The Part In The Story Where A Part Becomes A Part Of Something Else
22 May–17 August 2014
Opening: Thursday 22 May, 5–8pm
Witte de With | Center for Contemporary Art
Witte de Withstraat 50
3012 BR Rotterdam
The Netherlands
Artists:
A Constructed World, Nadim Abbas, Allora & Calzadilla, Ang Song Ming, Ivan Argote, Bik Van der Pol, Pierre Bismuth, John Cage, Chen Zhen, Chu Yun, Ceal Floyer, Aurélien Froment, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Douglas Gordon, Minja Gu, Sharon Hayes, Ho Rui An, Ho Sin Tung, Tim Etchells & Vlatka Horvat, On Kawara, Patrick Killoran, Kwan Sheung Chi, Nicolás Lamas, Lee Kit, Michael Lee, Lucas Lenglet, Gabriel Lester, Marysia Lewandowska, Charles Lim, Katarina Löfström, MAP Office, Anthony Marcellini, Ahmet Öğüt & Cevdet Erek, João Vasco Paiva, Patricia Reed, Willem de Rooij, Mor Shani, Praneet Soi, Nasrin Tabatabai & Babak Afrassiabi, Koki Tanaka, Narcisse Tordoir, Freek Wambacq, Leung Chi Wo + Sara Wong, Magdalen Wong, Adrian Wong, Haegue Yang, Trevor Yeung, Johan Zetterquist
Curated by Heman Chong (artist and writer, Singapore) and Samuel Saelemakers (Associate Curator, Witte de With)
How can one work of art moderate another one? Can an audience become a moderator of the works on view? How much translation is needed to bring out meaningful relations between works created by different artists? If everything is connected, what is the shared connective language?
The Part In The Story Where A Part Becomes A Part Of Something Else is a group exhibition with works by more than forty artists from across the globe. This exhibition marks the end of Moderation(s), a long-term program (August 2012–August 2014), initiated by the Directors of Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art in Rotterdam and Spring Workshop in Hong Kong.
The works on view are gathered around notions such as time, duration and space (Douglas Gordon, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, On Kawara), memory and inscription (Ang Song Ming, John Cage, Sharon Hayes), transformation (Bik Van der Pol, Nicolás Lamas), pleasure (Ivan Argote, Chu Yun, Haegue Yang), and encounters (Lee Kit, Narcisse Tordoir). All of these have emerged as key concepts of investigation throughout the preceding Moderation(s) projects. The relations and transferences between the presented artworks is guided by notions such as tension, repetition, variation, and momentum, reminiscent of Contact Improvisation, a dance method developed by choreographer Steve Paxton.
Public program
Selected Readings: Seven Views on an Exhibition
23 May–17 August
For the duration of The Part In The Story Where A Part Becomes A Part Of Something Else, Witte de With invites seven guest moderators to give a “reading” or interpretative tour of the exhibition. Throughout the summer, moderated public tours of the exhibition will be given by Lorenzo Benedetti (Director, de Appel arts centre, Amsterdam), Oscar van den Boogaard (novelist and Director of the HISK, Ghent), Ann Demeester (Director, Frans Hals Museum, De Hallen, Haarlem), Chris Fitzpatrick (Director, Objectif Exhibitions, Antwerp), Christina Li (curator, writer, and witness to the Moderation(s) program, Amsterdam and Hong Kong), Marnie Slater (artist and writer, Brussels), and Steven ten Thije (research curator, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven).
About Moderation(s)
Launched in August 2012, Moderation(s) is a long-term program conceived by Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art in Rotterdam and Spring Workshop in Hong Kong. Within this framework, Heman Chong, a Singaporean artist and writer, was invited by Witte de With’s Director, Defne Ayas, to steer the program. Moderation(s) so far manifested itself through different projects including artist-led explorations of Hong Kong, a series of performances, a book of short stories, a conference, and a legally binding confidentiality contract. Although the projects have developed independently from one another, they often organically informed and shaped each other. Allowing for chance encounters and improvisation to take the lead, the program reveals itself through its participants more than anything else. Driven by the desire to return to the specific nature of creative production processes, the act of doing preceded defining.
Upcoming
Dai Hanzhi: 5000 Artists
4 September 2014–4 January 2015
Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art (Rotterdam) is pleased to announce a special cooperation with Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (Beijing) featuring a unique multidimensional program examining the life and work of Dutch curator, scholar, teacher and art dealer Hans van Dijk (1946–2002). Van Dijk, a significant figure in contemporary Chinese art, is the inspiration behind an upcoming exhibition in two parts to be hosted in Rotterdam and Beijing. This exhibition is curated by Marianne Brouwer and developed with Defne Ayas (Director, Witte de With) and Philip Tinari (Director, UCCA), together with Venus Lau (Curator, UCCA), Samuel Saelemakers (Associate Curator, Witte de With), and Ian Yang (Curatorial Fellow, Witte de With). Curatorial assistance was provided by Andreas Schmid and Zhang Li. Hans van Dijk: 5000 Names takes place from 24 May to 10 August at Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, followed by Dai Hanzhi: 5000 Artists from 4 September 2014 to 4 January 2015 at Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art.
WdW Review
Nick Land, the new Shanghai correspondent, writes about the Chinese yuan and bitcoin as future economic powers; Tirdad Zolghadr from Jerusalem/Ramallah interviews artist Yazan Khalili; Ruchir Joshi in Delhi analyzes the way gender politics influenced the recent election; and in the Moscow desk, a translated text from Alexander Morozov examines the crisis in Crimea through the lens of Putin’s particular notion of realpolitik. Forthcoming essays include several readings into the year 1971 as part of a new section, Sediments—artist/programmer John Menick and writer Benedict Seymour look into that year and beyond it.
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