(Part 1) In pictures: Fifth March Meeting, 17–19 March 2012, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Sun, Mar 25 2012
Sign marking directions to the March Meeting venues.
Latitudes participated in the March Meeting (17–19 March 2012), a three-day symposium organised by the Sharjah Art Foundation which featured presentations by around 80 artists, art professionals and institutions working on the production and presentation of art. The programme of this fifth edition focused on Working With Artists and Audiences on Commissions and Residencies and comprised a series of lectures, debates and breakout sessions that took place in Dar Al Nadwa and other locations around Sharjah's Heritage Area.
More images of the fifth March Meeting and other related events on our Flickr.
More images of the fifth March Meeting and other related events on our Flickr.
Arrival day – Tour to the Barjeel Art Foundation (collection of Sultan Bin Sooud Al-Qassemi) and the Maraya Art Centre, Al Qasba.
The opening of the exhibition "Ziad Antar: Portrait of a Territory" by Lebanese artist Ziad Antar, Collections Building, Heritage Area, Sharjah. Curated by Christine Macel, Chief Curator, Musée National D’Art Moderne Centre Pompidou Paris.
Day 1 – Registration desk at Dar Al Nadwa in Sharjah's Calligraphy Square, the venue where most of the talks took place.
As announced in a previous post, Latitudes presented on the first day two case studies of commissions and residencies as participants in the panel "Minding the Gap: the Critical Role of Smaller Organisations" alongside Hu Fang (Vitamin Creative Space, China), Daniella Rose King (MASS Alexandria, Egypt) and moderated by Samar Martha (ArtSchool Palestine, Palestine).
Panel "Minding the Gap: the Critical Role of Smaller Organisations". Photo: Alfredo Rubio/Sharjah Art Foundation
Latitudes during their presentation. Photo: Alfredo Rubio/Sharjah Art Foundation.
Firstly, Latitudes introduced the commission in the context of 'Portscapes' that was developed from its invitation to the Rotterdam-based artist and editorial duo Fucking Good Art (FGA) to live and work for a month in Rotterdam's Maasvlakte, and secondly, presented a commission addressed to Latitudes in the context of 'The Last Newspaper' in which we worked in the New Museum galleries for 3 months editing a weekly newspaper which became an incremental catalogue based on the micro-community of the exhibition.
Lunch breaks took place at the beautiful Bait Al Naboodah, a two-storey house from 1845.
Plaque marking the entrance to the Bait Obaid Bin Eissa Al Naboodah house.
Guests were treated to wonderful Emirati food.
At the end of the first day, the film "1395 Days without Red" by Anri Sala was premiered at Sharjah's Institute of Theatrical Arts. Šejla Kameric's film was screened on the 18 March at the courtyard of Bait Al Shamsi, Arts Area, Sharjah. Commissioned by UK's Artangel.
Second day – Panellists getting ready for the discussion on "The Importance of Site". With Yusaku Imamura (Tokyo Wonder Site, Japan), Adam Sutherland (Grizedale Arts, UK), Khalil Abdulwahid (Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, UAE), Lu Jie (Long March Space, China) and moderated by Anne Barlow (Art in General, USA).
Day 2 – Panel "Artist as nomad" with Basma Alsharif, Ziad Antar, Šejla Kamerić, Nikolaj Bendix Skyum Larsen and moderated by Sama Alshaibi (University of Arizona, USA).
Day 3 – Panel "The Biennial as Commissioning Agent" with Paul Domela (Liverpool Biennial, UK), Yuko Hasegawa (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Japan & curator of the forthcoming Sharjah Biennial 2013), Abdellah Karroum (independent art researcher, publisher and curator, Morocco), Riyas Komu (Kochi Biennale Foundation, India) and moderated by Marieke van Hal (Biennial Foundation, Greece).
Sheikha Hoor Al-Qasimi, President of the Sharjah Art Foundation, giving her closing remarks of the March Meeting 2012.
Day 3 – Final drinks and snacks at Bait Al Naboodah before Tarek Atoui's performance at the Calligraphy Square. During the drinks, Sheikha Hoor Al-Qasimi announced the recipients of the 2012 Production Grants worth a total of 200,000 U$: Sean Gullette, Mario Rizzi and Lindsay Seers. The grants were judged by PS1 curator Peter Eleey, artist Isak Berbic, and Sharjah Art Foundation President Hoor Al Qasimi. More here.
Impressive setting for Tarek Atoui's performance "Revisiting Tarab" at the Calligraphy Square. Photo: Sharjah Art Foundation.
Tarek Atoui's (Lebanon 1980, lives in Paris) 5.5-hour-long incredible performance "Revisiting Tarab" involved the participation of 17 musicians and sound artists. Atoui writes:
"Tarab" is used in Arab culture to describe the emotional effect of music, and refers to the older repertoire rooted in the pre-World War I musical practice of Egypt and the East Mediterranean Arab world. In the occasion of Performa 2011, Atoui invited musicians and sound artists to travel to Beirut to explore the world's most extensive collection of Classical Arab music owned by Lebanese collector Kamal Kassar, which comprises over 5,000 old 78rpm shellac discs and tapes dating from 1903 to 1950s. Participants selected excerpts from the collection and independently composed their own interpretations of both the content and its possibilities in relation to the history of "Tarab".
(...) The structure and orchestration of the "Re-visiting Tarab" performance is inspired by the rules of the traditional wasla –literally meaning a connection or chaining together. In Egyptian music and Near East is a suite of several vocal and instrumental pieces composed and improvised anchored to the same maqam or harmonic mode– that compiles and shifts between musical forms such as the dulab – a short melodic and rhythmic introduction – the taqsim – an instrumental solo improvisation– and the muwashah – a song based on an Arab-Andalusian or Oriental poem. The performance was produced by Sharjah Art Foundation with the support of AMAR Foundation. More info: http://www.visitingtarab.com
20 March: Guests waiting to take the bus to Kalba opposite the Sharjah Art Museum.
On the last day a group of guests and journalists were taken 110km from Sharjah city to Kalba, the third most important city in the Emirate, on its east coast, whose road extends up to the border with Oman. Here the Sharjah Art Foundation is currently readapting a 200m2 concrete building by the creek to become the Kalba Art Centre, planned to open in a years time. (Ziad Antar’s ongoing exhibition "Portrait of a Territory" at Sharjah's Collection Building, includes photo documentation of this coastline taken between 2004 and 2011.)
holds a map of the area where Kalba's future art centre will be while Hisham Al Madhloum, director of the Sharjah Directorate of Art, points out the location and particularities of Kalba and its surroundings.
Bus nearby Kalba's creek, a mangrove swamp.
The future site of the Kalba Art Centre occupies a total area of 13,000 m2 and in the 1970s was originally intended to be used as a fish fertiliser factory but is now intermittently used as an ice factory and a boat repair shop. The former factory will have a space for exhibitions, a cafeteria, spaces for workshops and host artist residencies, and will be managed and programmed by the Sharjah Art Foundation.
Façade of the future Kalba Art Centre. This triple height pitched space overlooks the protected mangroves and heritage area across the creek.
Interior space of the future Kalba Art Centre.
Back in Sharjah, we did a final tour to see the show "What should I do to live in your life?" at Bait Al Serkal, opposite the Sharjah Art Museum, which presented film works by Lee Kit, Minouk Lim, João Vasco Paiva, Part-time Suite and Yuk King Tan.
Entrance to Bait Al Serkal exhibition space.
All photos: Latitudes | www.lttds.org (except where noted otherwise in the photo caption)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Latitudes participates in the fifth annual March Meeting organised by Sharjah Art Foundation, 17–19 March 2012, Dar Al Nadwa, Heritage Area, Sharjah
Tue, Mar 6 2012
Latitudes' 3-month residency at the New Museum in 2010. Photo: Latitudes
FGA month residency at the Maasvlakte in 2009. Photo: FGA
March Meeting, a three-day symposium featuring presentations by artists, art professionals and institutions on the production and dissemination of art. March Meeting 2012: Working With Artists and Audiences on Commissions and Residencies will take place March 17–19, in Sharjah's scenic Heritage Area.
Latitudes will present two case studies of commissions and residencies. Firstly, a Latitudes commission in the context of 'Portscapes' that was developed from their invitation to the Rotterdam-based artist and editorial duo Fucking Good Art (FGA). Based from a shipping container the extremity of Rotterdam port for a month, FGA initiated a temporary web radio and research station. And secondly, a commission addressed to Latitudes in the context of 'The Last Newspaper' in which the curatorial duo worked in the New Museum galleries for 3 months editing a weekly newspaper which became an incremental catalogue based on the micro-community of the exhibition. Both residencies explored editorial and curatorial approaches as well as formats of publishing or broadcasting and highlight how small organisation can operate flexibly and critically within a larger structure – whether a huge industrial infrastructure project or a museum exhibition.
Speakers of the three-day symposium include: Abed Al Ju'beh, Director, Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre (KSCC) (Palestine); H.E. Abdul Rahman Al Owais, UAE Minister of Culture; Noura Al-Sayeh, Architect & Curator (Bahrain); Palmina D'Ascoli, Manager of Department of Residencies, Institut Français (France); Shezad Dawood, Artist; Peter Eleey, Curator, MoMA/PS1 (USA); Amal Khalaf, Edgware Road Project: Assistant Curator of Serpentine Gallery (UK); Yuko Hasegawa, Chief Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (MOT) (Japan); Louise Hui-Juan Hsu, Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei (Taiwan); Danda J, Director, Kuona Trust Centre for Visual Arts (Kenya); Lu Jie, Founder & Director, Long March Space (China); Eungie Joo, Curator, New Museum (USA); Riyas Komu, Director of Programmes, Kochi-Muziris Biennale (India); James Lingwood, Co-Director, Artangel (UK); Salwa Mikdadi, Head of Arts & Cultural Program, Emirates Foundation (UAE); Ayeh Naraghi, Cultural Programmes Specialist, UNESCO Doha Office (Qatar); Susan Pfeffer, Curator, KW Institute for Contemporary Art (Berlin); Andrea Rose, Head of Visual Arts, British Council (UK); Beatrix Ruf, Director/Curator, Kunsthalle Zürich (Switzerland); Anri Sala, Artist; Ramin Salsali, Founder, Salsali Private Museum (UAE).
The March Meeting and related events are free and open to the public. Registration is recommended at [email protected] Read more here.
March Meetings 2012
Dar Al Nadwa, Heritage Area
Sharjah
United Arab Emirates
The March Meeting and related events are free and open to the public. Registration is recommended at [email protected] Read more here.
March Meetings 2012
Dar Al Nadwa, Heritage Area
Sharjah
United Arab Emirates
Installation views of the 'Portscapes' exhibition, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, on view until 25 April. Free entrance.
Sun, Feb 14 2010
View of the outside of the Richard Serra Hall / Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
(Above and below) Ilana Halperin, "A Brief History of Mobile Landmass", 2009–2010.
Christina Hemauer and Roman Keller, "The Postpetrolistic Internationale", 2009–2010
Video and audio installation with wooden stage.
Exhibition of the documentation material produced during the year-long commissioning series of works in and around Rotterdam's port extension project Maasvlakte 2, with works by Lara Almarcegui, Bik van der Pol, Jan Dibbets,Marjolijn Dijkman, Fucking Good Art, Ilana Halperin, Christina Hemauer & Roman Keller,Paulien Oltheten, Jorge Satorre, and Hans Schabus (website collaborators: Maria Barnas (poetry) and Markus Miessen (interviews)).
More images of the exhibition here.
More images of each commission here.
'Making of' videos here.
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Museumpark 18-20, 3015 CX Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Opening hours: Tue–Sun 11.00 to 17.00
Opening hours: Tue–Sun 11.00 to 17.00
All images: Latitudes | www.lttds.org
'Portscapes' "making of" videos on Latitudes' YouTube Channel
Fri, Feb 12 2010Latitudes' YouTube Channel also includes documentation of an action with Lawrence Weiner in the context of his 2008 Fundació Suñol exhibition 'THE CREST OF A WAVE' as well as Ignasi Aballí whitewashing a window for his exhibition 'Something, or nothing' in the Suitcase Art Projects, Beijing.
Portscapes bus tour: Lara Almarcegui wasteland tour and Christina Hemauer & Roman Keller's 'Postpetrolistic Internationale' choir performance
Tue, Nov 10 2009
On Sunday 8 November 2009, SKOR and the Port of Rotterdam Authority organised a bus tour around the Port of Rotterdam coinciding with the 4th International Architecture Biennial Rotterdam and the culmination of 'Portscapes' projects, a year-long series of commissions in and around Maasvlakte 2, the 2,000 hectare ongoing extension of the port.
Over 80 visitors enjoyed the 'The Postpetrolistic Internationale' choir performance, a project by the Zurich-based artists Roman Keller & Christina Hemauer as well as the tour around four wasteland sites included in the research publication of the guide 'Wastelands of the Port of Rotterdam' by Rotterdam-based artist Lara Almarcegui.
During the tour, visitors were also able to see and listen to other 'Portscapes' projects by Marjolijn Dijkman, Fucking Good Art, Ilana Halperin (audio here), Jorge Satorre, Hans Schabus and Paulien Oltheten.
An exhibition of the projects will take place at the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen from 5 February, coinciding with Art Rotterdam. Exhibition on view until end of March 2010.
Portscapes is a series of newly commissioned art projects initiated by the Port of Rotterdam Authority on occasion of the construction of Maasvlakte 2, with advice and support from SKOR (Foundation for Art and Public Space, Amsterdam) and is curated by Latitudes (Barcelona).
Roman Keller and Christina Hemauer's participation has been made possible thanks to the support of Pro Helvetia.
'Portscapes' news: Bus Tour around the Port of Rotterdam, Sunday 8 November 2009, 10–15h
Sun, Oct 25 2009
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Bus Tour – Portscapes public art projects on the Maasvlakte, Rotterdam.
SKOR invited the duo Latitudes from Barcelona, who has curated a series of projects reflecting on the architectural, political, social and ecological aspects of the past, present and future of the Rotterdam port with a focus on the new Maasvlakte 2. Portscapes consists of ten new commissions in and about the Maasvlakte by Dutch and international artists, including interventions, films, performances and mobile seminars.
Bus tour bookings: write to ad [at] skor.nl by 2 November 2009
Free tour. English spoken
An exhibition of the Portscapes projects will be on show at the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam from 5 February, until late March 2010.
Programme on 8 November
(Programme subject to changes)
9.45 am – Leave from NAI Rotterdam, Museumpark 25 3015 CB, Rotterdam
On the way to the port you can listen to interviews by Fucking Good Art on mp3 players in the bus. Amongst others, Hans Aarsman, an industrial ecologist, a botanist and an archaeologist, will describe his vision of the Maasvlakte on the basis of his field of expertise. The artistic duo FGA broadcast this and other conversations from a temporary web radio station in a container united placed on the Maasvlakte between 21 August and 21 September.
10.45 am – Visit to wastelands by artist Lara Almarcegui and botanist Remko Andeweg
The Spanish-born Rotterdam-based artist Lara Almarcegui has published a free newspaper research project concerning the ‘wasteland’ areas which can be encountered throughout the Port of Rotterdam. Almarcegui and botanist Remko Andeweg will describe these areas characterised by an apparent lack of human intervention.
12.00 am – Arrival at Futureland, the Maasvlakte information centre
On the way we pass the billboards by the artists Marjolijn Dijkman, Jorge Satorre, Paulien Oltheten and Hans Schabus.
Lunch in Futureland, provided by the Rotterdam Port Authority.
Introduction by Latitudes, curators of 'Portscapes'
1.00 pm – Tour of the artworks in and around Futureland
You can view work by Paulien Oltheten and Hans Schabus and explore the nearby area picking up Ilana Halperin’s audio tour. Halperin created a compelling narrative of fragments which draws on fact, fiction and personal fieldwork – as well as site surveys by volcanologists, geologists and the experts involved in the construction of Maasvlakte 2.
1.30 pm – Performance 'Postpetrolistic Internationale'
The project by Swiss artists Roman Keller & Christina Hemauer emerges from the medium of the collective human voice, the tradition of the aspirational social anthem alongside the artists’ long standing interest in energy use. The project starts with the transportation of a wooden stage along the Rhine from Basel (where the Rhine begins), near the artists’ home, to Rotterdam (where the Rhine joins the sea) – see post 30.10.09. Upon arrival a local choir will perform this anthem of hope-in-action (composed by the artists in collaboration with musician Mathias Vette) on the stage, against a backdrop of local industry, to mark man’s changing relationship with fossil fuels and energy use.
2 pm – Return to NAI Rotterdam with a number of stops at various art projects along the way: wastelands by Lara Almarcegui and works by Paulien Oltheten
3 pm – Arrival in NAI Rotterdam. End of the journey.
Portscapes is commissioned by the Port of Rotterdam Authority with advice from SKOR (Foundation for Art and Public Space, Amterdam) and is curated by Latitudes.
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Bus tour dirección al puerto de Rotterdam, Domingo 8 Noviembre 2009, 10–15h, organizado por SKOR y la Autoridad Portuaria de Rotterdam coincidiendo con la 4th International Architecture Biennial Rotterdam. Tour organizado en ocasión de Portscapes, la serie acumulativa de proyectos públicos que en el Puerto de Rotterdam
Presentación de dos nuevos proyectos: performance de los suizos Roman Keller y Christina Hemauer (7–8 Noviembre) y publicación de la guía 'Wastelands of the Port of Rotterdam' realizada por Lara Almarcegui. Durante el tour se podrán ver y escuchar los proyectos realizados por Marjolijn Dijkman, Fucking Good Art, Ilana Halperin, Jorge Satorre, Hans Schabus y Paulien Oltheten.
Para reservar tu plaza, escribe a [email protected] antes del 2 November 2009.
Accesso gratuito, tour será en inglés.
Exposición de los proyectos de Portscapes tendrá lugar en el Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, a partir del 5 de Febrero y hasta finales de Marzo 2010.
PROGRAMA 8 NOVIEMBRE
9.45-15hs
(Programa sujeto a cambios de última hora)
09.45 am – Salida desde NAI Rotterdam, Museumpark 25 3015 CB, Rotterdam
Durante el recorrido se podrá escuchar mediante auriculares una entrevista al ecologista, botanista, y arqueólogo Hans Aarsman realizada por el duo FGA durante su residencia en un container emplazado en el Maasvlakte, desde donde recogieron conversaciones temáticas y exploraciones de campo. + info...
Durante el recorrido se podrá escuchar mediante auriculares una entrevista al ecologista, botanista, y arqueólogo Hans Aarsman realizada por el duo FGA durante su residencia en un container emplazado en el Maasvlakte, desde donde recogieron conversaciones temáticas y exploraciones de campo. + info...
10.45 am –
Visita de terrenos baldíos por Lara Almarcegui y el botanista Remko Andeweg.
La artista española afincada en Rotterdam Lara Almarcegui ha publicado una guía en formato periódico en la que se recoge su investigación entorno a los actuales terrenos baldíos que pueden encontrarse a lo largo de puerto de Rotterdam. En contraste con la gran planificación que circunda el futuro Maasvlakte 2, Almarcegui se interesa por los espacios definidos por la aparente falta de diseño y desarrollo. El público navegará el puerto como un territorio interconectado con la ayuda de esta guía que, como ha manifestado la artista, "actuará como una herramienta para conocerlo mejor (...) para ver cómo el territorio está cambiando. En el futuro, cuando la mayoría de estos terrenos se vean modificados, la guía actuará como un documento histórico que describirá cómo fue el puerto en el 2009".
12.00 am – Visita del centro de visitantes Futureland y almuerzo
Durante el viaje se podrán ver las vallas publicitarias de los artistas Marjolijn Dijkman, Jorge Satorre, Paulien Oltheten y Hans Schabus. A la llegada Latitudes, comisarios de 'Portscapes', introducirán los proyectos.
Durante el viaje se podrán ver las vallas publicitarias de los artistas Marjolijn Dijkman, Jorge Satorre, Paulien Oltheten y Hans Schabus. A la llegada Latitudes, comisarios de 'Portscapes', introducirán los proyectos.
1.00 pm – Visita de las obras presentadas en Futureland y alrededores
Visita de las obras de Paulien Oltheten y Hans Schabus así como la audioguía 'A Brief History of Mobile Landmass' realizada por Ilana Halperin. La audioguía narra fragmentos reales y ficticios recogidos a partir de la investigación de la artista y expertos entorno a volcanes y estudios de campo relacionados con la presente construcción del Maasvlakte 2 – escuchar capítulos o descargar archivos aquí
Visita de las obras de Paulien Oltheten y Hans Schabus así como la audioguía 'A Brief History of Mobile Landmass' realizada por Ilana Halperin. La audioguía narra fragmentos reales y ficticios recogidos a partir de la investigación de la artista y expertos entorno a volcanes y estudios de campo relacionados con la presente construcción del Maasvlakte 2 – escuchar capítulos o descargar archivos aquí
13.30h – '
Postpetrolistic Internationale', performance de Roman Keller & Christina Hemauer
El proyecto de los suizos Roman Keller & Christina Hemauer comienza con el transporte de un escenario a lo largo del Rin, desde Basilea (donde el Rin abandona Suiza) y cerca de donde viven los artistas, hasta Rotterdam (donde el Rin desemboca en el mar) - léase post 30.10.09. A su llegada un coro cantará la 'The Postpetrolistic Internationale', un himno social compuesto por los artistas en colaboración con el músico y compositor Mathias Vetter, que proclama el comienzo de una nueva era donde el petróleo pertenece al pasado. Los días 7 y 8 de noviembre un coro local interpretará este himno de esperanza sobre el escenario en pleno paisaje industrial, para poner en perspectiva la historia evolución de hombre y su relación con los combustibles fósiles y el uso de la energía. Ésta será la primera vez que se cantará en inglés.
2 pm – Regreso al NAI Rotterdam con varias paradas durante el recorrido a los terrenos valdíos seleccionados por Lara Almarcegui y obras de Paulien Oltheten
Portscapes es un encargo de la Autoridad Portuaria de Rotterdam con el consejo de SKOR (Foundation for Art and Public Space, Amsterdam) y comisariado por Latitudes.
Three new 'Portscapes' projects: Fucking Good Art, Paulien Oltheten and Ilana Halperin
Mon, Sep 14 2009
Three new 'Portscapes' projects: Fucking Good Art's broadcasting from their 'base camp' in Maasvlakte until 21 September; Paulien Oltheten billboard and forthcoming exhibition at Futureland and Ilana Halperin's scripted audio field guide available in English and Dutch from 18 September 2009
Project website: www.portscapes.nl
More info on this projects here
Rotterdam-based artists Rob Hamelijnck and Nienke Terpsma, editors of the printed and online magazine FUCKING GOOD ART, have been living and working in a ‘base camp’ on the Maasvlakte from 20th August and will be there until end of September producing Portscapes ON AIR – Station Maasvlakte. (+ info...)
On 14 August 2009 a billboard by Amsterdam-based artist PAULIEN OLTHETEN was placed along the A15 on the Maasvlakte. Oltheten made use of the lack of reference of natural elements, such as trees, bushes and people by arranging meetings. These stagings mostly take place in locations on the Maasvlakte that will soon disappear or be displaced and often involve variations of the theme ‘one becomes two’, referring to the Maasvlakte, of which there will later be two. (+ info...)
As her contribution to Portscapes, New York-born Glasgow-based artist ILANA HALPERIN has created an audio field guide available online and on MP3 players which visitors will be able to pick up at Futureland (map here) and experience through wandering the nearby area of the port edge. ‘A Brief History of Mobile Landmass’ is inspired by a perception of Maasvlakte 2 in terms of formidable geophysical phenomena and a geological sense of time. (+ info...)
Audioguide available online and at Futureland (map here) from 18 September 2009 until 2013. Narrated in English and Dutch. Duration: 45 min.
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'Portscapes' is an accumulative series of art commissions taking place throughout 2009 alongside the construction of ‘Maasvlakte 2’, a 2,000 hectare area of reclaimed land that will extend the Port of Rotterdam, Europe's largest seaport and industrial area by 20%. Projects varied in size and scale will be produced under the leitmotif itineraries and destinations comprising tours, audioguides, performances, radio programmes, interventions, for example. (+ info...)
Artists involved in Portscapes: Lara Almarcegui, Bik van der Pol, Jan Dibbets, Marjolijn Dijkman, Fucking Good Art, Cyprien Gaillard, Ilana Halperin, Roman Keller & Christina Hemauer, Paulien Oltheten, Michael Rakowitz, Jorge Satorre, Hans Schabus and Jun Yang. Website collaborators: Maria Barnas (poetry) and Markus Miessen (interviews).
Read more on completed projects and on projects in production.
'Portscapes' press coverage here. To receive Portscapes news sign up here.
'Portscapes' is commissioned by the Port of Rotterdam Authority with advice and support from SKOR (Foundation for Art and Public Space) and is curated by Latitudes.
Fucking Good Art 'base camp' in Maasvlakte, Rotterdam, until 21 September
Wed, Sep 2 2009
Adapting their embedded approach for Portscapes, the editors of FGA are living and working in a ‘base camp’ on the Maasvlakte for 5 weeks, starting 20 August while producing Portscapes_ON AIR. Comprising a series of audio walks, field recordings and conversations with guests from different disciplines Portscapes_ON AIR will be broadcast on the internet (www.portscapes.nl).
Inspired by their camp’s proximity to the pipeline which carries sand from the Yangtzehaven to the future Maasvlakte 2, the editors of FGA approach their endeavour both as inhabitants of an industrial and man-made territory and in relation to the redistribution and displacement of knowledge. Alongside other grand movements of transportation and trade taking place in the port, FGA’s broadcasts take shape through encounters with others and consider the role that art and artists have in other registers of exchange. Starting from the principal that in order to really understand a place one needs to really inhabit it, and the question of how to represent a place like as Maasvlakte 2 which does not yet fully exist, the editors of FGA also aim to stimulate discussion about the representation of Dutch landscape. They hope that their project could be pilot for a further research residencies.
Participants contributing to Fucking Good Art's research on Maasvlakte and webradio:
Frank Bruggeman: Designer, artist and one of the editors of 'Club Donny', a strictly unedited journal on the personal experience of nature in the urban enviroment.
Hans Aarsman: Former photo journalist, and currently columnist for the Dutch newspaper "De Volkskrant" and playwriter. In 1988 he travelled for one year in Holland in his camper van - a Citroën HY - to produced the book 'Hollandse Taferelen'. He has published several publications: the photo book 'Aarsmans Amsterdam' (1993), his first novel 'Twee hoofden, een kussen' (1995) and in 2003 the autobiographical book 'Vrrooom! Vrrooomm!'. Some of his photos are free for download at the Nederlands Fotomuseum.
Remko Andeweg: Botanical analyst, City biologist of Rotterdam and author of the book 'Vreemde Planten in Rotterdam' [Exotic plants in Rotterdam, 2002], about the migration of plants that are considered foreign and endanger domestic vegetation.
Lino Hellings: Errorist! Recently founded the press agency P.A.P.A, an international network of artists and correspondents that creates news by taking action. Co-author of the publication "An Architecture of Interaction", and one of the founders of Dogtroep (1975), a self-styled form of visual theatre.
Gijsbert Korevaar: Industrial Ecologist.
Aurélie Barbier: A French urban planner specialised in emerging cities. Currently working for Urbaplan, an urban planning firm based in Switzerland. She has worked on various projects in Southern Europe and sub-Saharan African countries (Cameroon, Niger, Ghana). Over the past five years, she has focused on the definition of master plan, regulatory plan and slum upgrading projects through a comprehensive approach that includes both social and technical dimensions of urban development.
Martin Blum: Swiss artist and farmer. Works together with Haimo Ganz under the name GANZBLUM. In their art projects they focus on (life)cycles. Martin recently started public art projects on his farm "Frohe Aussicht" outside Zurich.
Marjolijn de Kok: Theoretical archeologist specialised on settlements and the wetlands of Holland. Also co-publisher of LIMA.
John Lonsdale: Architect. In the last years he has begun mapping the ‘Mudscapes of the Netherlands’ whereby he strives for the reconciliation of architecture with landscape.
Achilleka Komguem: Artist from Duala. Editor of journal 'Diartgonale' and worked on a radio show in Bessengue. He is in visiting Holland for 'Talking about!' a project by curators Zoë Gray and Lucia Babina that brings six artists and cultural producers from Cameroon to the Netherlands. FGA are hosting Achilleka during his visit.
CLUI: The Centre for Land Use Interpretation is a research organisation based in Culver City, Los Angeles, involved in exploring, examining, and understanding land and landscape issues. The Center employs a variety of methods to pursue its mission - engaging in research, classification, extrapolation, and exhibition. http://www.clui.org
Thank you to PUMA for providing the accommodation and Delta for the electricity.
Video of a recent sandstorm. Courtesy FGA.
Newsletter #15, September 2009
Tue, Sep 1 2009
We have just circulated our September 2009, you may read English version or Versión española. This September we are presenting a three more Portscapes projects (see previous presentations of Hans Schabus and Jan Dibbets) by Rotterdam-based magazine editors Fucking Good Art (http://www.fuckinggoodart.nl), Amsterdam-based Paulien Oltheten and Glasgow-based Ilana Halperin. Read about projects in development here.
On the 25, 26 and 27 September Latitudes will be participating in the second part of 'Produce, Exhibit and Interpret (Strategies and conflicts in today's curatorial practice)' in Matadero Madrid, a meeting of generationally-linked contemporary art Spanish-based curators designed to generate and strengthen social networks among professionals from the sector.
If you would like to subscribe to our mailing list please fill your data on this contact form (see left) - please choose ONE language only. If you would like to read previous newsletters, click here.
Check also Latitudes's blog at www.lttds.org/blog for further news.