[spectre] transmediale_extended: exh. TRACER, Rotterdam/NL

Mon Sep 6 18:17:08 CEST 2004

(a project in Rotterdam, co-curated by Andreas Broeckmann and Stefan Riekeles,
transmediale)

TRACER
SIX CURATORS ON ART IN ROTTERDAM

TENT. Center for Visual Arts / Witte de With, center for contemporary art
September 10 - October 24, 2004
Opening: multi event, September 9, 2004, 8.30 p.m.

TRACER, a collaborative project by TENT. and Witte de With on the occasion of
the fifth anniversary of TENT is being launched on September 9. Based on
observations and reflections on art in Rotterdam, TRACER is composed of a
variety of specific sub-exhibitions, projects, and a program of activities.
TRACER draws together various visions for the future of art in Rotterdam and
for the role played by art institutions.
In recent months, six curators have 'traced' contemporary art in the 
city. Their
exploration of Rotterdam’s urban centre, the Port of Rotterdam and the
Maasvlakte area for port-related industrial activities resulted in six
thought-provoking visualizations.

Andreas Broeckmann and Stefan Riekeles (transmediale, Germany) fix attention on
the massive strategic oil reserve in the Port of Rotterdam, intended for
international crises. For their exhibition Neuralgic, 90 Days to Shake the
World, Broeckmann and Riekeles use this oil reserve as a metaphorical starting
point. Artists: Marnix de Nijs, Joe Cillen, Ursula Biemann, Joost Conijn,
Heidrun Holzfeind, Dick el Demasiado, Knowbotic Research, and AGF aka antye
greie.

Pelin Tan (Turkey), as a 'foreigner' in Rotterdam, carries her Turkish
background with her like baggage. For her project Luggage from Another Climate
she researched the artistic climate, the artists’ initiatives and the formal
infrastructure from the perspective of the situation in Istanbul. Artists: The
Buggers, Libia Perez/ Olafur Olafsson and Jan Konings. Her interviews resulted
in a documentary film and two debates. In the first of these, on Rhizomatic
Cities (Friday, September 10), Siebe Thissen, Esra Ersen, Hou Hanru and Jochen
Becker discuss urban space and identity.

Thomas Michelon (France) invited the artists Bojan Sarcevic, Matti Braun and
Melvin Moti, as well as anthropologists and sociologists, to contribute to
Cultural Transfers: Histories and Sharings, analyzing both the contradictory
interpretations of collective symbolic spaces and the condition of the system
of a (political) community.

Ritsaert ten Cate (The Netherlands) opted for a highly personal approach. An
inventory of his direct contacts with, among others, policy-makers, 'officials'
and directors in the Rotterdam art world forms the core of a 'family tree.' The
works of art selected by these people constitute the newest branches of this
tree. It gives a personal face to Rotterdam’s art policy over recent decades.
Ten Cate's own selection was De Verwoeste Stad ('The Destroyed City') by Ossip
Zadkine. In his motivation, Ten Cate concisely explains the present-day
relevance of this monument. Artists: Anna (Verweij - Verschuure), Cathrin Boer,
Axel van der Kraan, Daan van Golden, bram van Waardenburg, Jeanne van Heeswijk/
Marten Winters, Erik van Lieshout, Joep van Lieshout, Willem Oorebeek and Ben
Zegers.

Annie Fletcher (Ireland) and Sarah Pierce (U.S.A.) have established the
semi-permanent Paraeducation Department, which is inserted between the Witte de
With and TENT. organizations. The Paraeducation Department is situated on the
first floor of the building, where the administrative offices of both
organizations are to be found. Analogous to the regular education activities,
The Paraeducation Department creates a physical and organizational structure
where informal groups, personal encounters and impulsive gatherings facilitate
a learning process. As a model of practice, the department might serve an
exemplary function.

<waanja> (Czech Republic) has drawn together a presentation of subsidized and
tolerated public art in Rotterdam. His particular interest is the
non-representative and engaged art that occupies the border zone between
private and public space. Artists: ZEDZ, MVM, Bibo, Nicoline van Harskamp,
presentation model: Artists’ initiatives and projects in Charlois, Rotterdam,
2001-2003, Hieke Pars, Robin van 't Haar.

Note for editors
For more information on TRACER please check our websites:
http://www.tracerrotterdam.nl
www.tentplaza.nl or www.wdw.nl

Press conference: September 9, 5 p.m., curators and artists will be present.
Please confirm your attendance through Bregje van Woensel
(tent at cbk.rotterdam.nl). For further details: TENT.: +31 (0)10 413 5498 / Witte
de With: +31 (0)10 411 0144.
A series of publications are scheduled for release during the exhibition
period.

TRACER Activities:

Thurs. September 9, TENT. / Witte de With, TRACER multi event / opening
8.30 p.m.: including Kick Out the Jams! The MC5 Live, Leni Sinclair & 
Cary Loren
(video), the White Panther movement’s founder, John Sinclair (lecture),
Applegarden (concert)

Fri., September 10, Arminius, Museumpark 3, Rotterdam
8.30 p.m.: Rhizomatic Cities debate with Jochen Becker, Esra Esren, Hou Hanru
and Siebe Thissen.
10 p.m.: concert by AGF aka antye greie / SUE C.

Sat., September 18, TENT. / Witte de With auditorium
11 a.m.- 4.30 p.m.: symposium on The Paraeducation Department by Annie Fletcher
& Sarah Pierce.
The Paraeducation Reading Group consists of 10 participants who are active as
artists, exhibition organizers or education experts. This group met regularly
for a form of collective learning on the basis of a shared affinity and mutual
solidarity. The symposium is meant to present this approach to a wider public
and discuss it with them.
Participants among others: Annabel Howland, Jeremiah Day, Apolonija Sustersic,
Jason Coburn, Maria Pask, Aletta de Jong, Anke Bangma, Tanja Elstgeest, Annie
Fletcher and Sarah Pierce
Thurs., July 15; Sat., Aug. 28; Thurs., Sept. 9; Fri., Sept. 17: reading groups
(closed sessions)
For the symposium reservations, please call Witte de With: 010-411 0144

Thurs., September 23, TENT. / Witte de With, TRACER multi event
8.30 p.m.: film selected by Matti Braun: Satyajit Ray, The Home and the World,
1984, 140 min., preceded by a discussion with Matti Braun and Thomas Michelon

Thurs., October 7, TENT. / Witte de With, TRACER multi event
8.30 p.m.: multi-avond, film selected by Melvin Moti

Thurs., October 21, TENT. / Witte de With, TRACER multi event
8.30 p.m.: “Go for Soft Institution!” debate. With Christiane Mennicke (curator
at Dresden Kunsthaus), Chus Martinez (curator at Sala Rekalde, Bilbao), Basak
Senova (freelance curator)
For reservations, please call Witte de With: 010-411 0144

Thurs., October 21, B.a.d
11.30 p.m.: Windless, night-time cycle tour by and with Bibo
For reservations please call TENT.: 010-413 5498

Sat., October 23, TENT. / Witte de With auditorium
2-4.30 p.m.: Cultural Transfers: Histories and Sharings conference.
Speakers to include Marc Augé (anthropologist and author of A Sense for the
Other: The Timeliness & Relevance of Anthropology and other books), Thomas
Michelon (guest curator for TRACER / Cultural Attaché of the French Embassy)
and Dirk Snauwaert (artistic director of Wiels, contemporary art
center in Brussels).
Film screening: Al Clah, Ombres Intrépides, 1966-68, 18 min. /  Jean Rouch, Les
maîtres fous, 1955, 18 min.
For reservations, please call Witte de With: 010-411 0144

On Friday, September 10, the day immediately after the opening of TRACER, sees
the launch of 'de Wereld van Witte de With.' For more information about this
festival, visit: www.dewereldvanwittedewith.nl.

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