video – Quartair

Van Damascus naar Den Haag

Tijdens Van Damascus naar Den Haag organiseren we een driedaagse workshop met Syrische kunstenaars en deelnemers met een Syrische achtergrond. Beeldende kunst, video art, muziek en schilderkunst komen samen in een gezamenlijk creatieproces.

Gedurende drie dagen werken de deelnemers samen aan één collectieve installatie rond het thema rechtvaardige transitie. Het werk wordt gevoed door poëzie, korte films en groepsgesprekken. Deze momenten van uitwisseling en reflectie vormen de inspiratiebron voor de artistieke ontwikkeling van de installatie.

De workshop biedt ruimte voor ontmoeting, verbeelding en gedeelde verhalen. Kunst wordt hier gebruikt als middel om ervaringen te delen, vragen te stellen en samen na te denken over toekomst, herinnering en rechtvaardigheid.

Op 8 maart wordt de gezamenlijke installatie gepresenteerd aan het publiek. Na de iftar, om 19.00 uur, openen we de expositie met live muziek en optredens. Het resultaat is een moment van samenzijn, waarin kunst, cultuur en dialoog samenkomen.

During “From Damascus to The Hague,” we are organizing a three-day workshop with Syrian artists and participants with a Syrian background. Visual art, video art, music, and painting will come together in a collaborative creative process.

Over these three days, the participants will collaborate on a single collective installation around the theme of just transition. The work will be informed by poetry, short films, and group discussions. These moments of exchange and reflection will inspire the installation’s artistic development.

The workshop offers a space for encounters, imagination, and shared stories. Art will be used as a means to share experiences, ask questions, and reflect together on the future, memory, and justice.

The collaborative installation will be presented to the public on March 8th. After the iftar, at 7:00 PM, we will open the exhibition with live music and performances. The result is a moment of togetherness, where art, culture, and dialogue converge.

Waiting Field

Waiting Field is an exhibition of immersive video installations by four emerging artists exploring the intersection of cinema and visual art. Like a field shaped by time and subtle shifts, the exhibition reflects on waiting – as a condition, a space, and a method –where images and meanings slowly take form.

Featuring works by Alexandra Pavlovskaya-Lokchine, Kimia Khedri, Michał Kucharski, and Lyy Raitala.

Opening: Friday, 6 June from 19:00 to 23:00
Exhibition hours: from Saturday 7 June to Tuesday 10 June, 13:00-19:00 and Wednesday, 11 June, 13:00-16:00

The title Waiting Field refers to a space that is both literal and metaphorical – a place shaped by time, transformation, and anticipation. The exhibition reflects the temporal nature of video and the quiet tension of waiting: for meaning, for resolution, for something to emerge.Working in the undefined space between film and visual art, each artist approaches video not just as a storytelling device but as a sculptural, spatial, and conceptual medium. Their works explore the thresholds between reality and fiction, absence and presence, stillness and movement.

Kimia Khedri (b. 2003, Tehran, Iran) is a visual artist based in The Hague. She investigates disorientation, memory, and the invisible connections between identity and place.

Alexandra Pavlovskaya-Lokchine (born 2002 in Moscow, Russia) is a visual artist and cinematographer based in the Hague and in Paris. She captures suspended moments — foggy landscapes, deserted alleys — where time feels paused and memory lingers.

Michał Kucharski (born in 1997 in Krakow, Poland) is a visual artist based in The Hague, working primarily with videography and photography. With his work, he approaches the medium as a sculptural object, examining how narratives unfold through space and tension.

Lyy Raitala (1999) is a Finnish lens-based artist living in the Netherlands. She constructs surreal, fragmented scenes drawn from everyday life, using humor and subtle interventions to destabilize the familiar.

Together, these works form a shared terrain – a waiting field – where the moving image becomes a site of reflection, transformation, and encounter.

Graphics and poster by Lucy Gengler.

With thanks to Amarte Fonds

Garden of Aether

An evening where Adam Centko shared his latest project, commissioned by Slagwerk 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

Read more on:
garden-of-aether.com
adamcentko.com