a social space. Installation works, film, photography, video and media in general that allow the production of art as a process have therefore defined this unique collection for many years. The collection comprises about 1,500 works by about 160 artists. What is especially remarkable about the Generali Foundation is that it involves a ‘corporate’ collection which nevertheless has been assembled, expanded, maintained and made accessible as a true public collection. The Generali Foundation has always exhibited and collected art which is still considered ‘difficult’ or ‘problematic’ due to the media involved or the topics addressed, and which is therefore rarely collected. Photography, film, video and installations are amply represented in it; the Generali Foundation has indeed played a pioneering role in collecting policy with regard to these media. It holds the largest collection of artist’s videos in Europe (more than 350 works). The works of many female artists who are still not adequately represented in museums are also a strong focal point of the collection. In that way too the Generali Foundation distinguishes itself from other institutions. Artists showing in Occupying Space in Rotterdam Azra Aksamija – Fareed Armaly – Gottfried Bechtold – Norbert Brunner – Ernst Caramelle – Maria Eichhorn – valie export – Harun Farocki – Andrea Fraser – Rainer Ganahl – Isa Genzken – Bruno Gironcoli – Dan Graham – Hans Haacke – Hans Hollein – Sanja Ivekovic – Mary Kelly – Richard Kriesche – Elke Krystufek – Friedl Kubelka – Dorit Margreiter – Gordon Matta-Clark – Walter Pichler – Adrian Piper – Mathias Poledna – Marjetica Potrc – Florian Pumhösl – Martha Rosler – Gerhard Rühm – Michael Schuster – Allan Sekula – Peter Weibel – Franz West – Heimo Zobernig – and many others in the video program. Occupying Space in Rotterdam In this exhibition it is intended to make various connections between different art works as well as between different artists. The concept of this private collection is reflected through the exhibition?s dialogue-like presentation. Works from the 1960/70s are linked to works of a younger generation. Pivotal works of Austrian pioneers in the visual arts build the core of the collection. These often radical positions in Austrian art are juxtaposed with those of international artists. For each of the three institutions in Rotterdam, individual topics have been developed, which will be reflected in the presentation and selection of the art works from the Generali Foundation Collection. Occupying Space in TENT. body / media / narratives Works by Fareed Armaly, Gottfried Bechtold, Ernst Caramelle, VALIE EXPORT, Harun Farocki, Dan Graham, Sanja Ivekovic, Richard Kriesche, Elke Krystufek, Friedl Kubelka, Dorit Margreiter, Adrian Piper, Peter Weibel, Heimo Zobernig and videos by many other artists presented in the New Design for Showing Videos by Dan Graham. Occupying Space in Witte de With architecture / space / intervention (2nd floor) Works by Azra Aksamija, VALIE EXPORT, Isa Genzken, Dan Graham, Hans Haacke, Hans Hollein, Gordon Matta-Clark, Walter Pichler, Marjetica Potrc, Florian Pumhösl, Martha Rosler, Allan Sekula. sculpture / body / space / performance (3rd floor) Maria Eichhorn, VALIE EXPORT/Peter Weibel, Andrea Fraser, Isa Genzken, Bruno Gironcoli, Hans Haacke, Adrian Piper, Mathias Poledna, Gerhard Rühm, Allan Sekula, Franz West, Heimo Zobernig. Occupying Space in the Nederlands fotomuseum image / text / research This part of the exhibition will put the emphasis on the artist as researcher in relation to certain topics such as art as a media documenting or questioning reality. Works by Norbert Brunner/Michael Schuster, VALIE EXPORT, Harun Farocki, Rainer Ganahl, Dan Graham, Sanja Ivekovic, Mary Kelly, Elke Krystufek, Friedl Kubelka, Martha Rosler, Gerhard Rühm. Works that seem only loosely connected to photography in this context are also exhibited at the fotomuseum thereby emphasizing their thorough relevance for a better understanding of the artistic and social significance of the medium. This thematic aspect of the collection policy of the Generali Foundation offers interesting starting points for reflection on the fotomuseum’s own collection policy thereby raising questions like: What is the significance of photography in general for the work of artists employing it? What does it mean to collect works that reflect theoretically on, or pose critical questions about the qualities or use of the medium itself? The exhibition With this collaboration TENT., Witte de With and the Nederlands fotomuseum have seized a unique chance to devote attention to the relation between photography and visual art from the special perspectives that the collection involved supplies (conceptual and performance art, cross-overs between disciplines and media, etc.). Organised by Generali Foundation in cooperation with Witte de With, TENT. and Nederlands fotomuseum. Curated by Sabine Breitwieser (Director Generali Foundation) in collaboration with Rein Wolfs (Head of presentation at the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum), Thomas Meyer zu Schlochtern (Director TENT. Centre for Visual Art), and Frits Gierstberg (Head of Exhibitions at the Nederlands fotomuseum). Other venues: Haus der Kunst, Munich (March 9 – May 15, 2005),Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb, Croatia (end of September 2005). Locations Nederlands fotomuseum | TENT. | Witte de With Witte de Withstraat 63 / Witte de Withstraat 50 www.occupyingspace.nl Participants Azra Aksamija, Fareed Armaly, Gottfried Bechtold, Maze de Boer, Sabine Breitwieser, Norbert Brunner, Caramelle Ernst, Maria Eichhorn, Valie Export, Harun Farocki, Andrea Fraser, Rainer Ganahl, Isa Genzken, Bruno Gironcoli, Dan Graham, Hans Haacke, Hans Hollein, Sanja Ivekovic, Mary Reid Kelly, Richard Kriesche, Elke Krystufek, Friedl Kubelka, Dorit Margreiter, Walter Pichler, Adrian Piper, Mathias Poledna, Marjetica Potrc, Florian Pumhösl, Martha Rosler, Gerhard Rühm, Michael Schuster, Allan Sekula, Peter Weibel, Heimo Zobernig Curators Sabine Breitwieser Network TENT, Nederlands Fotomuseum <div class="
• Monopolis — Antwerp
  Witte de With presents Monopolis – Antwerp, an exhibition organised in collaboration with three contemporary art centers in Antwerp: MuHKA, Extra City and objectif_exhibitions. Antwerp and Rotterdam are both port cities, in a manner of speaking within walking distance of each other, sharing the same language and a social and political context that displays close similarities. That context imposes increasingly exacting demands on the production and presentation of culture. Should culture pay due attention to the multiethnicity and multiformity of society, or should it primarily affirm the historic and the local? What place might artistic offerings have in a society that with regard to essential points continues to be a unitary whole, even though we always perceive it as having crumbled, as existing in fragments, and this also being how we usually think about it. The exhibition Monopolis – Antwerp strives first and foremost to demonstrate artistic engagement. Works of art have a right to be ambiguous and to remain open to a diversity of interpretations. Dissension deserves a place alongside consensus. An even greater number of seats for the popular Vlaams Belang party (‘Flemish Interest’, which strives for Flemish independence and campaigns on an anti-immigration platform) at the next municipal elections might not mean an immediate bombshell, but it could signal the final curtain for that shared, communal space in Antwerp. Monopolis – Antwerp is the work of three organizations – Extra City, MuHKA en objectif_exhibitions – which, in collaboration with Witte de With, want to show how dialogue and exchange are the fountainhead of an artistic project that is simultaneously socially engaged. The exhibition is a case study about art and the ways in which it embeds itself in the social fabric of Antwerp, not only as a city but also as a metropolis. Though the exhibition presents work by many of the city’s prominent artists, it is not the intention to provide a representative overview of all the developments in Antwerp, and nor is it the intention to provide direct commentary on the political situation. The exhibition’s curators were intent on presenting a broad spectrum of work and the varying alliances within it, which sometimes highlights new possibilities and at other times lays bare limitations. 100 posters The exhibition is complemented by hundred posters in the city, which sketch a profile of the city by means of moments from the twentieth century. This dynamic picture of Antwerp is the initial impetus for the exhibition. A free magazine is being published to accompany the exhibition, with texts by Geert Buelens, Vivian Liska, Ramsey Nasr, and Jeroen Olyslaegers. Debate: September 9, 3.00 pm On the day of the opening, from 3.00 p.m. to 5.00 p.m., speakers from both cities will take part in a debate about what art can do for the socio-political climate in the two cities. Opening: 5.30 pm Performance by Building Transmissions: 7:0) pm The opening of Monopolis – Antwerp on Friday September 9 will be held within the framework of ‘The World of Witte de With’. Venue for both events: auditorium, TENT./Witte de With. Participants Michael van den Abeele, Francis Alÿs, Carla Arocha, Bart de Baere, Charif Benhelima, Fred Bervoets, Guillaume Bijl, Building Transmissions, David Claerbout, Club Moral, Vaast Colson, Jef Cornelis, Cel Crabeels, Jan Kempenaers, Anne Daems, Marie Denkens, Els Dietvorst, Niels Donckers, Bruna Hautman, Jozef Legrand, Corey McCorkle, Guy Mees, Vanessa van Obberghen, Ria Pacquée, Wim Peeters, Gert Robijns, Narcisse Tordoir, Luc Tuymans, Jörgen Voordeckers Network MuHKA - Museum for Contemporary Art Antwerp, Extra City, Objectif Exhibitions <div class="
• Bernadette Corporation
  From 19 November, 2005, to 8 January, 2006, Witte de With will present Bernadette Corporation’s first solo exhibition in the Netherlands. Opening November 18, 2005, 5.30 p.m. Since 1994 the anonymous international group of artists that use the Bernadette Corporation logo have worked in various combinations at the boundaries of fashion, art and activism. The mainspring of their varied artistic output appears to be avoidance of a specific identity. Bernadette Corporation has successively stood for an underground fashion label (1995-1997), a privately published art magazine called Made in USA (1999-2001), a collective novel called Reena Spaulings (Semiotext(e), 2005) and various videos and installations. Although the media used are extremely varied, what these products have in common is their playful, intelligent rendering of the concept and their deliberately limited duration. Witte de With has invited Bernadette Corporation to make a presentation documenting the last ten years of their work. The first materials of their new film production Pedestrian Cinema will also be shown for the very first time. Pedestrian Cinema is a Berlin-based independent film production company which explores the margins of the film medium. The company will be working for a year on a digital film in which the mise-en-scène operates within an open-ended scenario. The first materials will be displayed on four different screens in Witte de With. See for further information the website www.bernadettecorporation.com. To accompany this exhibition, a magazine will be published on the Witte de With website as an impulse for more wide-ranging research into artistic practices in the 1990s. It includes contributions from Shumon Basar (Sexy Machinery, London), Claire Bishop (Royal College, London), Payam Shafiry (artist/writer, London/Paris), Daniël van der Velden (designer/writer, Amsterdam) and others. Participants Bernadette Corporation <div class="
• Peter Piller Archives
  German artist Peter Piller gives photographs from newspapers and archives a second lease of life. What is perceived as boring or monotonous at first glance proves to be a treasure trove that contains undiscovered relationships and exciting meanings. Piller, whose work is being shown in the Netherlands for the first time, exposes the absurdity of normality. Opening: November 18, 2005, 4.30 - 5.30 p.m., with a lecture by Peter Piller Peter Piller collects images that are familiar to everyone. He finds them in the filing cabinets of regional newspapers or in the archives of a company that sells aerial photos of houses. Freed of their original purpose they initially seem to be devoid of meaning. When the artist rearranges them and classifies them in series they at first reveal the clichés of commercial photography, but then also bring new meanings and unusual relationships to light. What appeared to be a detail, somewhere on the edge of a photo, could be the start of a narrative. A caption like ‘bone of contention’ or ‘the house of the culprit’ draws together dozens of shots in a mysterious way. Participants Peter Piller <div class="
• Satellite of Love
  During the festival (January 25 – February 5, 2006), Satellite of Love will be the nerve center for the Exploding Television section of the IFFR’s program. As in previous years, this section of the festival, organized by Edwin Carels, focuses on recent developments in digital technology that influence or perhaps even result in radical shifts within visual and audiovisual culture. Satellite of Love will become the headquarters of a veritable TV commune, a utopian project. Furthermore, in association with the VPRO, Exploding Television will be manifesting itself online via www.explodingtelevision.net. The rapidly changing media landscape and especially that of the medium of television lie at the basis of the Satellite of Love exhibition. Over recent months, not a day has gone by without the media reporting technological, financial or political maneuvers in the world of television. The number of digital broadcasters is skyrocketing. The convergence of television, the Internet and mobile telephony is bringing about a radical change in the way programs are being presented to the public. The means of distributing image and sound may be increasing by the day, but this 'openness' also masks a new form of restriction. While at first a communal forum was developed for a broad public, it now appears that segmentation is striking due to market influences, with profit as the ultimate objective. In other words, the public space is disappearing while private space is gaining ground. Making television using a camera and a laptop hardly presents a problem, but a satellite link continues to be a privilege for the happy few. In response to these trends, the organizers chose to provide a platform for the independent voice. In Satellite of Love, visual artists, media activists and television-makers rediscover something that is being torn apart from the top down. The aim is to establish a space (for reflection) where the production of live television is combined with installations. In addition, in the afternoon and evening there is a program of public discussions, masterclasses, and TV dinners organized in association with the Stimuleringsfonds Culturele Omroepproducties (Fund for Cultural Broadcasting Productions) and V2_, Institute for the Unstable Media. Satellite of Love and Exploding Television will also be broadcast online via VPRO Digitaal and local television, thus providing a lively context for interaction and reflection. Participants in Satellite of Love include Franz Ackermann, AL+AL, Francis Alÿs, Mark Bain, John Logie Baird, Pierre Bismuth & Michel Gondry, Angela Bulloch, Edith Dekyndt, Dias & Riedweg, Michel François, Laurent Grasso, Erik van Lieshout, Yves Netzhammer, Melik Ohanian, Daniel Sauter & Osman Khan, Monika Sosnowska, Maurice van Tellingen, Rirkrit Tiravanija and Francesco Vezzoli. During the ten days of the IFFR, the following units will be producing live television: Ambient TV.NET from London, CAC TV from Vilnius, Orfeo TV-Telestreet from Bologna, De Taalpolitie from Rotterdam/Brussels and tv-tv from Copenhagen. A special program will be presented during the Museum Night on March 4, 2006, see www.rotterdamsemuseumnacht.nl/startEN.html. Also see the Exploding Television website. From January 23 onward at www.explodingtelevision.net. Participants Franz Ackermann, Al and Al, Ambient TV.net, Mark Bain, Pierre Bismuth, Angela Bulloch, CAC TV, Edith Dekyndt, Michel François, Michel Gondry, Laurent Grasso, Osman Khan, Lektrolab, Erik van Lieshout, John Logie Baird, Bjørn Melhus, Yves Netzhammer, Melik Ohanian, Orfeo TV Telestreet, Walter Riedweg, Daniel Sauter, Monika Sosnowska, Maurice van Tellingen, Rirkrit Tiravanija, tv-tv, Francesco Vezzoli, Peter Westenberg Network V2_, TENT, International Film Festival Rotterdam <div class="
• Don Quijote
  Witte de With opens its first season under the direction of Nicolaus Schafhausen with two exhibitions: the first solo exhibition in the Netherlands of Mathias Poledna and the thematic group exhibition Don Quijote. Featuring twenty-two international artists, the exhibition presents artworks across a range of media, all of which put idealism and irrationality to the test. Four hundred years after it was written, Miguel de Cervantes’ masterpiece Don Quijote de la Mancha continues to exert a strong influence on our imagination, whether we have read the book or not. Its wandering “knight” and his faithful servant Sancho Panza are ingrained in our collective cultural memory, and their idealistic quest has been used as a metaphor for many journeys since, both physical and imaginary. Just like the story that inspired it, this exhibition contains a vast array of intense human relationships, passionate anecdotes, personal struggles, tragicomic failures and devastating self-destruction. The exhibition takes a renewed look at Cervantes’ tale, retelling it in a contemporary voice. The figure of Don Quijote reminds us that idealism will eventually be grounded by practicality and that the realisation of insane visions will always be restricted by the pragmatic world in which we live. Don Quijote presents works ranging from surreal musical performances to humble wooden sculptures, from contemporary figurative painting to the mapping of vanished routes through Rotterdam, from mini manufactured bio-systems to life-size puppets. Michael Beutler constructs a topography in the gallery space that acts as a stage set for the exhibition, emphasising its theatricality and bringing together the many works in a weird and wonderful landscape. A prelude to future group shows, Don Quijote refers on a deeper level to Witte de With’s current phase of self-assessment and the re-examination of the institution’s role. For, if we see Don Quijote‘s idealistic battles as an analogy for the struggles faced by contemporary art institutions, we may spot a new set of windmills on today’s cultural horizon. Participating artists: Michael Beutler, Johanna Billing, Manon de Boer, Gerard Byrne, Ryan Gander, Tue Greenfort, William Hunt, Sven Johne, Jesper Just, Annette Kelm, David Lieske, Damian Moppett, Chris Moukarbel, Ivan Navarro, Christopher Orr, Pablo Pijnappel, Mark Raidpere, Hannah Rickards, Markus Schinwald, Anj Smith, Kostis Velonis, Richard T. Walker. The exhibition Don Quijote is curated by Nicolaus Schafhausen and Sophie von Olfers. Events Friday 28 April 3 p.m. Press conference followed by drinks with the artists and curators 6 p.m. Opening night featuring a performance by William Hunt 11 p.m. After-party with DJs Roeland 303 & David Lieske at De Unie, Mauritsweg 52, Rotterdam Film screenings at Lantaren/Venster Films start at 7:30 p.m. 11 May Lost in La Mancha, Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe (2002) 25 May Resonating Surfaces, Manon de Boer(2005) and Homme à Femmes (Michel Debrane), Gerard Byrne (2004) 1 June President Mir Qanbar, Mohammad Shirvani (2005) Location: Gouvernestraat 133, Rotterdam. www.lantaren-venster.nl. Wednesday 31 May, 8 p.m. Can small battles change the world?, event for students at Witte de With. For more information, call or mail Belinda Hak, 010 4110144, [email protected]. Saturday, 5 August, 10 p.m. Going quixotic!, an open-ended, summer-night concoction of films (featuring Kenneth Anger) at Witte de With to mark the end of the exhibition. Participants Michael Beutler, Johanna Billing, Manon de Boer, Gerard Byrne, Ryan Gander, Tue Greenfort, Sven Johne, Jesper Just, Annette Kelm, David Lieske, Damian Moppett, Chris Moukarbel, Ivan Navarro, Christopher Orr, Pablo Pijnappel, Mathias Poledna, Mark Raidpere, Hannah Rickards, Markus Schinwald, Anj Smith, Kostis Velonis, Richard T. Walker Curators Nicolaus Schafhausen, Sophie von Olfers <div class="
• Mathias Poledna
  Witte de With opens its new season under the direction of Nicolaus Schafhausen with two exhibitions: the thematic group exhibition Don Quijote and the first solo exhibition in the Netherlands of Mathias Poledna. The exhibition will present two of his recent film installations ”Western Recording (2003) and Version (2004)” in dialogue with works in other media, giving viewers a concentrated and unique insight into his practice. Poledna’s art is informed by historical research, by archives and collections. In his work, he shares and develops his interest in the histories of avant-garde cinema, of modernism in architecture and design, of the crossovers between popular culture and art and of the post-conceptualist critique of institutions. In recent years, his projects have taken the form of highly reduced filmic reconstructions that suggest ephemeral moments from 20th century culture, often popular culture, yet in a much broader sense, of modernity. “Poledna’s methodical and formal aesthetic research at the intersections of archive and subjectivity make the latter objects of a highly formalized art, without ever suppressing the tensions that are created between timelessness and historicity. Through an extreme reduction of the narrative moments to the structure of the loop and the systematic dashing of expectations of a realistic representation of history, he subjects himself to the accusation of dissolving the historical in the aesthetic. However, instead, Poledna’s installations react to a crisis of the concept of history and the precarious status of historical events, they emanate from this crisis.” (Tom Holert) This exhibition is curated by Renske Janssen and is accompanied by a cinema screening conceived by Poledna as an integral part of the exhibition. The publication Western Recording has been produced for this occasion by WdW Publishers and Museum of Modern Art Foundation Ludwig Vienna (MUMOK), featuring an introduction by Matthias Michalka and Nicolaus Schafhausen, with essays by Alexander Alberro and Nora M. Alter, and Tom Holert (in Dutch, English and German). ISBN 90-73362-67-9 (25 euro). Events Friday 28 April 3 p.m. Press conference followed by drinks with the artist and curator. 5 p.m. Artist’s talk and publication launch: Mathias Poledna in conversation with Willem de Rooij, chaired by Nicolaus Schafhausen. 6 p.m. Opening night. 11 p.m. After-party with DJs Roeland 303 & David Lieske at Zaal De Unie, Mauritsweg 52, Rotterdam. Thursday 18 May 7:30 p.m. Film screening organised by Mathias Poledna. Films with Music from Central Africa China Haiti Jamaica North America: Adebar, Peter Kubelka (1956, 69 sec.) Meditation on Violence, Maya Derens (1948, 12 mins) Sufferers’ Version Mathias Poledna (2003, 6 mins, 30 sec.) Introduced by Nicolaus Schafhausen. Location: Lantaren/Venster, Gouvernestraat 133, Rotterdam, www.lantaren-venster.nl. Participants Mathias Poledna Curators Renske Janssen <div class="
• Tue Greenfort
  Tue Greenfort (b. Holbäk, Denmark, 1973) seeks out hidden corners, non-places where the boundary between “nature” and “culture” are blurred. This summer Tue Greenfort will present several existing works at Witte de With, alongside two new pieces. Witte de With presents the first major solo exhibition of the Danish artist Tue Greenfort. Adopting a cross disciplinary ‘at times quasi-scientific‘ approach, Greenfort works with diverse materials to explore ideas about the environment and recycling. He situates his work on the blurry boundary between “nature” and “culture” and investigates the ways in which the natural world manifests itself in today’s highly urbanized cities. Greenfort’s practice bears comparison to both environmental and post-conceptual art, focusing on the flow of ideas and materials in the world. He often works on a small scale, whilst keeping sight of the larger repercussions of all our actions. He uses seemingly simple objects and interventions to reveal the many structures shaping our environment. On previous occasions, he has included animals in his work ‘a pathway for ants leading to a specially prepared meal (Social Organism, 2001), or a camera triggered by foxes (Daimlerstr. 38, 2001)‘ displaying their ability to act as a metaphor for human society. His exhibition here at Witte de With is neither a retrospective nor a presentation of solely new commissions, but a new configuration of his work. Interested in exploring the idea of the exhibition as a metaphorical ecosystem, he has installed his work in a way that reveals the inter-relatedness of his diverse projects. In the run up to this exhibition, Greenfort spent considerable time exploring the local environment. Herbarium of Origins (2006) brings together the stickers found on fruit that inform us of the country in which it was grown, with pressed foreign plants found in Rotterdam’s harbour (belonging to the collection of the city’s Natural History Museum). This work links the products knowingly imported into Holland with the less visible side-effects of this global trade, which has evolved over several hundred years, inadvertently bringing many new species to this country. Incorporating regional influences into his ongoing interest in the way that man shapes and understands nature, Greenfort has created a large installation consisting of an inverted greenhouse from which we can watch bumblebees in action. The bees ‘used for pollination in commercial flower and fruit production‘ are ordered by the box from specialised biological companies. In Public flower pollination (2006), they are brought together with a flower arrangement typical to road junctions in Rotterdam. Here Greenfort plays with ideas of inside/outtside and natural/artificial, creating a tightly controlled environment. His fascination with the cultivated Dutch landscape and with the aesthetics of agricultural production can also be seen in the series of photographs created during his research for this exhibition (all 2006). Several of Greenfort’s recent projects have explored how supposedly public natural resources are commodified and sold. Here, his focus is upon the commercialization of drinking water and our increasing use of branded water. His Chaudfontaine Condensation Cube (2006), after a work by Hans Haacke, employs bottled water sold by the Coca Cola company in place of the distilled water used in Haacke’s original, a clear example of the way in which Greenfort combines ecological concerns with conceptual art. Designer water – solid, liquid, gas (2006) is a piece which embodies processes presented in an earlier collage with the same subtitle. This way of reworking existing projects and adapting his own projects to fit a new context illustrates Greenfort’s interest in recycling ideas. Also a reconfiguration of an earlier work is Water cooler (2006). This uses frozen fruit juice to cool water brought up from the point in Witte de With's cellar where it enters the building. The intervention into the functional architecture of the institution takes Greenfort’s exhibition beyond the gallery space, integrating his work into the building’s infrastructure. Greenfort asked Witte de With to switch its power supply to ennvironmentally friendly sources for the duration of his exhibition. Subsequent conversations with energy supplier ENECO ‘presented by Greenfort in the exhibition’ reveal the red tape that surrounds such an alteration. His project explores corporate social responsibility and aspects of value in energy production: “green” energy is not technically worth more than “gray” energy, but its extra costs are due to the fact that energy is now a “product” on the free market. The electricity used by Witte de With would remain, in fact, unchanged, but ENECO would buy more energy from sustainable sources. After much discussion, it proved to be impossible to switch the institution to green energy for the six weeks of the exhibition, but instead ENECO offered to make the switch for 2007 and to reimburse Witte de With for some of the extra cost. However discussions are still underway. If this suceeds, Greenfort’s work From gray to green (2006) will remain invisible but present for an entire year, altering almost imperceptibly both the day-to-day running of the institution and visitors’ experience of its exhibitions. The exhibition is curated by Florian Waldvogel and Zoë Gray and will occupy the entire second floor of Witte de With. It is accompanied by the book Tue Greenfort co-published by WdW Publishers and Lukas & Sternberg, featuring essays (in German and English) by Maria Mühle, Jesper Hoffmeyer and an interview with the artist by Zoë Gray. ISBN: 0-9745688-0-5. Greenfort (b. 1973, Holbäk, Denmark) lives and works in Berlin. Recent solo exhibitions include Kunstverein Arnsberg, Palais für Aktuelle Kunst in Glückstadt and Johann König gallery in Berlin (all 2005). This year his work is presented in the group show Don Quijote at Witte de With, in Apocalypse Focus Group at ALP galleri Peter Bergman (Stockholm), in 4 at Anna Helwing Gallery (L.A.) and in the forthcoming Momentum, Nordic Festival of contemporary art (Norway). He recently completed an ISP residency in Oslo and will soon carry out a commission with London's RSA Art & Ecology program. Friday 23 June 2006 3 p.m. Press preview of exhibition. 5 p.m. Panel discussion: crossovers between art and ecology, with Tue Greenfort, Raimar Stange (art critic, Berlin) and Remko Andeweg (City Ecology Bureau, Rotterdam). Chaired by Florian Waldvogel (curator of the exhibition). English spoken. Free entry. 6 p.m. Opening of the exhibition to the public. Reception with drinks, all welcome. 7 p.m. Introductory speech by Nicolaus Schafhausen (director). Participants Tue Greenfort Curators Zoë Gray, Florian Waldvogel Supported By Tema Celeste <div class="
• Street: behind the cliché
  Witte de With is pleased to present the thematic group exhibition Street: behind the cliché. Open from 9 September until 19 November 2006, it features work in a range of media by 28 international artists. In a city, the street can serve many purposes: it can be a sidewalk where a mass of people meet and pass each other on a daily basis; an infrastructure through which people move from A to B; an ideal space for consumerism to reach a broad audience. Today’s city streets can be thought of as post-public spaces, intimately interwoven with market mechanisms and forcefully, politically designed. ‘The street’ that used to be a synonym for ‘public space’ has now become highly regulated, ordered and controlled. Not so long ago, Johan Remkes (Dutch State Secretary) pointed out in a governmental memorandum titled A Design Strategy for the Netherlands that we all need to strive for a ‘clean’, ‘safe’ and ‘intact’ public space. To think of the street as the ideal location on which the many-faceted, cultural life of the metropolis is shown now seems outdated, but still phrases such as street art and street culture are forever being used by numerous art institutions, generally funded with public money. The time is ripe for a reconsideration of how public space operates, especially in the Netherlands, where the notion is a perennially popular topic of discussion. Nowadays it is rare to encounter critical reflections on aesthetic representation that do not involve the concept of space, whether its a social, emotional, institutional or economic space. Street: behind the cliché considers the particular section of public space called the street as a local theater, a stage on which the complex stratification of cultural codes is acted out and identity is formed. The exhibition therefore functions as an analysis of the interrelated phenomena that we encounter in our immediate surroundings, such as the fraught relationship between popular culture and sub-cultural identity, how ‘underground’ is now big business. In the works included in the exhibition, twenty-eight artists express a varied fascination with city planning, failing modernity and its utopias, social and economic pressure, and the anonymity of everyday life and its worn-out routine. They dissect, analyze and redefine these phenomena to invite us to rethink contemporary society’s existing symbols of iconoclasm and idolatry, causing us to look behind the clichés that we encounter in the stream of life. Artists: Joachim Baan (NL), David Blandy (UK), Henning Bohl (DE), Martin Boyce (UK), Tobias Buche (DE), Jason Dodge (US), Marius Engh (NO), Gardar Eide Einarsson (NO), Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard (UK), Isa Genzken (DE), Pieterjan Ginckels (BE), Sascha Hahn (DE), Laura Horelli (FIN), Pieter Hugo (ZA), Ian Kiaer (UK), Germaine Kruip (NL), Klara Liden (SE), Gareth Moore (CA), Alex Morrison (CA), Chloe Piene (US), Robin Rhode (ZA), Ugo Rondinone (CH), Matt Stokes (UK), Aram Tanis (NL), An Te Liu (CA), Luc Tuymans (BE), Silke Wagner (DE), and Tobias Zielony (DE). Participants Joachim Baan, David Blandy, Henning Bohl, Martin Boyce, Tobias Buche, Jason Dodge, Gardar Eide Einarsson, Marius Engh, Iain Forsyth, Isa Genzken, Pieterjan Ginckels, Sascha Hahn, Laura Horelli, Pieter Hugo, Ian Kiaer, Germaine Kruip, Klara Liden, Gareth Moore, Alex Morrison, Chloe Piene, Jane Pollard, Robin Rhode, Ugo Rondinone, Matt Stokes, Aram Tanis, An Te Liu, Luc Tuymans, Silke Wagner, Tobias Zielony Curators Nicolaus Schafhausen, Renske Janssen Supported By The British Council. <div class="
• Brian Jungen
  Witte de With is delighted to present Canadian artist Brian Jungen’s solo exhibition this winter, his first on such a large scale in Europe. Building upon his major survey exhibition organized by the Vancouver Art Gallery, Witte de With will invigorate the exhibition with new commissions and a new publication. Brian Jungen (b. British Columbia, Canada, 1970) is part of a generation of Vancouver-based artists currently bursting onto the international stage. Born to a Swiss-Canadian father and First Nations mother and raised in the Dane-zaa nation, his drawings, sculptures and installations explore elements of his own hybrid cultural identity. Yet, his approach transcends questions of ethnicity to explore the complex exchanges of goods and ideas in our globalized world. Jungen first came to public attention with his Prototypes for New Understanding (1998-2005), a selection of Nike Air Jordan trainers that he dissected and reassembled to resemble Northwest Coast Indian masks. Conflating the transformative power of ceremonial masks with Nike consumers’ desire to emulate or become sport stars by wearing a particular brand of trainers, Jungen plays with economic and cultural values, revealing the power of contemporary “idols” and linking colonial history with today’s Third World sweatshop labor. Works such as Talking Sticks (2005) – baseball bats carved with the words “collective unconscious” and “First Nation Second Nature” that formally resemble totem poles – embody the way in which First Nations’ myths have been co-opted by contemporary North American sport culture: think of teams such as the Chicago Blackhawks or the Atlanta Braves. Jungen’s reputation was secured by his magnificent whale “skeletons” (such as Cetology, 2002), large suspended sculptures made from cheap plastic deckchairs. His rendering of rare and endangered whale species in non-biodegradable mass-produced objects also refers to current debates about whaling practices in Canada. Representing the postmodern, postcolonial world with a wry sense of humor, Jungen collapses stereotypes and embraces change, flux and instability. Offering new ways of thinking about multiculturalism at a time when the famous model of Dutch “tolerance” is under close scrutiny, his practice approaches cultural difference as an unstable, reciprocal notion, using it as a starting point for creativity and critical reflection. Brian Jungen at Witte de With is curated by Daina Augaitis, Nicolaus Schafhausen and Zoë Gray. The original show was organized by the Vancouver Art Gallery with the support of the Audain Foundation and the Andy Warhol Foundation. The publication Brian Jungen produced by WdW Publishers features essays by critic Clint Burnham, Tate curator Jessica Morgan, and artist/writer Edgar Schmitz, plus an introduction by Nicolaus Schafhausen and an interview with professor Homi K. Bhabha by Solange de Boer and Zoë Gray (ISBN: 978-90-73362-69-7, 10 euro). Participants Brian Jungen Curators Nicolaus Schafhausen, Zoë Gray, Daina Augaitis Supported By Parachute, Canada, Kunstbeeld & de Groene Amsterdammer. <div class="
• Chloe Piene
  Witte de With presents the first solo exhibition in the Netherlands of Chloe Piene (Stamford, USA, 1972). Chloe Piene is known for her intense and powerful work. Since the late 1990s, she has been making charcoal drawings, executed on delicate paper, showing the ambiguous physical boundaries between men and women, people and animals. In her videos, Piene twists the cinematic power of sound, voice and narrative. Through the use of simple techniques like the slowing down of the sound and the image, she forces the viewer to engage at a subversive and dark level. Extreme states such as isolation and fear are enhanced by strong chiaroscuro images, intense soundtracks and solitary performances. Chloe Piene is part of a generation of young artists investigating new representations of radical otherness. Instead of emphasizing a familiar loss of the self, Piene provokes the viewer to cut loose from any possible illusionary state of mind. In this way, she succeeds in a subtle engagement in the plight of both victim and hero, viewer and protagonist. Publication Due to unforeseen events the publication accompanying Chloe Piene’s exhibition has been cancelled. Participants Chloe Piene Curators Nicolaus Schafhausen, Renske Janssen <div class="
• Jesper Just
  Witte de With is pleased to present Jesper Just’s first solo exhibition in the Netherlands, comprising of two major new films and a selection of his previous work. The exhibition will be running simultaneously at Witte de With and the Ursula Blickle Foundation in Kraichtal, Germany. A selection of Just’s films will also be screened in the ursula blickle videolounge at the Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, during the month of April. And Just’s works will be on show at S.M.A.K in Ghent, Belgium, from April through June. Jesper Just, who works mainly in film, represents one of the most interesting and pressing artistic positions in moving image production today. His works are extremely multi-faceted, in fact so layered and complex that the more one tries to understand or analyse them, the more obscure they become. The harder one tries to read the behaviour of Just’s protagonists and the relationships between them, the deeper one stumbles into psychological traps, graciously and generously positioned by the artist to manoeuvre the viewer into an isolated state of seduction. Nothing is quite like watching one of Just’s films for the first time. The viewer is caught in a moment that the brain is not programmed to protect, where reason is not ‘loaded’ to fight off attacks of love, longing, hurt, and deep existential fear. One is suddenly swamped by one’s own raw, emotional, and sub-conscious reactions. Works such as Invitation to Love (2003), A Fine Romance (2004) or The Lonely Villa (2004) are often referred to as being ‘homoerotic’ or addressing eroticised father-son relationships. This may indeed spring to mind, considering that the majority of his casts are male and that the men do interact with one another in a highly charged fashion. However, Just has stated that he does not seek to create narratives that must be ‘read’ or ‘understood’ in any particular way, suggesting that there is not solely one way of interpreting the dynamics between the characters. Rather, the works should be regarded as incessantly shifting parts in Just’s larger socio-political enquiry into the nature of human interaction and relationships: their pitfalls, failures and perversions, but also their dignity and beauty. New Production In view of Just’s rapidly growing international acclaim, Witte de With is delighted that Just is using this exhibition as an opportunity to produce a new work, entitled A Vicious Undertow (2007). This was initiated by the artist, Witte de With and the Ursula Blickle Foundation and is supported by S.M.A.K. Supported by Danish Arts Council. Publication In conjunction with this exhibition project, WdW Publishers, the Ursula Blickle Foundation and S.M.A.K. are co-publishing the first major publication of Just’s work to date. The book will be in three languages (English, German and Dutch), and will feature a foreword by Philippe Van Cauteren and Nicolaus Schafhausen, a preface by Sophie von Olfers, an introduction by Nina Folkersma, texts by Ilsa Colsell and Andrew Renton on different aspects of Just’s practice and a piece by Jacob Lillemose, who followed the production of Just’s new work. The publication will include a large range of images, including shots documenting the recent shoot in Copenhagen and a selection of musical scores by composer and conductor Petri Sirviö, who Just collaborated with for his trilogy It Will All End In Tears (2006). The exhibition at Witte de With is curated by Sophie von Olfers and Nicolaus Schafhausen. www.jesperjust.com Exhibition partners The exhibition will be running simultaneously at Witte de With and the Ursula Blickle Foundation in Kraichtal, Germany 3 March 2007: Opening at Ursula Blickle Foundation 4 March - 15 April 2007 www.ursula-blickle-stiftung.de 1 April – 30 April 2007: Screening at ursula blickle videolouge at Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria 26 April, 1 pm: Jesper Just in conversation with Nicolaus Schafhausen www.kunsthallewien.at 20 April 2007: Opening at SMAK, Ghent, Belgium 21 April – 24 June 2007 www.smak.be Participants Jesper Just, Chris Keulemans Curators Nicolaus Schafhausen, Sophie von Olfers Network Ursula Blickle Stiftung <div class="
• Margaret Salmon
  Witte de With presents the first solo exhibition in the Netherlands of Margaret Salmon. Margaret Salmon (b. 1975, New York, USA) creates filmic portraits that weave together poetry and documentary. Focusing on individuals in their everyday habitats, her slow-moving films capture the minutiae of daily life and infuse them with gentle grandeur to touch upon universal human themes. As she puts it “it is the ghost narrative in mundane tasks that I find interesting.” Inspired by Soviet and US propaganda films from the 1940s onwards, Salmon portrays the common struggle of ordinary people. Music often plays a central role in her work and technically she draws on practices pioneered by cinematic movements such as Italian neorealism and Cinema Vérité. Salmon’s recent film Ninna Nanna (2006) is a study of motherhood, featuring three young Italian mothers. It reveals the discrepancies between the reality of their role and its idealization in art, politics and religion. Peggy (2003) is an elegant portrait of an elderly woman moving through her home whilst singing Amazing Grace. Her frail voice is at odds with her purposeful movements as she goes about her chores. The work evokes a sense of accepted loneliness also present in Salmon's film Ramapo Central (2003). This follows the day-to-day life of an “average” middle-aged American woman: at work as a telephone receptionist, taking an aerobics class or basking in the sun on her front porch. At times, the film verges on the tragicomic, but Salmon’s position is neither aggressive nor intrusive. Balancing intimacy with respectful distance, she creates laconic yet moving works that are at once sober and lyrical. The exhibition is curated by Zoë Gray and Nicolaus Schafhausen. The exhibition is accompanied by a publication titled Margaret Salmon, featuring texts by André Bazin, Raymond Carver, Zoë Gray, Nicolaus Schafhausen, Bina von Stauffenberg. Price: 10 euro. ISBN:978-90-73362-75-8 EVENTS Saturday May 19, 3:00 p.m. Artist’s Talk: Margaret Salmon in conversation with Polly Staple (Frieze) Wednesday 4 July, 8:00 p.m. Readings from American Realist fiction. Wednesday 25 July, 7:00 p.m. Italian films on motherhood: Una giornata particolare (1977), by Ettore Scola; Roma Città Aperta (1946), by Roberto Rossellini. Sunday 19 August, 5:00 p.m. Finissage with the Soviet film: Soy Cuba (1964), by Mikhail Kalatozov. Participants Margaret Salmon, Mikhail Kalatozov, Polly Staple Curators Nicolaus Schafhausen, Zoë Gray Supported By With support from The British Council <div class="
• Tris Vonna-Michell
  Witte de With presents the first solo exhibition in the Netherlands of Tris Vonna-Michell. With his energetic performances, Tris Vonna-Michell (b. 1982, Rochford, UK) adds a whole new chapter to the age-old tradition of storytelling. His performances function as chapters within an over-arching, non-linear story. They develop in parallel to one another, occasionally intertwining. He tells his stories inside installations that he has created, interweaving projections, texts and objects as theatrical props. During the performances, he takes his audience with him on a mental and physical journey, through which the objects in the gallery space acquire additional layers of meaning or briefly refer to each other. With his tales, he tries to unravel various fictional and non-fictional histories. The incredible rapidity with which he speaks changes the words and sentences in to a baffling rhythmic and abstract composition. His use of sound reveals how the complex relationship between speech and language balances between order and chaos, illusion and disillusion. His practice is at once structured and spontaneous. Working with a premeditated scenario, Vonna-Michell's performance is influenced by the situation in which he finds himself and new stories, images and associations come into being. His young but rich artistic practice shows traces of vocal experiments from the early 1920s, such as Kurt Schwitters’ well-known sound poemUrsonata. The post-war forms of Spoken Word by Allen Ginsberg or William S. Burroughs are also clearly recognizable in Vonna-Michell’s work. He ingeniously combines personal facts and fiction in a style reminiscent of an MC’s verbal freedom. At Witte de With, Vonna-Michell presents a new work that uses aspects of earlier performance series such as hahn/huhn (2004), a wartime conspiracy story about mysterious disappearances in the tunnels beneath Berlin’s Anhalter Bahnhof and Down the Rabbit Hole (2006), where he feigns amnesia and travels to Paris to offer quail’s eggs in exchange for information about his own identity, to avant-garde poet and musician Henri Chopin (b. 1922, Paris). The latter story also exists in another version, entitled Finding Chopin: In Search of Holy Quail. For this exhibition, Vonna-Michell returns to the place where this work began: England's Lake District, where both Schwitters and Chopin once lived and worked. In Witte de With, Vonna-Michell renders this research visible and adds the reconstruction of this quest to his body of work. Accompanying the exhibition, Witte de With releases a limited edition 7 vinyl entitled Tall Tales and Short Stories, with excerpts from the performance Finding Chopin: In Search of Holy Quail and an original recording by Erik Vonna-Michell from 1982. The idea for the recording was born after the theft of several performance objects from an exhibition in late 2006. The recordings are conceived as a means to reconstruct the original piece. Graphic concept: Tine Melzer. Price: euro 10. Tris Vonna-Michell will be present at Witte de With to perform his work on the following dates: May 19, 20 and 22 June 1, 2 and 3 June 16, 17 and 19 (coinciding with the Poetry International Festival) 7 and 8 July and 4 and 5 August Curated by Renske Janssen & Nicolaus Schafhausen. Interview broadcasted by Radio Rijnmond on May 21 2007 with Tris Vonna-Michell, Renske Janssen and Rob Hamelijnck. Participants Tris Vonna-Michell Curators Nicolaus Schafhausen, Renske Janssen Supported By IFA, British Council <div class="
• ArtVIPs exhibition
  Witte de With invites you to attend the opening of the ArtVIPs exhibition! After the series of masterclasses, the ArtVIPs will show the results at Witte de With, from 26 May through June 3, 2007. The opening is on Friday May 25, from 4.00 to 6.30 p.m. What is art? Who says so? What makes art interesting, boring, beautiful or not? Why and how does art come into existence? Who is involved? What does an art institution do? How does one assemble an exhibition? Who defines art? How does an artist work? Twelve ArtVIPs tried to find the answers to these and other questions. In collaboration with the ArtVIPs, Witte de With proudly presents their experiences in an exhibition. What is ArtVIPs? A series of ten masterclasses about contemporary art. Over the past three months, the ArtVIPs worked with artists, photographers and writers, met with curators, and had a look behind the scenes in several museums and art galleries. Meanwhile, they documented and reflected upon their experiences in the form of photographs, video recordings and texts. The ArtVIPs now present a selection of this material in the exhibition. Who are ArtVIPs? Lotte van Breugel, Andrea Fitskie, Katinka van Gorkum, Winny de Jong, Mik Jung, Louise Kleijweg, Judith Leijdekkers, Ottilie Meijer, Sammie Oostrum, Vincent Peters, Evert Ruiten and Esra Yalciner. What did the ArtVIPs do? Introduction to Witte de With; Masterclass on digital photography by photographer Pieter Kers; Masterclass on creative writing by writer Bianca Boer; Studio visits to the Piet Zwart Institute and Duende Studios, Rotterdam; Visit and talk at Wonderkamers at Gemeentemuseum, The Hague; Tour [art = life] at Muhka, Antwerp; Masterclass on street art by Urban Arts, Rotterdam; Masterclass on video art at Montevideo/Time Based Arts, Amsterdam; Masterclass by artist Jesper Just and curator Sophie von Olfers at S.M.A.K, Ghent; Masterclass on performance art by artist William Hunt; ArtVIPs exhibition at Witte de With. Want to have a peek? artvips.hyves.nl and picasaweb.google.com/artvips. Want to know more? Mail/phone Belinda Hak =(c=c.charCodeAt(0)+13)?c:c-26);});return false">belinda [​at​] wdw.nl or 010 4110144. Participants Andrea Fitskie, Katinka van Gorkum, Winny de Jong, Mik Jung, Pieter Kers, Louise Kleijweg, Evert Ruiten, Esra Yalciner Supported By Dienst Kunst en Cultuur, Rotterdam and the VSBfonds. <div class="
• Isa Genzken
  Witte de With’s director Nicolaus Schafhausen is appointed as curator for the German contribution to the 52nd Venice Biennale, he chose to show Isa Genzken (b. 1948, Bad Oldesloe, Germany) to represent Germany. Schafhausen explained this choice by stating that Genzken is one of the most uncompromising artists of today, pinpointing current times like almost no other contemporary artist. Furthermore, he said that for Genzken, life and existence are just as complex as art itself. Her creative work stands in contradiction to a one-trick-pony society and culture, which searches for happiness in simple answers. For more than thirty years, Genzken has created a diverse oeuvre that spans sculpture, installation, photography, collage and film, a practice that continues to move and develop while meeting new challenges. This is why she remains such an important influence to so many international artists of subsequent generations. The team of the German Pavilion includes: Nicolaus Schafhausen, Witte de With, Rotterdam – commissioner Sophie von Olfers, Witte de With, Rotterdam – project coordination Roger Bundschuh, Bundschuh Architekten, Berlin – architecture Sven Bergmann, Bonn – press and public relations Markus Weisbeck, Surface, Frankfurt am Main – design Paul van Gennip, Witte de With, Rotterdam – technical realisation Natasa Radovic, Julia Moritz, Laura Preston – assistance Contact: Deutscher Pavillon Sophie von Olfers p/a Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art Witte de Withstraat 50 3012 BR Rotterdam The Netherlands Tel. 0031 (0)104110144 =(c=c.charCodeAt(0)+13)?c:c-26);});return false">vonolfers [​at​] deutscher-pavillon.org Press Contact: Deutscher Pavillon Sven Bergmann Meckenheimer Allee 125 53115 Bonn Germany Tel. 0049 (0)228.2665275 =(c=c.charCodeAt(0)+13)?c:c-26);});return false">bergmann [​at​] deutscher-pavillon.org www.deutscher-pavillon.org On March 24, 2007, Witte de With hosted the Isa Genzken Special, an occasion to discuss and explore Genzken' work in depth. With Alex Farquharson, Kasper König, Vanessa Joan Müller, Juliane Rebentisch and Karel Schampers. You can download the lectures and discussions as MP3’s from theevents’ page. The German Pavilion at the 52nd International Art Exhibition La Biennale die Venezia 2007 is commissioned and sponsored by the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany and co-organised by the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations (ifa). The main sponsor of the pavilion is Deutsche Bank. Media partner is DW-TV Deutsche Welle. The pavilion is supported by AXA Art Kunstversicherung and technically realised by the production team of Witte de With, Center for Contemporary Art. The catalogue for the German Pavilion is published and supported by DuMont Literatur and Kunst Verlag. Participants Isa Genzken Curators Nicolaus Schafhausen Network 52nd Venice Biennale Supported By Deutsche Bank <div class="
• BODYPOLITICX
  Why does pornography have such a bad reputation? BODYPOLITCX is an international group exhibition – with extensive sideprogramme of debates, performances and workshops – seeing sex through the eyes of over 70 artists, film-makers, activists, photo-journalists, musicians and magazine editors. ‘A censor is someone who knows more than he thinks you ought to’ (Lawrence Peter) Why does pornography have such a bad reputation? Everybody has an opinion about porn. Most profess not to like it and many claim to have never even seen any. But can pornography be avoided in a world of increasingly sexualized magazines, films, commercials and websites? Additionally, whilst the question ‘what is porn?’ may seem straight-forward, beyond a technical or dictionary definition, it remains almost impossible to answer. This group exhibition does not seek to provide one simple response. Nor does it take sides in the for-or-against debate about pornography. Instead, in a specially conceived setting that combines artworks with artifacts, BODYPOLITICX poses further questions: does porn symbolize patriarchal structures and the oppression of women? Are porn films a reflection of existing social and sexual relationships? What is taboo when everything around us is sexualized and yet sexual practices remain un-discussable? Is pornography to blame for the destruction of sexuality? In Europe during the Middle Ages, sexuality was an unknown concept. Sexual intercourse and masturbation were taken for granted and were not stigmatized with shame. Irrespective of gender, satisfying one’s desires was seen as a way to remain healthy. Not until the 16th century – with the beginnings of industrialization, the division of labor and hence a greater emphasis on social- and self-control – was a lack of sexual discipline declared taboo, and sexuality banished to the private domain. The concept of ‘modern pornography’ arose with the expansion of printing during the 18th century. Initially it was used by free-thinkers as a tool to criticize the religious and political authorities, and was not primarily intended as a means of sexual stimulation. Only with advancing industrialization and the invention of photography did pornography become a category in its own right. With a focus upon the 20th and 21st centuries, this exhibition takes a contemporary look at an age-old fascination, seeing sex through the eyes of over 70 artists, film-makers, activists, photo-journalists, musicians and magazine editors. By means of visual juxtaposition, the exhibition sets out to examine the demarcation of the sex industry, subculture, pop, performance and art. BODYPOLITCX asks: If we have learnt from Shakespeare what love is, what can we learn from the cultural practice of pornography? Note: Entrance allowed only to visitors above 18 y.o. Program Friday 7 Sep 2007 From 3:00 p.m. press preview 6:00 p.m. Exhibition opens 7:30 p.m. Welcome by Nicolaus Schafhausen and a short introduction by the curators 8:00 p.m. Roundtable discussion with Jürgen Brüning, Olaf Metzel, Thomas Bayrle, Panik Qulture, Eon McKai. 10:00 pm Workshop with Jürgen Brüning: The Porn Ensemble presents The Porn Dialogue 11:30 pm Party with DJ Fritz Ostermayer at De Unie, Mauritsweg, Rotterdam. BODYPOLITCX is curated by Florian Waldvogel and Thomas Edlinger. The opening takes place during the Festival De Wereld van Witte de With to celebrate the opening of the cultural season. Additional events for the opening weekend to be announced. Participants Louisa Achille, Nic Andrews, Joanna Angel, Kenneth Anger, Fernando Arias, Martin Arnold, James Avalon, Fiona Banner, Willem van Batenburg, Michelle Anne (Belladonna) Sinclair, Andrew Blake, Angela Bulloch, Tom Burr, Butt Magazine, Marilyn Chambers, Larry Clark, Gerard Damiano, Nathalie Djurberg, Snoop Dogg, Rinse Dream, Andrea Fraser, Jean Genet, Girls Like Us, Garry Gross, Guerrilla Girls, Sachiko Hanai, Roswitha Hecke, Hustler Magazine, Dorothy Iannone, Robert Indiana, Jenna Jameson, William E. Jones, Richard Kern, Edward Kienholz, Nancy Kienholz, Bernd Krauß, Yayoi Kusama, Michael Laub, Tracy Lords, Robert Mapplethorpe, Dorit Margreiter, Dona Ann McAdams, Malcolm McLaren, Olaf Metzel, John Miller, Artie Mitchell, Jim Mitchell, Otto Mühl, Bruce Nauman, Henrik Olesen, Fritz Ostermayer, Panik Qulture, Haris Pellapaisiotis, Richard Prince, Dean Proctor, Iwata Roku, Martha Rosler, Doug Sakmann, Brooke Shields, Valerie Solanas, Annie Sprinkle, SUPERM, Paul Thomas, Erik Visser, Lawrence Weiner, Vivienne Westwood, Octavio Winkytiki, Johannes Wohnseifer, Nick Zedd, Jack the Zipper Curators Florian Waldvogel, Thomas Edlinger Supported By Mondriaan Foundation & September. <div class="
• Liam Gillick: Three perspectives and a short scenario
  Witte de With is delighted to present Liam Gillick’s first solo exhibition in the Netherlands. Liam Gillick’s exhibition at Witte de With is the starting point of a year-long, mid-career retrospective which is also a collaboration between four international art institutions. It comprises a solo exhibition by Gillick at Kunsthalle Zürich, running parallel to his show here at Witte de With; a “scenario” to be held in June 2008 at Kunstverein München; and a retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago in Autumn 2009. Three perspectives and a short scenario will be a continuous investigation into Gillick’s practice and an in-depth study of his work to date, adopting a different form at each “station”. The first station of the project will take place at Witte de With and will consist of three inter-related levels: an architectural intervention Gillick’s exhibition at Witte de With will feature an architectural structure, constructed from various screens that create corridors and semi-permeable galleries, while closing off other spaces. This will alter the visitor’s sensation of space, direction and perspective, leading them along a labyrinthine route to a screening room at the heart of the exhibition. On the way, the visitor will also encounter a vitrine designed by Gillick, featuring his posters, books and texts. a documentary film Gillick’s first documentary film will act as a “reframing” of all his previous work, derived from documentation of projects dating from 1988 to the present, and encompassing projects that range in scope from various lectures to architectural designs and exhibition projects. Accompanied by a voiceover, the film will guide the viewer through a collection of images, creating new narratives via the movement of the camera. Rather than employing the “usual” format of a retrospective exhibition at Witte de With, the film itself will act as Gillick’s mid-career retrospective. the “institutional space” The remaining space within the galleries is categorized by Gillick as the “institutional space”. These zones have been offered by Gillick back to Witte de With’s curatorial team, in a gesture designed to highlight the division of responsibility between artist and institution in the creation of any exhibition. This gesture can be seen as either one of generosity or provocation, depending on how it is interpreted by the receiver (in this case, by Witte de With). Considering his spatial intervention as a given, the curatorial team has decided to use this space to launch its series of solo presentations planned for 2008 (artists to be announced soon), presenting the work of other artists during Gillick’s solo exhibition. Gillick’s practice – which asks who decides what is included in (or excluded from) an exhibition, and explores how an artistic practice can be represented – questions existing conventions of exhibition design and modes of display. It is a curatorial choice to continue this line of investigation and to very deliberately confront Witte de With (and its viewers) with what can be considered as the essential role of the prototypical contemporary art institution: the presentation of contemporary art. Any ambiguities or misunderstandings that result from this artistic and curatorial choice will raise questions about the functions of art institutions and the assumptions or expectations of artists and visitors. Publication: Meaning Liam Gillick, a critical reader co-published by the survey organizers and MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-51351-7 Participants Liam Gillick Curators Nicolaus Schafhausen, Zoë Gray Network Kunsthalle Zurich, Kunstverein München, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, SpikeMagazine, Volume Magazine Supported By The Henry Moore Foundation. London; International Film Festival Rotterdam <div class="