[artinfo] TRACER: SIX CURATORS REFLECT ON THE CITY OF ROTTERDAM

[pelintan at softhome.net]

Witte de With <Mail at wdw.nl> wrote: Subject: TRACER - six curators reflect on 
the city of Rotterdam
Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2004 17:14:05 +0200
From: "Witte de With" 

 


TRACER: SIX CURATORS REFLECT ON THE CITY OF ROTTERDAM 

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

Is the heart of Rotterdam’s art world beating in the right place and to the 
right rhythm? Tracer is an exhibition project by TENT. in celebration of its 
fifth anniversary that is being organized in association with Witte de With. 
The title of the exhibition, Tracer, is the isotope used in physics and 
chemistry used to precisely follow metabolic processes. Here it is six 
curators who act as “tracers”, briefly shedding light on the contemporary 
art scene in Rotterdam and revealing the actual state of affairs. 

 

 


The curators
Six curators from various countries have been invited to study the 
prevailing cultural climate in Rotterdam and to share their thoughts and 
reactions to it. The central concerns are artistic production, the municipal 
arts policy, and also the local and (inter)national position of TENT. and 
Witte de With.
Andreas Broeckmann (Germany), Ritsaert ten Cate (the Netherlands), Annie 
Fletcher (Ireland), Thomas Michelon (France), Pelin Tan (Turkey), and 
<waanja> (Czech Republic) present their personal responses in various 
subsections of the exhibition, in a series of debates, and in music, film, 
and video programs, to be held throughout the building and beyond. 

The projects
While carrying out research in Rotterdam’s port area, Andreas Broeckmann 
discovered an oil stockpile large enough to supply oil for 90 days in the 
case of an international crisis. Broeckmann used this fact as the starting 
point for his project Neuralgic, 90 Days to Shake the World.
Ritsaert ten Cate has taken his love-hate relationship with Rotterdam as his 
point of departure. He brings together works by Rotterdam-based artists in 
the presentation Stad zonder hart (“City without a Heart”), addressing the 
present-day politics of the city council, its artistic policy, and reactions 
to it from the art world.
The curator Annie Fletcher and artist Sarah Pierce (Ireland) are working as 
a duo in The Paraeducation Department. Bearing in mind the issue of the role 
of education in art, they are studying the “need” to establish a critical 
and activist space within TENT. and Witte de With.
Proceeding from the fact that Rotterdam is a city where there is a 
continuous process of cultural and social change, Thomas Michelon has 
invited the artists Bojan Šarèeviæ, Matti Braun, and Melvin Moti to reflect 
on this theme in Cultural Transfers: Histories and Sharings.
In Luggage From Another Climate, Pelin Tan brings together a group of 
artists to jointly create a new work.
Lastly, <waanja> is preparing a presentation of legal and illegal public art 
in Rotterdam – and the level of engagement of them both. He will show 
artists’ projects which focus on offering (small-scale) solutions for local 
problems in the city’s various districts. 

This project is coordinated by Arno van Roosmalen (TENT.), Catherine David 
(Witte de With) and Renske Janssen (Witte de With). 

Note to editors: more detailed information will be presented in a subsequent 
press release towards the end of August 2004. There will be a program for 
the press to coincide with the opening of the exhibition. A series of 
publications is scheduled for the exhibition period.
For further information please contact TENT.: +31 (0)10 4135498 / Witte de 
With: +31 (0)10 4110144. 

 

Opening hours TENT. and Witte de With: Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. - 6 
p.m.
Price: € 2.30 (admission for TENT. and Witte de With)
Discount: € 1.10. MJK/ Rotterdampas;<16: free 

TENT. CENTER FOR VISUAL ART and WITTE DE WITH, CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ART
Witte de Withstraat 50, 3012 BR Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Witte de With: phone + 31 (0)10 4110144, fax + 31 (0)10 4117924, www.wdw.nl, 
info at wdw.nl
TENT.: phone + 31 (0)10 4135498, fax + 31 (0)10 4135521, www.tentplaza.nl, 
tent at cbk.rotterdam.nl 


 


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