from January 2009 to September 2009
January 22, RED A.i.R. Opening
Where: Bergstraat 1,14,16 - Korsjespoortsteeg 9,11,12, 23
Alderman Carolien Gehrels, Fer Felder from De Key/Principaal and Will Codrington from Stadsdeel Centrum officially opened RED A.i.R., the artists-in-residence program developed by Angela Serino for Redlight Art Amsterdam.
From this moment Laurence Aëgerter, Mounira Al Solh, Alexis Blake, Egle Budvytyte, Francesca Grilli, Achim Lengerer, Ahmet Ögüt and Niels Vis could use the former brothels in the central area of the Bergstraat and the Korsjespoortsteeg as their studios. As participants of this residency program, the artists were invited to reflect on the context of the project, meaning both the physical space of the studios (with its stories and architecture) and the symbolic space, represented by the process of transformation of this part of the city and of the public image of Amsterdam.
Although all the artists worked towards a final presentation of their works, from April till September 2009 RED A.i.R. hosted a series of public presentations, film screenings and talks in the studio spaces of the artists, under the title Eventless Events.
March 17, RED A.i.R. Artists' presentation at SMBA
Where: SMBA, Rozenstraat 59
This evening was the first public presentation of RED A.i.R. resident artists. Using the timeline defined by a carousel slide projector, the artists presented a compilation of found footage, recorded interviews, excerpts from documentaries and existing soundtracks to introduce their research topics and outline their plans for the residency period. Concepts of transparency and levitation, investigation of scripting processes and of political icons were some of the themes touched during the night. The presentation provided the public with an impression of the artists’ different approaches, and their difficulties in relating to a highly charged framed context.
April 18, Eventless Event 1
Where: Korsjespoortsteeg 11 and 12
Eventless Event 1 summoned curators and artists, who had previously worked in a situation where they were expected to react to a particular environment/space/circumstance, as a way to generate a dialogue about the complexities of production within a certain framework. We started at Mounira Al Sohl's studio where Maaike Gouwenberg presented “Mostly It Happens At Night”, the project she had organized in the Bijlmer for FLAT Foundation, in collaboration with Sandra van Dongen. Artists Constant Dullaart and Maurice Bogaert, participants of “Mostly It Happens At Night” presented respectively “bijlmer.me” and “Mostly Nothing Happens at All”, the works they had developed in this occasion. The participants of the De Appel Curatorial Programme 08/09 joined this presentation with an introduction of “Weak Signals Wild Cards”, the project for which they commissioned thirteen artists and seven multidisciplinary thinkers to imagine and respond to the future of Amsterdam Noord, the ‘creative city’.
The evening continued at Alexis Blake and Niels Vis' studio with the screening of the documentary “Grey Gardens” (1975) - a story of a mother and daughter who defied the norm by living as recluses in their dilapidated 28-room mansion. ‘Some called them crazy, while others believed them to be prophets’.
March 20 – 21, RED A.i.R Open Studios
Where: Bergstraat 14,16 - Korsjespoortsteeg 9,11, 12 and 23
On March 20 and March 21 the resident artists of RED A.i.R., Laurence Aëgerter, Mounira Al Solh, Alexis Blake, Egle Budvytyte, Francesca Grilli, Achim Lengerer, Ahmet Ögüt and Niels Vis opened the doors of their studios to the public. For most of the local residents, this was the first time they were allowed to enter the brothel spaces they used to look at from their houses.
As a special event, Francesca Grilli and guest-artist Anna Franceschini organized the performance “Nine Lives”, in response to an historical event that occurred in Grilli’s studio space and was only discovered by chance.
“Bergstraat 16 featured in the news in May 1959, when a prostitute was murdered. The prostitute was the 45-year old Truus Krieger. That same week, another prostitute was nearly strangled in the nearby Oude Nieuwstraat. Fortunately, “Pretty Hetty” had resisted fiercely and was luckier than Truus. Truus’ murder was solved only in 1963, thanks to Ria, another prostitute. For the occasion, we invited Ria and Pretty Hetty to take possession of the Studio of Bergstraat 16”. (F. Grilli, A. Franceschini)
May 15,16,17 and 23 Eventless Event 2
Where: Korsjespoortsteeg 12, 23
The May program of Eventless Events featured the opening of the “Public Library” by Laurence Aëgerter from 15 May till 17 May, a screening program selected by Ahmet Ögüt on 16 May and the first Salon organized by Niels Vis on 23 May.
For one weekend the former brothel at the Korsjespoortsteeg 23 was transformed into a Public Library. On the ground floor 40 meters of classified books were displayed on shelves. During opening hours a librarian was in attendance for visitors while she carried out research into methods of book classification. Several methods would be tested including famous systems of classification such as Harvard's, as well as alternative systems using principles from mathematics or game theory. On Saturday 16 May a 12-hour private reading performance took place in the Reading Room on the second floor. Aëgerter had invited 24 men and 24 women who have never previously met. Each man was asked to bring a book and to read an extract aloud from it to one of the women for fifteen minutes. “Public Library” was the first part of “Opening Soon/Opening Now”, a series of transformations of Aëgerter’s studio into spaces with different public designations.
Via those transformations, the artist researched the transitional character of her studio space, in between a brothel and a renovated house.
In the same weekend, on Saturday 16 May, Ahmet Ögüt screened a selection of videos from “Random Rules: A Channel of Artists’ Selections from You Tube”, followed by “Underground” (1976) by Emilie de Antonio, a documentary which combines interviews with and archival footage of the Weatherman, the militant faction of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) who fought the U.S. government during the 1960s and 1970s.
Eventless Event 2 continued on 23 May with “Les Salons” by Niels Vis. The first Salon kicked off with an ongoing visual dialogue between Niels Vis and Alexis Blake, which was shown in the front space of their shared studio. Via a brief verbal dialogue, they addressed an aspect of Blake's research - the rhetoric of images constructed collectively through means of focus groups. In this discussion Vis looked at the specific spatial setting of these focus groups.
“Les Salons” were developed by Vis as occasions for a public dialogue with other artists who shared similar research interests in how architecture shapes our environment, realizing specific values, dreams and desires. Similar to the turn-of-the-century Austrian salons, those meetings were intended by the artist as occasions for informal conversational exchanges for mutual enlightenment and amusement.
June 6- 12, Eventless Event 3
Where: Korsjespoortsteeg 12 / 12-1, Korsjespoortsteeg 23
Eventless Event 3 featured the second “Salon” organized by Niels Vis, the second appointment of “Opening Soon/Opening Now” by Laurence Aëgerter and the opening of “Scriptings”, the temporary showroom by Achim Lengerer at Korsjespoortsteeg 12.
For the second “Salon” Niels Vis invited Czech artist Barbora Klímová (1977, Brno) to take part in a dialogue about “Famous Brno Villas II” (2006), her ongoing personal research project in the field of individual family housing in Brno in the Czech Republic during the period of normalization between 1968 and 1989. In this dialogue Vis contrasted Klímová's research with Dutch and western architectural experience in the same period by focusing on varying expressions of the modernist ideal of architectural transparency in villa architecture.
Following immediately that same evening, on the first floor of Korsjespoortsteeg 12 Achim Lengerer opened “Scriptings” with “Folded Matters”, a presentation by Amsterdam-based graphic designer Paul Gangloff.
“Scriptings” was a discursive platform, intended by the artist as a parallel and additional activity to the development of his work for the final presentation of RED A.i.R. Starting from May, Lengerer hosted in his studio artists, writers, graphic-designers, performers and publishers, all of whom use the formats of script and text in their production process. The presentations at Korsjespoortsteeg 12 took the format of talks, reading, display and performance.
Eventless Event 3 continued the next week with the opening of the Turkish Snack Bar, as the second public event of “Opening Soon/Opening Now”, by Laurence Aëgerter.
June 20-21, Eventless Event 4
Where: Korsjespoortsteeg 12-1 / Bergstraat 16 / 14
Eventless Event 4 featured a film screening in two parts and a performance.
We started on Saturday at Bergstraat 16 with the performance “Who do You Think You are?” by Dafne Boggeri, whose work explores the body as a site of contested powers. Her work was in response to Francesca Grilli’s invitation to take over her studio space and developed a one-hour performance based on “The Breakfast Club”(1985). The storyline of this American teen film follows five teenagers (each a member of a different high school clique) as they spend a Saturday in detention together and come to realize that they are all deeper than their respective stereotypes. With a simple gesture of the covering of the faces of the protagonists during the development of the film, Boggeri questioned the identification process usually taking place between the viewers and the film. What if the person who speaks is deprived from his/her primary element of identity, the face?
Following immediately that same evening we moved to the living room of the guesthouse for the first part of “Secrets from the Street: No Disclosure”, a film screening curated by Francesco Bernardelli with works by Joan Jonas, Trisha Brown, Martha Rosler, Peter Hutchinson, Gabriel Lester, Mike Hoolboom, Todd Solondz and others. As Bernardelli stated: “this audio-visual exploration tackles one of the fundamental issues of today urban living: how to read embedded signs mimetically disguised as plain elements of an extensive urban fabric and at the same time to disentangle them and reinvest them with new functions and a new direction”. The filmic and video works of “Secret from the Street.” are examples of a re-invention of the urban drift. “They speak of basic personal freedom, but even more of the possibility of a constant re-imagination of our communicative tools, which are continuously being subverted and recreated according to needs and urgencies of the moment.” The film screening continued on Sunday night, from 8pm at the guesthouse.
Film program “Secrets from the Street: No Disclosure”, curated by F. Bernardelli:
Saturday June 20.
Bergstraat 14, from 8pm till midnight
- “Posterama” (1980) by Lous America, David Garcia, Henk Wijnen & Annie Wright, the Netherlands, sound, colour, 11:39
- “Wild Style”(1982/83) by Charlie Ahearn USA, sound, colour, 82:00 (Excerpts)
- “Secrets from the Street: No Disclosure”(1980) by Martha Rosler USA, sound, colour, 10:45
- “Song Delay” (1973) by Joan Jonas USA, sound, b/w, 18:35, 16 mm film on video + Midnight Movie: “The Girl from Monday” (2005) by Hal Hartley USA, sound, colour, 84:00
Sunday June 21.
Bergstraat 14, from at 8pm till midnight
- “Shorts” (1973) by Peter Hutchinson, Germany, sound, colour, 17:50
- “Urban Surface” (2005) by Gabriel Lester, The Netherlands, sound, b/w, 10:40
- “Horizontal Silence” (2003) by Seoungho Cho, USA, sound, b/w - colour, 8:31
- “What I'm Looking For” (2004) by Shelly Silver, USA, sound, colour, 15:00
- “Mapping a City of Fragments” (1997) by Chip Lord, USA, sound, colour, 9:30
- “Public Lighting” (2004) by Mike Hoolboom, Canada, sound, colour, 76:00 +
Midnight movie: “First Episode from Storytelling”(2001) by Todd Solondz, USA, sound, colour, 90:00
4, 19 July, Eventless Event 5
Where: Korsjespoortsteeg 9/12
Eventless Event 5 featured two new presentations of Lengerer’s “Scriptings”.
On July 4, Lengerer invited the Austrian artist Kerstin Cmelka to present her micro dramas "Supporting movie" and "Change". The same evening Lengerer presented a rare selection of books by the French artist Guy de Cointet (1934–1983) plus the original video recordings of de Cointet’s performance work in the early eighties.
About “Microdramas”, artist Kerstin Cmelka states: “In my collection of "Microdramas" I use existing dramatic text excerpts as well as clichéd feature film scenes and theatrical shorts that already found their form, function and meaning as well as their audience to rehearse and perform them - for camera and live - with befriended amateur performers. The potential of language, gesture and mimicry in this folk play material lies in its rhythmical, bodily rehearsal and repetitive use and mediation and is reinforced and brought onto another plain of meanings and connotations through the hermetic and intimate atmosphere in which it is trained. Its format is expanded through the coexistence of privacy and the identification with the suggested characters that have to be performed.”
“Tell Me” by Guy de Cointet
“Northern California, October 1979. It’s late afternoon at Mary’s. Her house is on the bank of the Sacramento River, in that stretch of the river which is as beautiful as the Danube between Ybbs and Melk, east of Vienna. A few miles away is the town of Courtland, a Chinese settlement for many years, where the famous Dr. Sun Yat Sen lived for a time in exile. After her day’s work, Mary is home planning to spend the evening with some of her best friends: Michael, Olive, and hopefully, the elusive Mark. The way these young women behave, talking and listening to each other, how they see and perceive their surroundings interest me. One of these days, I believe, I’m going to drive up North and pay a visit to Mary" Guy de Cointet, 1979
On July 19, the forth edition of Achim Lengerer's “Scriptings” series presented Gustav Mechlenburg and Nora Sdun, editors of the Hamburg-based magazine Kultur&Gespensterand, and “The Mock and other superstitions”.
Mechlenberg and Sdun presented the first edition of Kultur&Gespensterand, dedicated to writer Hubert Fichte and discussed their independent publishing and editing practice.
When asked about how this publication can be described, the editors of this magazine (Frederik Bandel, Nora Sdun and Gustav Mechlenburg) answer: “'Drawers' always stick. Of course it isn't a literary magazine because we don't print narrative prose or poetry. We are a magazine of culture and visions. And we don't intend to give anyone who wants to read it any 'house rules'.”
“The Mock and other superstitions” is a quarterly journal based in London and edited by Francesco Pedraglio. The magazine is a collection of written pieces rethinking the connections between art-writing and writing-as-art. It is intended as a tool to explore the relation of artists, writers and curators with the physical nature of text.
July 18, 19 and 21, Alexis Blake, Focus groups “Perceptions of Choice”
Where: De Bouwkeet of the Stedelijk Museum, Museumplein
On July 18, 19 and 21 RED A.i.R. resident artist Alexis Blake used The Stedelijk Museum’s De Bouwkeet both as a site of research and production, a platform for dialogue and a location to stage a live art event. Using the existing elements of De Bouwkeet, she created a setting for a series of focus groups to take place. Various individuals involved in shaping thought and opinion in the city of Amsterdam were invited to participate in the research and with the assistance of moderator Stephanie H. Blake, Ph.D., Blake examined how these individuals reflected upon the notion of ‘choice’. The focus group participants were presented with historical and contemporary references — images, video clips and text — that used the rhetoric of ‘choice’ to communicate either a personal or collective set of beliefs, ideals and/or truths. Blake is in the process of editing the recorded sessions, to be included in a concluding video.
The four focus groups were: on July 18, Governmental Affairs (professionals working in public policy and city politics); on July 20, Communications (journalists, reporters, presenters and researchers working for various Dutch newspapers, radio and TV stations and blogs); on July 21, Humanities/Social practice (theorist, professor, writer, graduate student, architect, and
professionals working in city marketing/branding and museum education) and Art (artists, curators and directors).
August 22-23, Eventless Event 6
Where: Korsjespoortsteeg 23
After the “Public Library” and the “Turkish Snack Bar”, the last episode of “Opening Soon / Opening Now” was accessible to the public. This time the former brothel on Korsjespoortsteeg 23 became a public swimming pool. “For two days all ages are welcome to recreate in a unique swimming pool, under supervision of professional bath superintendents. The swimming pool at the ground floor is for recreation, instruction and competition according to the timetable below. Bring your swimsuit and towel and drop by for some aqua-aerobic, maternity swimming or recreational swimming”.
September 9, Eventless Event 7
Where: Korsjespoortsteeg 12 (2-floor)
The last Eventless Event featured “Melodrama for Men #2”, a new performance developed for RED A.i.R. by the Japanese artist Meiro Koizumi.
Koizumi used this project to comment on social values, male-female relations, individual obsessions and nationalist uses of human bodies. The performance raised the question of Japanese sex slavery during World War II through the experiences of Jan Ruff O'Herne, a Dutch woman forced to become a 'comfort woman' for Japanese soldiers. From the end of the war nationalist sentiment required the denial of the existence of these women until the women themselves raised their voices in the 1990s. They declared that they had been forced into prostitution as a method of keeping the soldiers under control. For the performance Koizumi disguised himself as an androgynous creature, creating a setting for the perpetrator and the victim or for the male and the female narrative to meet, as well as for the two cultures participating in this crime.
In “Melodrama for Men#2”, Koizumi touched upon motifs of an individual’s inner turmoil, Japanese nationalist war romanticism and the uses women’s bodies were put to within the Japanese wartime social system. Koizumi exposed human nature free of imposed interpretation or direction. When nationalism is once again on the rise around the world, Koizumi felt the need to reveal the cruel value system hidden behind Japanese historical narratives and portrayed it in a theatrical work centered upon the female body. Through this performance Koizumi’s ritualistic act confronted the audience with the wartime crimes of those in power in Japan who seek to readjust historical facts as a means to obtain political power in the present day.
September 12, RED A.i.R. and Zuidas AIR
Where: Stedelijk Museum Bouwkeet, Zuid As, Gustav Mahlerplein
RED AiR - Artists in Residence in the Red Light district and Zuidas AIR.
Angela Serino, curator of Red AiR held a conversation with Minke Horn (Vrije Ruimten Zuidas AIR) about Artists in Residence programs. “The past years Artists in Residence programs have gained popularity, and give a certain impetus to an environment. In the conversation Serino and Horn will try to find some possible answers concerning the questions of happens when an artist uses a certain place as inspiration for artworks.”
With artists Francesca Grilli (RED A.i.R.) and Justin Bennett (Vrije Ruimten Zuidas AIR).
Curator of Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam, Jelle Bouwhuis moderated the conversation.
September 25, 26, 27 “A Second Exchange”, RED A.i.R. final presentation
Where: Bergstraat 1,14 and Korsjespoortsteeg 9,11,12, 23 – Amsterdams Historisch Museum (Kalverstraat 92) – Oudezijds Achetrburgwal 78a
“A Second Exchange” was a three-day public presentation which closed RED A.i.R.| Redlight Art Amsterdam, the artists-in-residence program in former brothels in the centre of Amsterdam. The presentation brought together the works developed by eight resident artists during the past months. It was an opportunity to reflect on the role of art in the process of urban transformation in two public discussion sessions on September 26 and 27. Participating artists were Laurence Aëgerter, Mounira Al Solh, Alexis Blake, Egle Budvytyte, Francesca Grilli, Achim Lengerer, Ahmet Ögüt and Niels Vis.
Public program, 26 September: “Redesigning the City”, with Alexis Blake, Gideon Boie (BAVO), Vinca Kruk & Gon Zifroni (Metahaven), moderated by Huib Haye van der Werf.
Public program, 27 September: “The Function of Art”, with Joyce Goggin, Eva Fotiadi, Diedrich Diederichsen, moderated by Jan Hein Hoogstad.
All the events were free entrance.
These events were made possible by the generous support of the City of Amsterdam, DeKey/Principaal, Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunst, Fonds BKVB, Stadsdeel Amsterdam Centrum, Prins Bernard Cultuurfonds Noord-Holland, Amsterdams Historisch Museum, Goethe Institut Niederlande and the Italian Cultural Institute of Amsterdam.
Special thanks to all the resident artists and guests of our programme.
Biographies of the guests and information on the projects
Mostly it happens at night, February 2009
’Mostly it happens at night’ is the first Flat project by guest-curator Maaike Gouwenberg, in collaboration with Sandra van Dongen. Artists participating are: Maurice Bogaert, Constant Dullaartt, Quinsy Gario, Regina Kelaita, Anne Schiffer, Pilvi Takala, Marcel van den Berg, Jonas Ohlsson and Daniele Bershan. The project is an experiment on how artists present their work in physical and virtual space with the Bijlmer as the starting point.
http://mostlyithappensatnight.blogspot.com/ >
Maaike Gouwenberg (b. 1977, The Netherlands) lives and works in Amsterdam. Maaike Gouwenberg is a freelance curator for several projects in the Netherlands and abroad. After her studies of Fine Arts in Utrecht in 2004, Gouwenberg was artistic director of the platform for emerging artists ‘Expodium’ in Utrecht. In 2006/07 she participated in the Curatorial Training Program at De Appel arts centre. She was the curator of ‘The Black Magic Woman Award’ 2007, for which artists Katarina Zdjelar, Mounira Al Solh, Monali Meher and Anne Schiffer were selected. In 2008 ‘Curator Curator’, a series of projects of emerging curators at HISK in Ghent, was initiated by herself and Maarten Vanden Eynde from ‘HYPERLINK "http://www.enoughroomforspace.org/"Enough Room for Space’. Gouwenberg is working at ‘If I Can't Dance, I Don't Want To Be Part Of Your Revolution’, a rolling platform for performative arts. Next to this the experimental project ‘Mostly It Happens At Night’ took place in February 2009. On the base of this project, a new project will be shown around the theme of the relation between men and machine.
Constant Dullaart (b. 1979, Leiderdorp, The Netherlands) lives and works in Amsterdam and Berlin. Dullaart studied at Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam and was resedent at Rijksacademie van Beeldende kunsten 2007-8. Solo exhibitions include: ‘Dolores’, Ellen De Bruijne Pojects, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2009; W139, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2006; ‘Constant Dullaart curates Constant Dullaart in 5 days’, Fast Forward Gallerie, Antwerpen, Belgium. Group exhibitions include: ‘Off The Record’, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2009; ‘Here We Are There We Go’, NIMK, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2009; ‘Contemporary Semantics Beta’, Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2009; ‘Forms of Melancholy’, Sego Art Center Utah, USA, 2009; ‘Mostly It Happens At Night’, Flatstation, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2008; ‘Capricious Space’, New York, USA, 2008. Cuurently Dullaart is teacher and mentor at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, editor of Park 4DTV and of Lost & Found and advisor for the European Exchange Academy Beelitz-Berlin.
www.constantdullaart.com >
Maurice Bogaert (b. 1975, Heerlen, The Netherlands) lives and works Rotterdam. Bogaert finished the Hogeschool Katholieke Leergangen in Sittard and the Sculpture department at the Academie Beeldende Kunsten, Maastricht. Bogaert gained his MA in art from the Piet Zwart Institute in 2001. Bogaert’ s exhibition and projects include: ‘Fantastic Borders’, Gil&Moti Homegallery, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2009; ‘BLURRR met Volksrekorders’, TENT. ,Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2009; ‘Hidrellez’, Glazenhuis, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2009, icw Marielle Videler; ‘WISSELZONE’, ‘SIGN/Noorderstation’, Groningen, The Netherlands, 2009; ‘4th International Short Film Festival’, Detmold, Germany, 2008; ‘Live Art Zone 2#’, club NDSM, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2008’, ‘Filmfest Dresden / Volksrekorders’, Dresden, Germany, 2008; ‘Play I /Performance Lab’, Cultuurmijl, Enschede, The Netherlands, 2008; ‘Cities & Objects’, Nieuwe Vide, Haarlem, The Netherlands, 2008. Since 2006 Bogaert is lecturer of Art History at the School for Theatre Directors, Theaterschool, AHK in Amsterdam.
http://www.mauricebogaert.nl >
Weak Signals, Wild Cards (Curatorial Programme De Appel, 2008-09). ‘Weak Signals…’ was an exhibition of commissioned works, talks and performances curated by De Appel Curatorial Pgrogram of 2008/2009: Clare Butcher, Ji Yoon Yang, Lilian Engelmann, Mia Jankowicz,Christina Li, Ana Nikitović. The curators invited ten international and local artists, artist collectives, and contributors from other fields to react to the development plans for Amsterdam-Noord and to imagine a set of alternative futures. Artists and contributors were: Young-Hae Chang, Heavy Industries (KR/USA), Heman Chong (SG), Design Negation (NL), Flying City (KR), Yvonne Dröge Wendel (NL), Famed (DE), Andreja Kulunčić (HR), Alon Levin (USA/NL), Oda Projesi (TUR), Merijn Oudenampsen (NL), Laura Oldfield Ford (UK), Maria Pask (UK/NL) and Lee Scrivner (USA/UK).
www.weaksignals.nl >
Anna Franceschini (b. 1979, Pavia, Italy) lives and works in Amsterdam. Franceschini is an independent videomaker, she got her degree in “Media Studies” with the thesis entitled “The Holy and the Image” in 2006. She is researcher in History of Italian Cinema at the IULM University, Milan, with Professor Gianni Canova. Her first experimental documentary, ‘Polistirene’ (2007 won the Avanti! Award at Bellaria Film Festival and has been selected at Locarno Film Festival. Her second documentary, Pattini D’argento (Silver Ice Skates won the Filmmaker Production award. At the moment she is working on a new documentary; ‘Casa Verdi’ (working title), in collaboration with Invinsible Film in Milano, Italy. Since 2009 Franceschini is a resident artist at Rijksacademie voor Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam.
Barbora Klímová (b. 1977, Brno, Czech Republic) lives and works in Brno. Klímová studied Fine Arts at University of Technology, Brno, and attended the HISK in Antwerp, Belgium between 2004-2006. Solo exhibitions include: ’Replaced’, Czech Center, New York, USA, 2008; ‘For those who were not born here’, Sokolska 26, Ostrava, Czech Republic, 2007 and Galerie Caesar, Olomouc Famous Brno Villas II., Galerie G99, Brno. Group exhibitions include: ‘Performing the East’, Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg, Austria, 2009; ’Where to Go? Notes on Transformation after 1989’, rotor, Graz, Austria, 2009; ‘Prague Biennale 4’, Karlin Hall, Prague, Czech Republic, 2009; ‘Manifesta07’, Trentino, South Tyrol, Italy, 2008; YVAA exhibition, Magacin Gallery, Belgrade, Slovenia, 2008; ’6. Biennial of young art Zvon (Bell)’, City Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic, 2008. Upcoming shows are: ‘For those who were not born here’, "U dobrého pastýre Gallery, Brno. Czech Republic, Nov. 2009 – Jan.2010; ‘Formats of identity transformation’, Museum auf Abruf in Vienna, Oct. – Nov., 2009.
http://server.ffa.vutbr.cz/~barborak/ >
Paul Gangloff (b.1982 in Altkirch, France) lives and works in Amsterdam. Paul Gangloff studied graphic design at the ERBA in Valence, France and at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He was on of the three collaborators of the graphic design bureau OneDayNation (www.onedaynation.com). He now cooperates with artists and theorists by means of speaking, writing, reading, and designing printed matters. He currently collaborates with the Faculty of Invisibility and the Department of Reading. Paul Gangloff teaches graphic design at the preparatory course of the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and at the Academy of Art & Design in Arnhem, The Netherlands.
Dafne Boggeri (b.1975, Tortona, Italy) lives and works in Milan. Boggeri studied in Genova and then at Scuola Politecnica di Design, Milan. Solo exhibitions of Boggeri include: ‘Relax, it’s only me’, with Sonja Cvitkcovic, S 1107 Alvarado St, Los Angeles, USA, 2007; ‘Hidden Line on Explicit Surface N.01’, Centre Culturel Francais de Milan, Milano, Italy, 2006; ‘Dispositif.02’, MiArt, Fiera d’Arte Contemporanea di Milano, on invitation Assab One, 2005; ‘Dafne Boggeri / Espace Experimental’, Espace Experimental de le Plateau, Paris, France, 2004. Recent group exhibitions include: ‘Looking for the Border, De Garage, Mechelen, Belgium, 2007; ‘The FM Ferry Experiment, Staten Island Ferry, New York, USA, 2007.
Francesco Bernardelli (b. 1969, Torino, Italy) lives and works in Turin. Contemporary art critic and curator, Francesco Bernardelli has been working in the framework in between visual arts, time-based media and performance, curating film and video programs and performance projects. From 1999 until 2005 he organized the video and filmic screening programs of Castello di Rivoli - Contemporary Art Musem, often in collaboration with the National Cinema Museum of Torino. In 2004-05 he co-catalogued the historical video collection of Castello di Rivoli, and in recent years he has been writing about the connection between performance, video art and moving images. His essays has been published by istitutions like MAMbo, Bologna, Papesse Contemporary art center, Siena, Castello di Rivoli, GAM-Modern Art Gallery, Torino, Stedelijk Museum, De Appel, Amsterdam. Among the recent projects, he curated “Split Subjects” De Appel, Amsterdam 2005 and “Figures of Excess” Beursschouwburg, Bruxelles, 2006. He is part of the curatorial team for Theater der Welt/Essen 2010.
Kerstin Cmelka (b. 1974, Mödling, Austria) lives and works in Berlin and Frankfurt. Cmelka studied at the Städelschule, Frankfurt. Recent performances and exhibition participations include: "Ein Traum ist alles Leben und die Träume selbst ein Traum", Kunsthalle Lingen, Germany, 2009; "Die Wahrnehmung von Ideen führt zu neuen Ideen", Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany, 2008; "Schnecke, Vogel, Katze und Qualle", Galerie Mezzanin, Austria, 2008 and 2nd Moscow Biennale for Contemporary Art, Russia, 2008.
http://www.kunstraum.net/content-en/press/exhibs/cmelka_press_information.pdf >
Guy de Cointet (1934, Paris, France – 1982, Los Angeles, USA). De Cointet moved to the states in the late 1960s, briefly becoming one of Warhol's Factory visitors in New York, before settling in Los Angeles. His work was well regarded in his lifetime, and remained influential long after his death, particularly to west coast practitioners such as Mike Kelley and Allen Ruppersberg. In the last couple of years his work was rediscovered and featured in shows and re-creations of his performances e.g. at Stuk, Leuven, Belgium; De Appel, Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom.
“Kultur&Gespenster”
The first edition of the quarterly magazine “Kultur&Gespenster”, (i.e., Culture and Visions) appeared in August 2006. The editors are: Jan-Frederik Bandel, Gustav Mechlenburg and Nora Sdun. When asked how this publication can be described, the team answers: " 'Drawers' always stick. Of course it isn't a literary magazine because we don't print narrative prose or poetry. We are a magazine of culture and visions. And we don't intend to give anyone who wants to read it any 'house rules' to be going on with."
Francesco Pedraglio (b. 1981, Italy) lives and works in London. Francesco Pedraglio is an independent curator and writer based in London. From January 2007 he co-direct “FormContent”, a not-for-profit space in the east of London. FormContent’s mission is to create a platform in which to experiment with exhibitions formats and foster an active collaboration between artist and curators, while challenging their roles. In 2008, he started “The Mock and other superstitions”, a fanzine researching the relationship between art-writing and writing-as-art.
Meiro Koizumi (b. 1976, Maebashi, Gunma, Japan) lives and works in Tokyo. Koizumi studied in Amsterdam and lived in London before recently relocating to Tokyo. He obtained his BA from International Christian University, Tokyo, in 1999 and his BFA from London Institute Chelsea College of Art and Design in UK in 2002. He was a resident artist at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam in 2005-2007. Presentations of his work have been held at the Stedelijk Museum Bureau in Amsterdam, Tate Modern in London, the Govett Brewster Art Gallery in New Zealand and more recently in a solo show at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo. He is represented by Dicksmith Gallery and Annet Gelink.
Participants of Alexis Blakes’ Focus groups: Governmental Affairs: Najah Aouaki, Anne Bijlmer, Rick Jansen and Rutger Groot Wassink; Communications: Steve Korver, Ernst-Jan Pfauth, Bahram Sadeghi, Nicole Terborg, Mette te Velde and Olaf Zwetsloot; Humanities/ Social Practice: Uri Gilad, Joyce Goggin, Robert Pennekamp, Rixt Hulshoff Pol, Raoul Teulings, Mike Shulmeister and Gail Zuckerwise; Art: Danny Andreas, Maaike Gouwenberg, Ruth Legg, Achim Lengerer Femke Lutgerink and Juha van 't Zelfde.
Guest-artist (hosted in the guest house, Bergstraat 14)
February 2009 (2 weeks):
Lize Mogel (b. in New York City, NY, USA) lives and works in New York. Mogel is an interdisciplinary artist who works with the interstices between art and cultural geography. She inserts and distributes and cartographic projects into public space and in publications. She is co-editor of the book/map collection "An Atlas of Radical Cartography" and co-curator of the exhibition "An Atlas", which is touring internationally. She also co-curated "Genius Loci", an exhibition of conceptual mappings of Los Angeles (Sci-Arc, Los Angeles, California Museum of Photography, Riverside). She has worked with groups including the Center for Land Use Interpretation and the Journal of Aesthetics and Protest. Exhibitions include the Gwangju Bienniale (South Korea,) Gallery 400 (Chicago), common room (NYC), Overgaden (Copenhagen), and “Experimental Geography” (ICI, touring). She has received grants from the Jerome Foundation, the Graham Foundation, the LEF Foundation, the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, and the Danish Arts Council for her work. During her stay, Mogel held a presentation of her recent project for the RED A.i.R. resident artists.
http://www.publicgreen.com/projects/ >
(Hosted in collaboration with CASCO,Utrecht)
April 2009 (2 weeks):
Charlotte Moth (b. in 1978, Carshalton, Great Britain) lives and works in Paris. Moth studied in 2000 for her BA Hons Fine Art at the Kent Institute of Art and Design and later gained her M.F.A. in Canterbury at the Slade School of Art, University College, London. Among her professional activities are visiting lecturer at PTBA Fine Art, Wimbledon School of Art, London, Great Britain and visiting lecturer FT+PT BA Fine Art, University College for the creative arts at Canterbury, Great Britain. Recent exhibitions include: “Carte Blanche à Charlotte Moth”, Gallery Lucile Corty, Paris, France, 2008; “Pavillon 7”, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France, 2008, and “The Unfair Fair”, Rome, Italy, 2008. Past residencies include Le Pavillon, session 07/08, Paris, and from Jan 2005 to Dec 2006, researcher in Fine Art at the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht. Recent awards include Grants for the Arts, Arts Council England. During her stay Moth took a series of photographs, now part of her ongoing work “Travelogue”.