Continuing the project started in 2022, Quartair hosted the KABK masters of Non Linear Narrative Tech Week, with a workshop led by artists Martijn van Boven and Gert-Jan Prins, exploring the full sound spectrum to find relationships between bandwidths with respect to energy transfer, clock speed and environmental impact. Work sessions included deep listening practices, writing sessions, electronic circuit building, signal recording and signal transformation.
Martijn van Boven is a visual artist from Amsterdam, with a focus on experimental films and computer generated art. His work is expressed through installations, films, collaborations with composers, and cinema performances.
Gert-Jan Prins is a sound artist who focuses on the sonic and musical qualities of electronic noise and percussion and investigates its relationship with the visual. While he started his career as a drummer, his works include performances, sound-installations, compositions, electronic circuits.
The North Sea, our neighbour who constantly pushes the boundaries, leaving behind a line that reveals who lived here thousands of years ago, but also shows what is wrong at this moment. Anyone who regularly walks along the tide line, finds fossil bones and trees, but also plastic, paraffin, oil and dead animals.
Currently, the North Sea is quickly being transformed into an industrial area. To maintain the habit of ever-growing consumption and extraction, while attempting to become more sustainable at the same time. Furthermore, drastic technological plans are being developed to eventually stop the rising water. And it was already busy.
Four artists–Tanja Engelberts, Sheng-Wen Lo, Astrid Nobel, and Laura Schippers– show how they are connected to the North Sea and how they deal with the pressure on the sea.
See you at Hoogtij #71 this Friday, 25 November, from 19:00 to 23:00.
OpeningNeighbour North Sea: Friday, November 4 at 19:00
Exhibition: from November 5 to 27, Fridays to Sunday, 13:00 – 17:00 and by appointment.
Photo by Sander van Wettum
Tanja Engelberts investigates how to document landscapes that are no longer visible. These landscapes range from artificial islands to the endless North Sea, and are often related to the fossil fuel industry. She immersed herself in the industrial landscape of the North Sea by traveling along with maintenance ships and speaking with offshore employees. The landscape takes shape by means of films, prints, sound and texts in which the atmosphere and experience of these places is recorded. www.tanjaengelberts.eu
Photo by Sander van Wettum
Sheng-Wen Lo’s work investigates the relationships between non-humans and contemporary society, often taking daily experiences as points of departure. In 2021, he attempted to become a seaweed farmer, as the practice is being hailed as the most sustainable form of farming in many parts of Europe. During the process, he began to wonder if the collective passion towards expanding ocean farming has a problematic outlook. www.shengwenlo.com
Photo by Sander van Wettum
The work of Astrid Nobel consists of paintings, sculptures and installations. Time, consciousness and nature are recurring themes. Recently, she has been working on topics related to the North Sea and the Wadden Sea area (Waddenzee) and how dreams and thinking about the landscape are evolving in the midst of the climate crisis. For this exhibition she has transformed North Sea materials she found herself, such as fossil bones and washed up oil, into works in which the sea, its inhabitants, pollution and the house in which we live and dream are interwoven. www.astridnobel.nl
Photo by Sander van Wettum
In the run-up to the exhibition, Laura Schippers collected special observations and experiences of people at sea and continued to work on the rebuilding of her ship Atlas in preparation for the self-sufficient and nomadic project Atlas Initiative. Ultimately, these paths crossed and together formed the installation: ‘Potential material for a change of mentality’. Which is about both the possibility of change and the paradox of using materials for sustainable purposes. www.atlasinitiatief.org
Workshop Cooking Local Seaweed by Sheng-Wen Lo on Saturday, November 5 at 14:00 (approx. 2 hrs).
Rights of Nature Lecture by international environmental law expert Jessica den Outer and performance by Tanja Engelberts and Marcel Imthorn on Thursday, November 17 at 19:00. Lecture will be in English. Free entrance.
Guest speaker Jessica den Outer works as an independent consultant, writer and speaker on the rights of nature. She has been involved in the rights of nature movement since 2017. In 2019 she was recognized as one of the youngest Earth-centered law experts within the United Nations’ Harmony with Nature Network. In 2020 she obtained a place in the ‘Duurzame Jonge 100’ (the top 100 most sustainable young pioneers in the Netherlands). She has since set up various campaigns advocating for the rights of nature. Her first book with Laura Burgers: Rights of Nature: Case-Studies From Six Continents (Embassy of the North Sea) was released in September 2021. www.jessicadenouter.com
Neighbour North Sea is made possible thanks to Mondriaan Fonds, Stichting Stokroos, Pauwhof Fonds, Stroom Den Haag, Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten and Productiehuis Plaatsmaken.
An evening where Adam Centko shared his latest project, commissioned by Slargwerk Den Haag. Drinks and bites designed by Trang Ha and Alejandra Lopez Martinez. DJs: Andre Miranda and Ola Rubik.
“Garden of Aether” is a simulation artwork that combines 3D aesthetics, game engine mechanics, and sounds by Slagwerk Den Haag to create a conceptual narrative dealing with sustainability and reflecting on the invisible infrastructures that fuel the digital environments.
Adam intended to create a new kind of moving image, one that will be ever-changing and never the same, but also keeps moving image structure and has a beginning and end. The medium of a computer simulation is about giving up control and actively becoming an observer. The confined digital landscape and the physical hardware give the viewer a unique perspective that draws analogies from the world around them. The mechanics of the simulation are inspired by the Anthropocene. As long as the characters keep producing sculptures and altering the natural environment, the temperature will keep on rising. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what the characters are programmed to do. The sculptures that the NPCs build are not only visual, but each one also contains a sonic element designed by Frank Bink, a member of SDH. These sonic elements populate the landscape and are accurately delivered to the viewer using a quadraphonic speaker setup. Each new sculpture introduces a new sample, creating a cacophony of three-dimensional sounds. The landscape then becomes both visually and sonically saturated.
The project is developed in Unreal Engine 5. The 3D assets have been created using VR sculpting, Blender, and Substance Painter. The hardware is placed within a custom-built PC case, which has been laser-cut from an aluminum sheet and then bent into the shape of a rib cage.
Centko is a lens-based artist observing the intricate workings of our ecosystem. Specifically zooming in on the role of technology in the nature as a whole, Adam believes that the relationship between nature and tech isn’t binary, but rather that even the most advanced human feats are just extension of nature. He strives to shine light on this connection using various media such as video and 3D animation. The artist is currently supported by the Stimuleringsfonds Talent Development Grant. Adam Centko thanks the support of Trang Ha, Carmen Roca Igual, Laimonas Zakas and Mike Rijnierse at Quartair, October 13th, 2022.
Concept/3D art Adam Centko Lead development Eusebi Jucglà Audio Samples Frank Bink Production David Veneman Typeface (Tonka) Celine Hurka Website Manus Nijhoff 3D modeling Samuel Rynearson Commissioned by Slagwerk Den Haag
Stretching reality, images, drawings and paint work
A duo show with Ellen Endhoven Dwight Marica from 16th to 25th September 2022
Opening photos by Dana LaMonda
Ellen Endhoven and Dwight Marica studied at the Willem de Koooning, having graduated in 1997. Dwight was the founder of Cucosa, Rotterdam (1998-2012). In 2012 Ellen started Portable Collective after years organising underground exhibitions. For nine years they have been sharing a studio and collaborating under the moniker Marica Endhoven. In Eigen beweging they show an overview of their artworks at both Quartair and Ruimtevaart.
Opening on Friday, 16 September at 20.00, doors open at 19:00
About the artists The city, people and society are an inexhaustible source of inquiry for Ellen Endhoven’s works. In her collages, drawings, paintings, murals, stickers, animations, 3D objects and installations one sees, at first glance, everyday things. Though if you look further, you will see a representation of our human shortcomings and unrealistic expectations. In 2019 she started to create intricate ink-drawings of waves. They evolved during the pandemic, with all debates, beliefs, and the rise of fake news, while the world had stopped. This context helped her develop more abstract works. Besides the social aspect in the work it also tackles environmental questions.
Dwight Marica explores new techniques and insights, in search of the most suitable expression, to arrive at new art forms. An important guiding principle in his work is the investigation of the absolutely abstract, through physics and psychology. “I want to continue to amaze the audience, but especially myself, by letting us experience performances that are written in a new, developing visual language. I try to scare reality, stretch its boundaries, activate the mind, to add something timeless to reality.”
During The Hague Contemporary Art Weekend we will present Back to Normal, an international collaborative exhibition & network event, initiated by the Alternative Art Guide and Artist-Run Network Europe (ARNE).
Back to Normal is loosely based on the recurring idea of “normality” after the pandemic, and more recently challenged by the emergence of the war. The exhibition runs from July 1st to 24th, involving twelve artistic initiatives: Quartair, Billytown, Hgtomi Rosa, Trixie, Artisterium, Flux Factory, U10, Sandwich Gallery, 16/16, C5cnm, MA Project, Uniarte.
Fri, 1 July – Opening | Collective walk tour route | 19:00 (all locations) Quartair + Trixie + Billytown
Sat, 2 July – Interview, performance, survey and network meeting (at Billytown) 14:00 – 18:00
Sun, 3 July – Informal talks with the artists (by venue) 13:30 Trixie | 15:00 Quartair | 16:30 Billytown
Artists at QUARTAIR: Elene Rakviashvili, Lehna Huie, Manuchar Okrostsvaridze, Dana LaMonda, Barney de Krijger, Jan Dirk Adams, Yukari Nakamichi, Quin Qu, Letizia Cassetta and Raily Stiven Yance
Raily Stiven Yance (Venezuela, 1989) likes to explore the edges of art with his oil paintings on paper, installations, and sculptures. Graduated in Plastic Arts from the University of Zulia, Venezuela. From an early age he has won awards and has participated in forty exhibitions and salons. In the past years Yance has given workshops and presented a solo show both in Curaçao and Aruba. He is now working on a new body of work whereby he makes studies of drawings of the nearby horizons and landscapes of Curaçao, Aruba, and between the Venezuelan coasts. His further references are also the characteristic architecture of the local heritage present on these islands. From this study, he makes unique syntheses through oil paintings on paper, exploring the ontological urgency he had since he was young.
Elene Rakviashvili (1966) multidisciplinary artist. Her practice utilizes all media and works with a conceptual approach. Her work is often site-specific and includes issues of identity, social status, gender, and ecology. Rakviashvili is interested in exploring the cultural differences, and present attitudes toward the social and environmental aspects in the relation to everyday life within the prism of history and cultural heritage. Graduated from the State Academy of Fine Arts, 1993, Painting. Lives and works in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Manuchar Okrostsvaridze (1974) multimedia artist. Field of activity includes painting, drawing, sculpture and installation. From the beginning of 2000th his art has been influenced by conceptualism and post-minimalism. His works vary from minimalist drawings to site-specific installations and public sculptures. Has been participating in exhibitions since 1996. Activities over the past decade include independent projects as well as co-operations with the art galleries and independent curators. Graduated from the State Academy of Arts, 1998 (MFA), Painting. Lives and works in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Black Moon II – Lehna Huie, 2020
Lehna Huie (1988) is a multi-disciplinary artist and cultural worker of Jamaican heritage. Her work concentrates on themes such as soul, migration, nonlinear time and remembrance. as a means to recover untold narratives of those whose lived experiences have been erased and distorted by the chronicles of colonialism. Huies works are reflected through weaving multiple visual art forms as cultural vignettes rooted in an archival practice. Varying in scale, medium and surface, Lehna draws together clusters of accumulated art pieces, personal and found objects by using unique approaches to representational portraiture. Huie lives and works in New York City, USA
Dana LaMonda is a photographer and artist who captures images that only she is able to find through her a personal and upright way of working. In recent years she has immersed herself into the social groups she is seeking to portray. This form of research is intensely participatory and involves a great deal of sympathy for the subjects. This allows for the creation of a natural atmosphere where her subjects and their respective environments are released of any reserve. It is her candid frankness and sincere curiosity in people which enables her through photography to reveal to the viewers a social environment that would otherwise remain closed. One example is in project The Velvet Zone, where she became part of the “family” of a brothel.
Barney de Krijger (1944) has a long career as multimedia artist and initiator of former artist initiative Stichting Archief. De Krijger uses the idiom of recycling, slow analogue media (cinematography, photography, stereo-photography) and their diverse processes form the main issue in drawings, objects and installations. His method consists of recordings, perception and intriguing objects which were merged together into one installation. This assemblages go primarily by way of the association. Re-use and copying are the key, because both the objects and ideas have already been in other contexts and proven their worth. De Krijger works and lives in Lamswaarde, Zeeland NL.
Needs Must is a piece of avant-garde theatre created and performed by Petra van Beuningen and Charlie Watkins. Petra’s theatre talent, recognised in numerous theatrical projects, combines with Charlie’s Shitcluster experience to create a quirky tale of sex and violence spread over 60 minutes. The piece will be performed four times with technical support from Rob Bothof.
Entry is free with no seat reservation. First come, first served basis, with maximum 50 visitors per performance. Once visitors are admitted, the doors will be closed and the performance will begin with no further admittance. Please come in plenty of time.
Friday 17 June doors open at 20.00 Saturday 18 June doors open at 15.00 Saturday 18 June doors open at 20.00 Sunday 19 June 22 doors open at 15.00
The bar will open after each performance with musical entertainment.
This year we proudly receive the second edition of The Other Book, the artists’ book fair with over 60 independent book makers alongside HOK and the Grafische Werkplaats Den Haag.
Fri 27 May 19.00-23.00 Opening Hoogtij Sat 28 May 13.00-19.00 Exhibition Sun 29 May 13.00-19.00 Exhibition followed by after party
The second edition of The Other Book, from May 27 to 29, is devoted to the underground: artists’ books and other printed matter ephemera of the counterculture; from the past and from the present. The exhibition opens in the occasion of Hoogtij #69, the Contemporary Art Tour of The Hague.
Photos by Dana LaMonda
The Other Book provides a platform for artists, publishers, print rooms, collectives, art libraries, collectors, and book enthusiasts from all secret corners of the world. Come and browse through a collection of underground artists’ books and artistic publications beyond your wildest imagination.
By creating a stage for both local and international artists and underground publishers, The Other Book serves as a place of exchange. The extensive program explores artistic practices, conceptual publications, and the seemingly endless possibilities of the self- or independently published artist’s book and artistic publications.
Jezus Cinco performing at the after part, May 29th
After Party Sunday, May 29, 20:30: performances by Jezus Cinco, Strict Nurse and Gökay Atabek, from Vølksamt!. Read more >
On Friday, March 4th, in the occasion of Hoogtij #68, we will function as open studio, with works, fragments, processes, music by artists from Quartair and guests.
This will be an experimental place for works in progress or works that were never shown before. One wall will be reserved for an interactive action: visitors are invited to add drawings or statements with glow-in-the-dark painting. The results will be seen and experienced at the end of the evening.
With Sophia Boeschoten, Mekhlla Harrison, Zuza Zgierska, Louis Braddock Clarke, Blanka de Bruyne, Marlies Adriaanse, Thom Vink, Jessy Rahman, Dana LaMonda, Jessica de Wolf, Wieteke Heldens, Astrid Nobel, Geeske Harting, Pietertje van Splunter, Harold de Bree and Mike Rijnierse.
Astrid Nobel: Noordzee botten
HOOGTIJ is a cultural tour throughout the art spaces of The Hague, taking place four times a year, on Fridays from 7-11 PM. It includes various locations and exhibitions often with extra activities. Free entrance.
QUARTAIR opens this Friday, March 4th, at 19:00. The exhibition runs through the weekend, March 5th-6th, from 13:00 to 17:00.
Address: Toussaintkade 55, 2513 CL Den Haag
Support for Ukraine | This Friday Quartair sells postcards and posters made by Ukrainian artists capturing life in their homeland. The revenue is dedicated to humanitarian aid in Ukraine.
How to bridge the digital realm with the physical experience? Rather than visualizing data on the screen, in this Tech Week we focused on interpreting information, social trends and ecological phenomena as alternative adventures, including visual, audible, olfactory and even gustative experience.
Having the internet as (real-time) input, six projects were conceived, designed and coded, translating bytes into dynamic installations and performative (inter)actions.
The Tech Week 2022 was hosted by Rob Bothof, Mike Rijnierse and Ludmila Rodrigues at Quartair, as an immersive and experimental workshop for the Non Linear Narrative masters of the Royal Academy of Art (KABK), between February 7th and 11th, 2022.
Participants: Lisette Alberti, Coco Maier, Kateryna Gaidamaka, Paul Mielke; Shouyi He, Julija Panova, Alicja Konkol; Eszter Nagy, Karolina Uskakovych, Daan Veerman; Lode Dijkers & Daniel Gremme; Leonie Gores & Camille Noray; Niels Otterman, Akina López, Jeroen van den Bogaert.
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?
