melanie bonajo, When the body says Yes @ Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Collection

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen acquires melanie bonajo’s When the body says Yes

melanie bonajo, When the body says Yes

© melanie bonajo / Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen receives When the body says Yes in its museum collection. The installation, created by Dutch artist melanie bonajo,  was exhibited during the summer of 2024 during the much talked about event Craving for Boijmans. There it functioned as a sensory end piece for a special art route through the closed museum building. In 2022, When the body says Yes was the Dutch entry for the 59th Venice Biennale.

When the body says Yes

This art piece by melanie bonajo is an installation consisting of a video artwork that is 43 minutes in length, framed by an organically-shaped scenography created in collaboration with fellow artist Théo Demans. When the body says Yes takes the viewer through and around the body, addressing the role of sexuality, body positivity, gender and consent within our society. There’s a very diverse group of people featured in the film, which challenges the viewer with a multitude of questions: on sexuality, the body and a personal vision on gender beyond the stereotypical patterns.

Craving for Boijmans

When the body says Yes was a prime attraction during Craving for Boijmans. It became an inspiring challenge and collaboration between the museum, the artists and the gallery to land the piece at the majestic Bodonzaal. It injected a humanity into what was an abandoned building. Not just thanks to the expressive, inclusive design, but most of all the topics that were addressed. When the body says Yes builds a bridge between the human who experiences it and the individuals who appear inside of it. Visitors have reacted in a positive way – often surprised or provoked – which speaks to the continuous social relevance of the subjects melanie bonajo addresses in their work.

melanie bonajo is an artist, filmmaker, sexological bodyworker, somatic sex coach and educator, cuddle workshop leader and activist. Through videos, performances, photographs and installations, bonajo explores current issues arising from living together in a capitalist system. melanie bonajo is represented by AKINCI.

MUSEUM BOIJMANS VAN BEUNINGEN

Museumpark 18-20, 3015 CX Rotterdam

www.boijmans.nl

Focus Beijing. Collection De Heus-Zomer at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam

Focus Beijing

Collection De Heus-Zomer

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam

14 June - 21 September 2014

The Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen presents a selection from the collection of Chinese contemporary art amassed by Henk de Heus and his wife Victoria de Heus-Zomer. The couple have been travelling to China regularly since the late nineteen-nineties, buying work by leading artists. This important private collection of contemporary Chinese art has never been exhibited in context before.

Henk de Heus and Victoria de Heus-Zomer’s collection of Chinese art is unique in the Netherlands. Since their first visit to China in 1998 they have been collecting contemporary Chinese art. Underpinning this extraordinary collection is the relationship of trust that the couple has built up with various artists over the years. In dialogue with the collectors, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen has selected some twenty artists who represent two generations, and live and work in Beijing. The museum is showing a selection of paintings, photographs and sculptures. The exhibition is the grand finale crowning a series of three exhibitions of works from the De Heus-Zomer Collection.

Current Art from Beijing

‘Focus on Beijing: Collection De Heus-Zomer’ is an exhibition spotlighting a number of prominent artists from Beijing who represent two generations. The first grew up in the nineteen-fifties and sixties. Their works reflects strong political engagement, with allusions to China’s traumatic history and the social and cultural revolution she has undergone in recent decades. Artists like Zhang Dali (Harbin, 1963), Zhang Xiaogang (Kunming, 1958), Hai Bo (Changchun,1962) and Ai Weiwei (Beijing, 1957) represent this generation. The second generation of artists grew up in the nineteen-seventies and eighties, the period of the Chinese open-door policy. Artists like Qiu Xiaofei (Hoerbin, 1977), Wang Guangle (Fujian, 1976) and Liang Yuanwei (Xi’an, 1977) were born at a time when Chinese society was starting to turn more towards the West, a period of strong growth when the effect of market forces was becoming evident. Individuality and intuition are key to their work as artists. They know all about trends in the global art world-much more than that art world knows about developments in contemporary Chinese art.

The De Heus-Zomer Collection

Henk and Victoria de Heus-Zomer have been collecting art since the late nineteen-eighties. When they began, they were looking for things to fill the walls in their house in Barneveld. Over the years the collection grew to become a leading private collection, with numerous masterpieces by artists like Marlene Dumas, René Daniëls, JCJ VanderHeijden, Neo Rauch, Anselm Kiefer and Thomas Struth. Since 2010 they have created three exhibitions of work from the collection: in Singer Laren and last year in Museum Belvédère. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen concludes this trilogy.

Sensory Spaces 4 - Liu Wei

The focus of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen’s summer programme this year is contemporary Chinese art. To coincide with Focus on Beijing, the Chinese artist Liu Wei has been commissioned by Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen to make a site-specific installation for the Sensory Spaces series. In this series an artist is invited to respond to the properties of a particular space-the museum’s Willem van der Vorm Gallery- and manipulate them in an unexpected manner. Liu Wei’s monumental work is a reflection on China’s urbanization.

Focus Bejing - De Heus-Zomer Collection

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam - 2014

English - Chinese exhibition catalogue 

Authors: Feng Boyi, Hans den Hartog Jager, Noor Mertens

Design by Stern / Den Hartog & De Vries

23 x 28 cm - 192 p. - ISBN:978-90-6918-279-7 -Hardcover

Catalogue/ARTtube: Accompanying the exhibition is a publication with contributions by Feng Boyi, Hans den Hartog Jager, Noor Mertens and Sjarel Ex. An ARTtube video is also being developed for the exhibition.

MUSEUM BOIJMANS VAN BEUNINGEN

Museumpark 18-20, 3015 CX Rotterdam

www.boijmans.nl

Brancusi, Rosso, Man Ray - Framing Sculpture, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam

Brancusi, Rosso, Man Ray - Framing Sculpture
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam
Through May 11, 2014

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen brings together works from all over the world by three artists who were decisive for the development of modern art: Constantin Brancusi, Medardo Rosso and Man Ray. This is the first exhibition to combine works by these famous sculptors together with their photographs, affording a unique insight into the artists’ working methods.

Masterpieces that have rarely or never been seen in the Netherlands will be lent by important museums such as the Centre Pompidou, MoMA and Tate Modern. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen will show 40 sculptures and more than 60 photographs by Constantin Brancusi (Hobiţa 1876 - Paris 1957), Medardo Rosso (Turin 1858 - Milan 1928) and Man Ray (Philadelphia 1890 - Paris 1976). The exhibition features sculptures such as Brancusi’s ‘Bird in Space’ (1941) and Rosso’s ‘Ecce Puer’ (1906) alongside works by Man Ray from the museum’s collection, including the sculpture ‘The Enigma of Isidore Ducasse’ (1920/1971). Presenting the sculptures together with the artists’ photographs reveals their often-surprising perspectives on their own works.

Framing sculpture

All three artists lived in Paris at the beginning of the 20t th century and all three documented their own sculptures extensively through photography. The photographs show how they interpreted their sculptures and how they wanted them to be seen by others. Constantin Brancusi is considered the father of modern sculpture with his highly simplified sculptures of people and animals. In his photographs he experimented with light and reflection so that his sculptures absorb their environment and appear to come to life. Medardo Rosso is the artist who introduced impressionism in sculpture. The indistinct contours of his apparently quickly modelled figures in plaster and wax make them appear to fuse with their surroundings. Rosso cut up the soft-focus photographs of his work, made them into collages and reworked them with ink so that the sculptures appear even flatter and more contourless. Man Ray is best known as a photographer but was also a painter and sculptor. His choice of materials was unconventional: he combined existing objects to create new works, comparable to the ‘readymades’ of his friend Marcel Duchamp. Man Ray’s experimental use of photography led him to make photographs without the use of a camera. He made these so-called ‘rayographs’ by placing objects directly on photographic paper and exposing them briefly to light, leaving behind a ghostly impression.

Through the eyes of the artist 

The photographs of Brancusi, Rosso and Man Ray give the public the opportunity to see the sculptures through the artists’ own eyes. Three multimedia presentations, including projections and animations, will use modern digital techniques to replicate the artists’ explorations of form.

Museum Boijmans
Museumpark 18, 3015 CX, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
www.boijmans.nl

Festival International du Film de Rotterdam 2010

 

 

15 films ont été sélectionnés pour concourir aux VPRO Tiger awards du Festival international du film de Rotterdam 2010. La liste est reproduite ci-dessous. Le festival prime, dans cette catégorie, des cinéastes pour leur premier ou second long métrage. Il s’agit donc d’encourager de “jeunes” réalisateurs. Trois films remporteront chacun un prix doté de 15.000 euros. Le jury est composé de l’actrice et chanteuse française Jeanne Balibar, du réalisateur polonais et hollandais Urszula Antoniak, de l’ancien directeur du Festival du film de Singapour Philip Cheah, du réalisateur mexicain Amat Escan et de l’acteur et militant ougandais Okello Kelo Sam. Les gagnants seront connus le 5 février prochain.

 

 

Les 15 films en compétition en images

 

   La vie au Ranch, Film de Sophie Letourneur, France, 2009

 

   Agua fría de mar - Cold water of the Sea - du costaricain Paz Fabrega
   une coproduction Costa Rica/France/Espagne/Hollande/Mexique, 2010

 

 

   Alamar - To the Sea – Film de Pedro Gonzalez-Rubio - Mexique, 2009.

 

  C’est déjà l’été, Film de Martijn Maria Smits - Hollande/Belgique, 2010

 

 

    Fuwaku no adagio - Autumn Adagio – de Inoue Tsuki - Japon, 2009

 

 
   Guang ban - Sun Spots – Film de Yang Heng - Hong Kong/Chine, 2009.

 

 
   Jao nok krajok - Mundane History Film de Anocha Suwichakornpong
   Thailande, 2009.

 

 
   Les signes vitaux, Film de Sophie Deraspe - Canada, 2009.

 

   Let Each One Go Where He May de Ben Russell - US/Suriname, 2009.

 

 
   Li fa dian de nu er - My Daughter - Film de Charlotte Lay Kuen Lim
   Malaysie, 2009.

 

   Mama, Film de Yelena Renard et Nikolay Renard - Russie, 2010.

 

   Miyoko asagaya kibun – Miyoko - de Tsubota Yoshifumi - Japon, 2009.

 

 
   Püha Tonu kiusamine - The Temptation of St. Tony - de Veiko Ounpuu
   Estonie/Suède/Finlande, 2009.

 

  Quchis dgeebi - Street Days - de Levan Koguashvili - Georgie, 2010

 

  R Film de Michael Noer et Tobias Lindholm - Danemark, 2010.

 

Les courts métrages sont égalements présents au Festival international du film de Rotterdam. Wanafoto a déjà publié ce matin un message concernant les courts métrages (ils vont de 8 à 40 minutes) en compétition où vous pouvez voir la liste des 31 films en compétition.

Un autre message de ce blog liste les 67 producteurs présents à Rotterdam ainsi que les 21 organismes de production ou d’aide à la production de films partenaires du festival. Un autre message est à venir concernant les films en compétition dans la sélection CineMart 2010.

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IFFR Tiger Awards Short Films Competition 2010

 

INTERNATIONAL

FILM FESTIVAL

ROTTERDAM

2010

 

Thirty-one titles have been selected for the Tiger Awards Competition for Short Films. The lineup includes films by Greg Smith (South Africa), Mark Lewis (UK), Rosa Barba (Italy), Anna Abrahams (Netherlands), Mihai Grecu (France), Phil Collins (UK), Mati Diop (Senegal), Ying Liang (China), Cameron Jamie (USA) and Merve Kayan (Turkey).

The ‘Spectrum: Shorts’-section of nearly 200 short films runs within the festival from January 28 till February 1. See full Competition line up below.

 

Competition and Jury

To raise the profile of short films as a highly influential form of art but also a the realm in which cinema has been both democratized and popularized by the online and digital developments, the International Film Festival Rotterdam founded its Competition for short films in 2005. This edition, thirty-one films of up to sixty minutes in length will be presented to the international jury consisting of Jeremy Rigsby (programmer of Media City Festival in Ottawa, Canada), Shai Heredia (director of Filter India Festival, Mumbai, India) and Albert Wulffers (filmmaker, writer, visual artist and teacher, The Netherlands). The winners of the three equal Tiger Awards for Short Films, with prize money of 3.000 euro each, will be announced on Monday February 1.

 

Spectrum: Shorts

From the overwhelming worldwide production, the IFFR has selected 210 short films, including thirteen ‘short features’ with durations between forty and sixty minutes, for its dedicated section ‘Spectrum: Shorts’. All films are screened during a five-day event in festival location Lantaren/Venster. Here festival audiences, filmmakers and industry professionals gather to watch the films, introduce their works and meet for getting the lowdown on the latest developments. The films are grouped by four or five titles in screening slots of 80 minutes that allow introductions and Q&A sessions. The Shorts Marathon, a usually sold out program of repeat screenings, takes place on Saturday February 6.

Spectrum: Shorts 2010 presents six programs of narrative works including premieres of medium lengths films by Geetu Mohan Das (India), José Luis Torres Leiva (Chili), Terril Calder (Canada) and Julia Kozyreva (Russia/Estonia).

Furthermore, Spectrum: Shorts comprises a wide range of essayistic, abstract and experimental short filmmaking by, among many others, Jem Cohen (USA), John Price (Canada), Liu Wei (China), Kleber Mendonca Filho (Brazil) and prolific US filmmaker Kevin Jerome Everson who presents four films in IFFR 2010: his short films Company Line and The Citizens as well as his feature film Erie in Spectrum and the commissioned short film BZV in the Africa focus program.

The program committee that selects films for Spectrum: Shorts consists of IFFR programmers Peter van Hoof, Juliette Jansen, Erwin van 't Hart, Sacha Bronwasser, Peter Taylor and Theus Zwakhals.

 

Focus on Jim Jennings, homage to Frank Cole

As part of Spectrum: Shorts, NYC-based filmmaker Jim Jennings will present eight of his recent 16 mm works, all filmed on location in his home town. Mostly edited in the camera Jennings' films are tributes to the NYC landscape and urban architecture. Jim Jennings will attend the festival to introduce his films.

Within its Regained section, the festival presents a tribute to Canadian filmmaker Frank Cole (1954-2000), who entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the first man to cross the Sahara on foot. His murder in Mali left us with a legacy of two features, a pair of award-winning short films and a mystery that may never be solved. IFFR 2010 presents his short documentaries A Documentary (1979), The Mountenays (1981) and A Life (1986) as well as The Man Who Crossed the Sahara, Korbett Matthews recent documentary about Frank Cole. The program was curated and will be introduced by Canadian filmmaker Mike Hoolboom. In the Spectrum section, Hoolboom presents his documentary Mark, an elegiac portrait of his friend and long time editor Mark Karbusicky.

 

Tiger Awards Competition for Short Films 2010

 

Backstory, Mark Lewis, Canada, 39’, European premiere

Oops Wrong Planet, Anouk de Clerq, Belgium, 8’, European premiere

Gaarud (The Spell), Umesh Vinayak Kulkami, India, 10’

Bruits de fond, Jean-Claude Ruggirello, France, 17’, world premiere

Hoe vertel ik het mijn ouders #1 (How to Explain My Parents #1), Lemert Engelberts, Netherlands, 9’, world premiere

Rendez-vous à Stella Plage, (Rendez-vous at Stella Beach), Shalimar Preuss, France, 18’, world premiere

Drömmar fran skogen (Dreams from the Woods), Johannes Nyholm, Sweden, 9’

La trilogie chrysalides (The Chrysalides Trilogy), Patrick Bernatchez, Canada, 17’

White Shoe Station, Sara Preibsch, UK/Germany, 15’, world premiere

Travelling Fields, Inger Lise Hansen, Norway, 9’, international premiere

For Cultural Purposes Only, Sarah Wood, UK, 9’

Oxigen (Oxygen), Adina Pintilie, Romania, 40’, world premiere

Wednesday Morning Two A.M., Lewis Klahr, USA, 6’, European premiere

Underexposed, Greg Smith, France, 23’, world premiere

Centipede Sun, Mihai Grecu, France, 10’, world premiere

Soy mi madre, Phil Collins, USA, 28’

Monuments, Redmond Entwistle, UK, 30’, European premiere

Mudanza (Removal), Pere Portabella, Spain, 20’

Sex Is Sentimental, Erik van Lieshout, Netherlands, 21’

Empirical Effect, Rosa Barba, Italy, 27’, world premiere

Atlantiques, Mati Diop, France/Senegal, 27’

Heliocentric, Semiconductor, UK, 15’, world premiere

Wei wen (Condolences), Ying Liang, China, 19’, international premiere

M, Félix Dufour-Laperrière, Canada, 8’, international premiere

Out of Love, Brigitte Staermose, Denmark, 29’, international premiere

Dissonant, Manon de Boer, Belgium, 11’, world premiere

Desert 79°: 3 Journeys Beyond the Known World, Anna Abrahams, Netherlands, 18’, world premiere

Palmele (Palm Lines), George Chiper, Romania, 17’

Bu sahilde (On the Coast), Merve Kayan, Turkey, 21’, world premiere

Over the Bones, Charlotte Ginsborg, UK, 30’

Massage the History, Cameron Jamie, USA, 10’, world premiere

 

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Rotterdam Lab welcomes 67 producers for tenth anniversary edition

67 Producers at Rotterdam Lab 2010

 

INTERNATIONAL

FILM FESTIVAL

ROTTERDAM

2010

 

Rotterdam Lab welcomes 67 producers for tenth anniversary edition

The International Film Festival Rotterdam welcomes sixty-seven young producers taking part in the tenth anniversary edition of Rotterdam Lab. CineMart’s highly successful event for emerging producers has expanded steadily over the past decade. The participants have been nominated by the twenty-one Rotterdam Lab partner organizations. Rotterdam Lab, part of CineMart, takes place January 30 – February 3. (See full list of participants and partner organizations below)

Rotterdam Lab Coordinator Jacobine van der Vloed: “Finding your way in a large international festival and market can be daunting for an emerging producer. Buyers, sellers and funders are not easy to track down. The Rotterdam Lab creates a somewhat safer and easier environment for these producers to present their companies and projects, test the grounds, receive feedback on how to proceed and expand their network in an effective way. The Rotterdam Lab fits very well in Rotterdam’s spirit of nurturing emerging talent. Moreover, the Rotterdam Lab has developed into a valuable tool to strengthen CineMart's international network of independent producers.”

Over the past years, the Rotterdam Lab has expanded steadily, with more producers from more regions participating every year. The Lab has already resulted in many producers returning to CineMart, and films by producers who have attended the Lab have been screened in the official Festival Programme. By bringing together a mix of producers from around Europe and the rest of the world, the Rotterdam Lab has also generated many alluring international co-productions.

The participants of the Rotterdam Lab are starting producers, who are ‘nominated’ by the international training bodies and funding agencies with which the CineMart has partnerships. Traditionally, panel discussions are organized on different topics such as production, sales, financing, distribution, press & promotion and television. These panels take place in an informal setting and are organized to illustrate the process by which a project in need of financing is completed and brought to its audience. In these panels, experts from the industry give the producers tools on how to present their project and how to build up an international network.

Complimentary to the panels, participants take part in “speed-dating” sessions, during which they have time to meet personally with industry delegates and receive advice on their own projects.

CineMart has always had a focus on producers who are in the beginning of their careers. Several years ago, the CineMart staff realized that many new producers lack the knowledge on how to operate in an international film festival or market setting. Therefore, in 2001, based on the belief that these skills are vital for any producer, and to provide young professionals the means to develop an international network, CineMart organized the first CineMart International Trainee Project, later renamed the Rotterdam Lab.

In addition to the organized Rotterdam Lab programme, it is important that the producers take the chance to participate in all other CineMart events, such as networking lunches, cocktails and other panels. They are encouraged to take advantage of their time in Rotterdam as much as possible by strengthening their network.

 

Rotterdam Lab Participants 2010

Amanda De Luis, Alta Realitat, Spain, ACE / Ateliers du Cinéma Européen
Gabor Sipos, Laokoon Filmgroup, Hungary, ACE / Ateliers du Cinéma Européen
Josefine Tengblad, Yellow Bird Productions, Sweden, EAVE
Jennifer Sabbah, Boa Films, France, EAVE
Darija Kulenovic Gudan, Studio dim d.o.o., Croatia, EAVE
Ewa Borowski, eastart pictures, Germany, Filmstiftung NRW
Nicole Ringhut, Maranto Films GmbH, Germany, Filmstiftung NRW
Xavier Rombaut, Emerald Films, Belgium, Flanders Image/VAF
Emily Wanja, Visual Asili, Kenya, IFFR - Africa
Alberto Botelho, Novos Sonhos Audiovisuais, Angola, IFFR - Africa
Paul Lwanga Jr, Vilole Images Productions, Zambia, IFFR - Africa
Thomas Woodrow, Furnace Films, LLC, USA, IFP
Jason Orans, Gigantic Pictures, USA, IFP
Rhea Stephenson, Independent Producer, Australia, Indigenous Branch/Screen Australia
Wayne Denning, Carbon media Pty Ltd, Australia, Indigenous Branch/Screen Australia
John Wallace, Black Sheep, Productions, Ireland, Irish Film Board
Heidi Madsen, Paper Dreams Limited, Ireland, Irish Film Board
Michael Rozenbaum, Transfax Film Productions ltd., Israel, Israel Film Fund
Yochanan Kredo, July August Productions, Israel, Israel Film Fund
Aurit Zamir, Gum Films, Israel, Israel Film Fund
Mayumi Sanda, Elephante Inc., Japan, J-Pitch/UNIJAPAN
Kousuke Ono, WA Entertainment Inc., Japan, J-Pitch/UNIJAPAN
Yuki Toyoyama, Esprit Inc., Japan, J-Pitch/UNIJAPAN
Cho Yoon-Jung, BlueMoonPark, South Korea, KOFIC
Always-Han, InOK Films, South Korea, KOFIC
Jang Su-Young, Swimming Pictures, South Korea, KOFIC
Jang Sung-Young, Film Factory nu:n, South Korea, KOFIC
Choi Nak-kwon, CHOICEcut Pictures, South Korea, KOFIC
Sanjay Suri, Anticlock Films, India, NFDC
Ben Rekhi, Ben Rekhi Productions, USA, NFDC
Sandeep A. Varma, ICOMO Advertising India Pvt. Ltd., India, NFCD
Pierre Walfisz, Trompe Le Monde, France, NFDC
Gertjan Langeland, LEV Pictures, The Netherlands, Netherlands Film Fund
Eva Eisenloeffel, Lemming Film, The Netherlands, Netherlands Film Fund
Keren Cogan, Phanta Vision, The Netherlands, Netherlands Film Fund
Natasja Mohrs, Column Film, The Netherlands, Netherlands Film Fund
Ellen Havenith, Column Film, The Netherlands, Netherlands Film Fund
Kristian Eek, Independent Producer, New Zealand, New Zealand Film Commission
Maile Daugherty, Independent Producer, New Zealand, New Zealand Film Commission
Tom Hern, Six String Pictures Ltd, New Zealand, New Zealand Film Commission
Dijana Olcay-Hot, Revolver Media Productions, The Netherlands, Rotterdam Film Fund
Sophie Slabbekoorn, seriousFilm, The Netherlands, Rotterdam Film Fund
Jesse de Jong, JesseFilms, The Netherlands, Rotterdam Film Fund
Kat Hebden, Blindside Productions, UK, Scottisch Screen
Carolynne Sinclair Kidd, Hopscotch Films Ltd., UK Scottisch Screen
Ciara Barry, Digicult Ltd, UK, Scottisch Screen
Sylvia Wilcynski, Lemur Films Pty Ltd, Australia, Screen Australia
Angie Fielder, Aquarius Films, Australia, Screen Australia
Kristina Ceyton, Independent Producer, Australia, Screen Australia
James Leong, Lianain Films, Singapore, Singapore Film Commission
Fran Borgia, Akanga Film Asia, Singapore, Singapore Film Commission
Rajvinder Uppal, Mama-oo Pictures ltd, Canada, Telefilm Canada
Bev Bliss, Moving Films Inc, Canada, Telefilm, Canada
Nicolas Comeau, 1976 Productions, Canada, Telefilm Canada
Ingrid Veninger, pUNK Films, Inc. Canada, Telefilm Canada
Pablo Lamar, Sapukai Cine, Paraguay, Typa
Rodrigo Marin, Propagandacine, Chile, Typa
Fernando A. P. Ruiz, Fábrica de Cine S.R.L, Argentina, Typa
Fabiola Ramos, Independent Producer, Mexico, Typa
Ruben Sierra Salles, Peliculas Prescindibles, Venezuela, Typa
Tom Wood, Wellington Films, UK, UK Film Council
Rachel Dargavel, Steel Mill Pictures, UK, UK Film Council
Rhodri Thomas, Independent Producer, UK, UK Film Council
David Boaretto, Revolution Films, GBR, UK Film Council
Megan S. Wallace, Blirt Ltd / Incendiary Pictures, UK, UK Film Council
Samantha Price, Sparkler Productions, UK, UK Film Council
Julien Sigalas, Stempel, Belgium, Wallonie Bruxelles Images

 

International partners participating in Rotterdam Lab

Ateliers du Cinéma Européen (ACE), France
European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs (EAvE), Luxembourg
Filmstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Fundación TyPA, Argentina
Independent Feature Project (IFP), USA
Indigenous Branch – Screen Australia
Irish Film Board
Israel Film Fund
J-Pitch - UNIJAPAN
Korean Film Council (KOFIC)
National Film Development Corporation India
Netherlands Film Fund
New Zealand Film Commission
Rotterdam Media Fund, the Netherlands
Scottish Screen, United Kingdom
Screen Australia
Singapore Film Commission
Telefilm Canada
UK Film Council
Vlaams Audiovisueel Fonds, Belgium
Wallonie Bruxelles Images, Belgium

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Charley Toorop, Museum Boijams Van Beuningen, Rotterdam - Surtout pas des principes!

Surtout pas des principes! Charley Toorop

Museum Boijams Van Beuningen, Rotterdam

27 September 2008 – 18 January 2009

A total of 120 works have been gathered for the Charley Toorop (1891-1995) retrospective, including almost all her self-portraits. The exhibition ‘Surtout pas des principes! Charley Toorop’ has been put together by Marja Bosma, who has also written a book of the same name about the life and work of one of the foremost female Dutch artists of the 20th century.

Both the exhibition and the book contain a wealth of information about Charley Toorop, clarifying associations and highlighting influences, making it easier to see how key works from her oeuvre fit into her larger body of work. This large-scale retrospective clearly highlights Toorop’s importance for Dutch art.

For Charley Toorop, painting was the ultimate form of self-realisation, making her work both unavoidable and imposing. A perfect example of this is the self-portrait from 1928 that was recently acquired by Museum Boijmans van Beuningen.

Charley Toorop was the daughter of the symbolist Jan Toorop, who was one of the foremost artists in the Netherlands during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His ‘salad oil’ style is a term that remains in use even today. Toorop prepared his only child for life as an artist and despite being predestined to take up music, she chose instead to follow in her father’s footsteps. Rather than attending art school, she learned the trade from him. At an early age, she was part of ‘Het Signaal’, a predecessor of the Bergense School. Her work in those days was expressionistic in nature, featuring vibrant colours and sweeping brush strokes, which she combined with darker undertones and dissonant colours. A mystical experience of nature underpinned this work, which was representative of the Bergense School from the outset.

After an unsuccessful marriage to Henk Fernhout, with whom she had three children, she established herself in a house built specially for her in Bergen called ‘De Vlerken’, where she worked steadily on her painting career. Painting always occupied the primary position in her life. She travelled regularly, particularly to France. She also stayed regularly in Brussels. Her circle of friends was made up principally of prominent artists and intellectuals including the poets Adriaan Roland Holst and Henny Marsman, painter Piet Mondriaan, sculptor John Rädecker, architects Rietveld and Oud and the anarchist thinker Arthur Lehning.

Charley Toorop’s social and political commitment was the catalyst for her to develop her work into a style of confrontational realism, where she presented her subjects head on. This applies not only to her remarkable self-portraits in which she penetrates the viewer with her steely gaze, but also to her portraits of farmers, labourers and fishermen.

Publication: The retrospective ‘Surtout pas des principes! Charley Toorop’ is accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue.

MUSEUM BOIJMANS VAN BEUNINGEN

Museumpark 18-20, 3015 CX Rotterdam

www.boijmans.nl

DARK. Art and the Darker Side of Existence at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam

DARK

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam

18 February - 17 April 2006

The darker side of existence exercises an almost irresistible attraction on society. This fascination is the theme of the international group exhibition DARK, assembled by guest curator Jan Grosfeld and Rein Wolfs. DARK is a presentation of recent developments within contemporary art; a confrontation of differing contemporary artistic visions. The exhibition in the atmospheric spaces of the museum's Van der Steur wing includes work by Luc Tuymans, Marc Bijl, Rita Ackermann, Banks Violette, Angus Fairhurst, Folkert de Jong, Dirk Braeckman, Terence Koh, Avner Ben-Gal and Kara Walker.

Common to each work in the show is an interest in the 'darker' side of life. However, DARK is more than simply 'dim' or 'unlit'. Rather it refers to a particular contemporary state of mind, with a complex of different and sometimes antithetical aspects. DARK is sometimes melancholy, music can play a role, but often does not. Indeed sometimes DARK is actually is even simply radiant white, as in the obsessive 'white powder' installations by Terence Koh.

Impure spaces

Contemporary art is usually presented in so-called 'white cube' spaces, or indeed 'black boxes' for video projections. However, DARK manifests itself in the more 'impure' spaces where the old masters are normally displayed. These galleries are especially appropriate to a project that deals with impurity, with the 'anti-pure'. A contemporary impurity comes to life against the backdrop of its historical counterpart.

A darker state of mind

Luc Tuymans expresses DARK's 'state of mind' through his oppressive images and specific subject choices, whilst Marc Bijl has a sort of rebellious Gothic stance. Terence Koh employs the decadence of gold leaf and 'white powder'. Banks Violette researches the underbelly of American culture with clinical precision. A soundtrack of electronic music brings the visitor back to the present day. This is the authenticity of an artist who understands that today successful sampling must come with a healthy dollop of intelligence. Romanticism is at the heart of Angus Fairhurst's work. A glossy pitch-black gorilla, contemplating itself like an Ur-Narcissus, is an icon of impudent and animalistic subjectivity, which is more than at home in our ego age.

Dirk Braeckman's black on black images eloquently represent the DARK 'state of mind' as does the mysterious concealed aggression of Rita Ackermann and Rachel Harrison. Folkert de Jong explores the darker side of American society, as does Georg Gatsas, whose 'court photography' illuminates the grimy New York cultural scene. In her black silhouettes Kara Walker takes on themes such as race, gender and sexuality. Daniel Hesidence voices the DARK mentality with a Munch-like scream, Avner Ben-Gal with a darker implicit narrative and Jan Lauwers with a painful theatricality. The shameless advertising aesthetic employed by Fumie Sasabuchi is sometimes shocking, much like the bestial narcissism in the work of Angus Fairhurst. Juergen Teller is in search of a singular icon in his son's birth announcement.

Now and then one can find stylistic and formal relations between the works but these are not the dominant concern. Content, emotion and authentic values play a more important role here. DARK is an exhibition that elucidates the current zeitgeist and creates a forum for a new, contemporary form of authenticity.

Participating artists:

Rita Ackermann (1968, Budapest, H)

Avner Ben-Gal (1966, Askalon, I)

Marc Bijl (1970, Leerdam, NL)

Dirk Braeckman (1958, Eeklo, B)

Angus Fairhurst (1966, Kent, UK)

Georg Gatsas (1978, Grabs SG, CH)

Gregory Crewdson (1962, Brooklyn NY, USA)

Rachel Harrison (1966, New York, USA)

Daniel Hesidence (1975, Ohio NY, USA)

Folkert de Jong (1972, Alkmaar, NL)

Terence Koh (1977, Beijing, China)

Jan Lauwers (1957, Antwerp, B)

Fumie Sasabuchi (1975, Tokyo, J)

Juergen Teller (1964, Erlangen, D)

Luc Tuymans (1958, Mortsel, B)

Banks Violette (1973, Ithaca NY, USA)

Kara Walker (1969, Stockton CA, USA)

MUSEUM BOIJMANS VAN BEUNINGEN

Museumpark 18-20, 3015 CX Rotterdam

www.boijmans.rotterdam.nl