Opening Saturday, Nov 6th at 17.00 Exhibition from Friday to Sunday, 13.00 to 18.00 Hoogtij #67 *Saturday, Nov 27th, 14.00 to 18.00 Last day: Sunday, Nov 28th,13.00 to 18.00
Photo: Dana LaMonda
With works by: Rinella Alfonso Vitaly Bezpalov Daniele Formica Bernhard Holaschke Myrofora Kachrimanidou Karin Kytokangas Nandi Loaf Narges Mohammadi + Bernie Autsema Christian Roncea Tommy Smits Suyoung Yang
Curated by Christian Roncea
Photo: Afra Eisma
Accompanying zine-publication by Ian Scheufler & Christian Roncea, including interviews and conversations with Mats Andersen (admin @afffirmations), Sanne Ten Brink (head curator at ING art collection), Arthur Cordier & Valentino Russo (founders The Balcony), Sanne Luteijn (gallery manager Billytown) and more to come.
Curatorial statement: “Case Study: The Corporate Stoner” is a research-based project which explores the spectrum of artistic autonomy. I invited along artists, whose working methods are distinct from each other, with the intent to let the works cross-pollinate meanings and points of views, diving in a web of multi-faceted narratives which question human condition. “The human element” present in this group show is multi-linear, deconstructed, and ghostlike. Irony, melancholia, ecstasy, banality and vulnerability come together in a disillusioned “recreational office area”. By entering in a multi-disciplinary environment, the selected works give shape to an alternative and fluid type of reading art, inviting the visitors to follow their own narrative when experiencing the show.
The phrase “Corporate Stoner” refers to a company employee who secretly uses cannabis. This employee, even if defying the rules of the company, keeps a professional look and maintains productivity. I would like to look at artists of our times from the same perspective while looking at the larger art-world as one big company. If using cannabis can be seen as a labor-related escapism, fiction and critique can be seen as coping mechanisms for a speculative and precarious art market.
Photo: Dana LaMonda
From a parodic standpoint, “The Corporate Stoner” is, metaphorically, an artist who challenges the status quo, but deals “professionally” with bureaucracy or capitalist structures. How does an artist reach autonomy today? Are we sacrificing financial stability in return of artistic freedom and/or the other way around?
Exhibition 2–17 October 2021 Ilona Senghore, Paul Donker-Duyvis, Rosh Abdelfatah & Rodi Khalil curated by Jessy Rahman & Blanka de Bruyne
Onder de Kerktoren / Under the Tower / تحت البرج Opening: Friday October 1st at 8pm Opening hours Friday, Saturday, Sunday 1–5pm
Extra event: Saturday, 09 Oct at 7pm Arab Film Festival Evening, presented by Rosh Abdelfatah
The church tower and the curfew
‘Onder de Kerktoren (Under the church tower)’ is a typical Flemish expression that means “small-scale” or “navel-gazing”. Universality and open-mindedness sit at the opposite end of the spectrum. These two extremes are diametrically opposed to one another. The concepts of local and global have a new ring to them. Western European citizens have experienced the reality of lockdowns for the first time since the Second World War. We were confronted, quite literally, with the perspective of our current location. How do we see things from such a position? Is there a difference between the digital and the physical experience?
Photos by Dana LaMonda
Artists:
Ilona Senghore: Dezelfde adem voor hetzelfde gevaar
Ilona Senghore – “I am getting a cold and think I am infected. On the day that the Netherlands locks down, the norovirus reigns in my department. In the event of an outbreak, the nursing staff continues to work with the appropriate measures. Other disciplines do not come to the ward in order to limit further spread in the nursing home. I belong to the group of well-being counselors and work in a ward with 32 residents with dementia, half of whom are relatively young. Fortunately, after a week, the norovirus is gone. Unfortunately, the Coronavirus is spreading further across the Netherlands and is breaking out in nursing homes as well.
“It is very quiet on the street. I cycle through the quiet streets sobbing to work because I feel strongly that I am a source of contamination and the last thing I want is to infect the residents. The use of face masks will soon be made mandatory. Visitors are no longer allowed. Family and friends are not allowed to visit. That has a huge impact on everyone. Emotional dramas take place. A family secretly rows over the ditch with an inflatable boat to be able to be with their mother. Face-time calling is introduced. I take hundreds of pictures to show the family that they are doing well. Convinced that being outside is the best remedy, I walk for hours with the residents through the paradise garden, which seems more beautiful than ever. The sky is clear blue, there is no noise, no planes.”
Ilona Senghore graduated in 1989 as Monumental Designer at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. In addition to being active as an artist, she teaches painting and has been working since 1995 as a well-being counselor in a nursing home. Ilona makes symbolic drawings, paintings and socially critical ceramics. She draws associatively to understand everyday life, which puzzles her often. From random lines and shapes, a story unfolds that becomes known during the drawing, or even the day after.
Thus the trace appears in her work, the symbol of time. The train comes roaring unstoppably. The trumpet with its bell is the attention that is demanded. The animals can be themselves, but more often symbolize human actions. The water and the sea is the subconscious, a movement and the source from which it all begins.
The Corona outbreak was only a few months through when metastatic tumors were discovered in Paul Donker Duyvis body. Immediately three muses took care of him and became Angels, Caregivers and Comforters. Donker Duyvis decided to use the illness as a vehicle for a staggering, undisguised and moving series of self-portraits, which portray the comforting and warm contact with the three women.
The understanding treating physicians quickly turned to life-prolonging treatments: radiation, hormone injection and chemotherapy, but they are all physical treatments. Psychological help was also offered, but much more important than words was the indispensable touch – which produced an immediate comforting and magical effect.
The touch, the skin, the direct contact, the production of Oxytocin (known as the cuddle hormone) is an neglected part of medical and terminal care in the eyes of the photographer, who is seriously ill. The moving series of straight black and white self-images Corona Cancer Comfort 2021 is a plea for the return of the loving, healing touch, which was missed by many during the Corona pandemic.
Rosh Abdelfatah is a Kurdish-Syrian artist, filmmaker, artistic director of the Arab Film Festival Rotterdam, who graduated at the St. Joost Academy in Breda, 2006. Currently he makes freelance productions for different Arabic TV stations and works as an independent artist in Netherlands and Middle East.
“As an individual you hardly have any control over the environment. Reality forms while you look at it helplessly. As an artist and filmmaker I search for images where I can get a grip of time. In my work I look for moments of support. They are anchors in a deteriorating, changing environment. The search for what is in disappearance forms visual benchmarks that, if well done, can convey both pain and comfort.” – Rosh Abdelfatah
Rodi Khalil was born in Tal Hedat, Syria, studied art and design at the University of Damascus. He worked as an stage designer at the Theatre of Damascus, as well as in different TV films broadcast in Syria. He has exhibited his paintings and sculptures in London, Rotterdam, Beirut, Turkey, Spain, New York, Sweden and Germany. In Germany he was also involved in set design and became a member of the National Association of Artists (BBK Bremen) and the International Association of Art (IGBK, IAA, AIAP).
“I come from a land of myths and repression. For me these myths are building a connection to the present. They offer topics which are fascinating and ageless. I want to build a bridge from past to present for all those people who are open or can be interested for that. My images are showing elements of manifold cultures: those of the Assyric, Meder, Marer, which I am a child of.“ – Rodi Khalil
Hard Times is a Dutch edition of the international project Onder de Kerktoren / Under the Tower (underthechurchtower.org). The project links a range of artists, curators and locations so far in Belgium, the Netherlands and Palestine, as a response to the Corona times and the lockdown.
The church tower and the curfew
‘Onder de kerktoren’ (‘under the church tower’) is a typical Flemish expression that means “small-scale” or “navel-gazing”. Universality and open-mindedness sit at the opposite end of the spectrum. These two extremes are diametrically opposed to one another. The concepts of local and global have a new ring to them. Western European citizens have experienced the reality of lockdowns for the first time since the Second World War. We were confronted, quite literally, with the perspective of our current location. How do we see things from such a position? Is there a difference between the digital and the physical experience?
Caring Communities for Radical Change August 24-28th, 2021
The 8th International Degrowth Conference, between 24th and 28th August, explores many approaches to degrowth. The conference includes artistic interventions, workshops and performances are organized both online and physically in various locations in The Hague: Utopie Café, the International Institute of Social Studies, the community garden Spinozahof, the Stadsklooster (City Monastery), NEST, and Quartair. In parallel, there will be a variety of online workshops and sessions. See program here.
What to experience at Quartair:
Church of the Hand, The Linen Project and Traveling Farm Museum of Forgotten Skills are projects to be visited during the conference days. There will also be workshops at specific times (see below). To attend the workshops, please pre-register online.
Church of the Hand (with Harm Heye Coordes) Tuesday 24 Aug 10:30-12:00 & 19:00-20:00 Wednesday 25 Aug 9:00-10:30 & 14:30-16:00 Thursday 26 Aug 14:30-16:00 pre-registration required
The Linen Project – Engagement, Participation, Community and Joy (with Marieke van Mieghem, Ellen Rooijakkers, Carolien Evers, Henrike Gootjes & Pascale Gatzen) Tuesday 24 Aug 16:00-19:00 Thursday 26 Aug 10:00-13:00 pre-registration required Traveling Farm Museum of Forgotten Skills (with Asia Komarova, Txell Blanco, Merel Zwarts, Leonardo Siqueira & Kyra Ruiten) Saturday 28 August 12:00-13:00 pre-registration required
Degrowth is a movement and a research field that proposes solutions confronting the roots of today’s crises. It explores these fundamental questions and many others: How do we confront the contradictions between endless economic growth and the ecological boundaries of our planet? What kind of society would ensure a good life for all, without wealth and power being hoarded by the few? How can we enable a just transition that halts over-extraction, over-production and over-consumption?
Exhibition and book release of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland newly illustrated by The Hague artists. From Friday 20th to Sunday 22nd, August 2021.
With: Annemarie Slobbe, Marjolijn van der Meij, Cedric ter Bals, Bernice Nauta, Malou Cohen, Jordan Herregraven, Angelika Hasse, Paul de Jong, Leonie Schneider, Niels Janssen, Melle de Boer and Lula Valletta
The 12 chapters of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (originally titled Alice’s Adventures Under Ground) were distributed among twelve Hague-based artists, who each interpreted their chapter in their own unique ways. The works in the book are the base for the accompanying group exhibition in which the works become installations and interactive pieces. Artist and creative entrepreneur Lula Valletta curated the project.
Image: Cedric ter Bals’ illustration for chapter 3: ‘A Caucus Race and a Long Tale‘
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is for many a first re-encounter with surrealism after losing one’s child’s imagination. Many famous artists have taken it upon themselves to illustrate Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Opening Friday, September 20th, from 19:00 with gong performance by Red Dwarf, music by Carlos Gomes and DJ Fester del Hagua
NL robe bleu, fond rouge 14 schilders op 2 locaties in Den Haag Quartair en projectruimte WEST END (Westeinde 58, Den Haag)
Bij Quartair: Philip Akkerman, Kees Andrea (1914-2006), Morgan Betz, Judith van Bilderbeek, Wieteke Heldens, Mirthe Klück, Rob Knijn, Luuk Kuipers, Marion van Rooij (1951-2019), Machteld Rullens, Jan Wattjes.
in Projectruimte WEST END: Annemieke Louwerens, Pietertje van Splunter, Nies Vooijs.
Een tentoonstelling over schilderkunst samengesteld door een schilder. De Haagse schilder Nies Vooijs kreeg de beschikking over maar liefst twee kunstenaarsinitiatieven om een tentoonstelling samen te stellen. Onder de titel robe blue, fond rouge, (de titel verwijst naar een schilderij van Henri Matisse) heeft Vooijs een heel persoonlijke keuze gemaakt van schilderkunst uit meerdere generaties. Naast gevestigde namen ook werk van de in 2019 overleden Marion van Rooij. Deze oud klasgenoot van Vooijs werkte 40 jaar in haar atelier maar trad nooit naar buiten met haar werk.
Openingstijden: vrijdag t/m zondag van 12 tot 17 uur Hoogtij #65 vrijdag 28 mei van 19 – 23 uur En op afspraak
v.l.n.r. Werk van Wieteke Heldens, Marion van Rooij, Luuk Kuipers en Machteld Rullens
EN robe bleu, fond rouge 14 painters at 2 locations in The Hague Quartair and project space WEST END (Westeinde 58, The Hague)
At Quartair:Philip Akkerman, Kees Andrea (1914-2006), Morgan Betz, Judith van Bilderbeek, Wieteke Heldens, Mirthe Klück, Rob Knijn, Luuk Kuipers, Marion van Rooij (1951-2019), Machteld Rullens, Jan Wattjes.
At Project space WEST END: Annemieke Louwerens, Pietertje van Splunter, Nies Vooijs
An exhibition about painting curated from a painter’s perspective. The Hague painter Nies Vooijs was given no fewer than two artist initiatives to put together this exhibition. Under the title robe bleu, fond rouge – the title refers to a painting by Henri Matisse – Vooijs has made a personal choice of paintings by artists of different generations. Besides established names, the show includes a work by Marion van Rooij, who passed away in 2019. This classmate of Vooijs worked in her studio for 40 years but never exhibited her work.
Opening times: Friday – Sunday from 12:00 to 17:00. Hoogtij #65 (Friday 28 May) from 19:00 to 23:00 And by appointment
Once again Quartair receives the KABK’s Master Artistic Research for a week of experiments in the project space. This project functions as an immersive week-long residency culminating in an exhibition over the weekend. Unfortunately we cannot open the doors to the public.
From Saturday to Sunday, March 20-21, online and by appointment (guests only, sorry, health measures!)
Xenia Klein: Cyanotype-tannin prints. Flash poems on papper
“In a world where tyrant covid grabbed its power and is still ruling our lives, we were all forced to make a standstill in one way or another. Now one year after the first lockdown, we’re getting the opportunity to work together again as a group on the cusp of Spring. It feels like a breath of fresh air. Within one week, with all the participants of the MA Masters Artistic Research of KABK, we created the project Sun Kissed // Fog Off. It works like a kaleidoscope and set of gems that share their energy wherever they are presented. We have embraced the restrictions of the pandemic, like not being able to touch or physically gather, and found a way to deal with obstructions. So we started from looking into the possibilities instead and turned those restrictions into ways of presenting the artworks in ways that fit and connect to this specific moment in time. Questions of time and space became important in creating the right relations during the collaborations and between works. What does it mean to present a sculpture in physical space and on the internet? How can they get a physical sense of the works when seeing an image of, for instance, a painting? How does the audience perceive live performance on their laptops at home? And how do we deal with time zones and having colleagues missing out on physical meetings because they cannot be in The Hague? Sun Kissed // Fog Off expands from Korea through Colombia and through the internet to all corners of the globe and digital realms.
The kaleidoscope is always in flux. Sun Kissed by that energy, we playfully say Fog Off.”
Emily Stevenhagen: ‘Sublime is something you choke on after a shot of tequila’
With works by: Balint Revesz, Clara Pallí, Daphne Monastirioti, Elisa Cuesta, Emily Stevenhagen, Esther Arribas, Eva Van Ooijen, Georgie Brinkman, Giath Mardini, Haevan Lee, Leos, Juliana M. Hernández, Lena Longefay, Leonie Brandner, Mazen Alashkar, Noortje Remmen, Renata Mirón, Omid Kheirabadi, Rosa van Walbeek, Xenia Klein, Serene Hui, Shardenia Felicia, and the Hypocritical Care collective
Shardenia Felicia: ‘The writing of E novela Ros – The writing of The pink soap’Omid Kheirabadi: Wasting Art (€473 worth KFC fried chicken pieces)
Tien jaar geleden begon een vreedzame opstand (revolutie) in Syrie. Sindsdien zijn er al meer dan 6,1 miljoen mensen op de vlucht geslagen in eigen land. Daarnaast zijn er ruim 5,5 miljoen mensen naar het buitenland gevlucht, de meesten naar een land in de regio. De afgelopen tien jaar hebben meer dan 400.000 mensen het leven gekost. De Verenigde Naties noemden het al eerder de grootste humanitaire crisis sinds de Tweede Wereldoorlog.
10 jaar INSYRIATED is een persoonlijke terugblik van de Syrische kunstenaar Rosh Abdelfatah, die actief is geweest binnen de Syrische Revolutie en daarna betrokken was bij culturele projecten in Noord-Syrië (Rojava). Een werk over de rol en de vorm van kunst binnen de revolutie en over de mensen die hun leven voor de vrijheid in Syrië op het spel zetten.
“Als individu heb je nauwelijks controle over de omgeving, de werkelijkheid vormt zich terwijl je hulpeloos kijkt. Als kunstenaar en filmmaker zoek ik naar beelden waar ik grip op kan krijgen op de tijd. In mijn werk zoek ik momenten van ondersteuning. Het zijn menselijke ankers in een verslechterende, veranderende omgeving. De zoektocht naar dat wat blijft in een context die verdwijnt, vormt visuele benchmarks die, indien goed, zowel de pijn tonen als troosten.” – Rosh Abdelfatah
Ten years ago a peaceful uprising (revolution) started in Syria. Since then, more than 6.1 million people have been displaced in their own country. In addition, more than 5.5 million people have fled abroad, most of them to a country in the region. In the past ten years, more than 400,000 people have lost their lives. The United Nations has called it the greatest humanitarian crisis since World War II.
10 years INSYRIATED is a 10-year personal retrospective of the Syrian artist Rosh Abdelfatah, who was active in the Syrian Revolution and then involved in cultural projects in Northern Syria (Rojava). A work about the role and form of art within the revolution and about the people who risk their lives for freedom in Syria.
“As an individual you hardly have any control over the environment. Reality forms while you look at it helplessly. As a artist and filmmaker, I search for images where I can get a grip on time. In my work I look for moments of support. They are human anchors in a deteriorating, changing environment. The search for that which remains in a context that disappears, forms visual benchmarks that, if good, both show the pain and comfort it”. – Rosh Abdelfatah
About the artist
Rosh Abdelfatah is a Kurdish-Syrian artist, filmmaker and Artistic Director of Arab Film Festival Rotterdam who finished art school at the St. Joost Academy in Breda in 2006.
Currently he is making freelance productions for different Arabic TV stations and is working as an independent artist in Netherlands and Middle eEast. Rosh started “Het Jasmijn Plein” in 2011 in Rotterdam as a mirror for the revolutionaries in Syria to reflect on the situation that was going on at that time in Syria. This project was shown with art, video installation and various films and got tremendous media attention. Rosh visited the refugee camps around the Syrian-Turkish-Iraqi-Jordin border several times. Through these visits and his art projects he tries to give these unknown faces a voice in his work.
