VBCN
time deposits
Marie Reinert – Bull & Bear
De Nederlandsche Bank, Amsterdam
May 10 to June 19, 2013
Mounira Al Solh – and suddenly there were women
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague
Performances: June 10–12, 2013
Curators: Claire van Els and Hendrik Folkerts
VBCN Open 2012/2013—an initiative of the Vereniging Bedrijfscollecties Nederland (VBCN)—is proud to present the project time deposits, a series of exhibitions and performances by artists Marie Reinert (b. 1971, France) and Mounira Al Solh (b. 1978, Lebanon). The central theme in time deposits is the current status of performance. The exhibition examines and questions the different ways in which performances can take place, which documents remain after a performance, and how performance art can be presented in semi-public places outside of the museum context. Reinert and Al Solh examine the relationship between performance and document by questioning the causality between the two elements.
Marie Reinert – Bull & Bear
In the context of time deposits, Reinert will stage a performance at De Nederlandsche Bank for one month. The performance will only be partially visible to the visitors to the Bull & Bear exhibition, the title of which refers to the respective upward and downward trends in the financial market. As part of this new performance work, Reinert will—with the help of a specially developed compass which determines the direction of the north by using the current trading rates of the Euro and the Dollar—explore the building on a daily basis and have intensive conversations with employees about their jobs and positions in the organization. The constant fluctuations in currency rates actually lead to physical changes; depending on the exchange rate, she will move towards certain places in the bank, and in relation to this have different, unpredictable encounters. In this way, Reinert links the spatial data of De Nederlandsche Bank to the financial system to which it is inextricably connected, expressing the economic systems that govern us whether we notice them or not. In addition to this, the exhibition Bull & Bear will present recent work of Reinert: the film Roll On, Roll Off (2010), which the artist made following a long-term “infiltration” on a Ukrainian freighter; and the drawing series Études Geste (2012-2013).
Mounira Al Solh – and suddenly there were women
In contrast with Reinert’s approach, Mounira Al Solh will present a series of performances at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs exploring performance as a “live event” in the central conference room of the building. and suddenly there were women consists of a fictitious discussion about the specific context of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and what it means to stage a performance there. Inspired by the central conference room, which serves as the forum for many international meetings at the Ministry, and the portraits of all the previous—and predominantly male—ministers of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation hanging at the entrance to this room, Al Solh asks herself and the visitor about her own background as a Lebanese artist in the Netherlands, the blurring of national borders, and the representation of women in politics.
The document in performance
time deposits examines the relationship between live performance and documents by questioning the causality between the two elements. Can a document also precede the performance, and can objects facilitate a performance? How can an exhibition have the character of a performance? And how can temporary and permanent factors be combined in performance? The documents of Reinert’s performance—video and audio recordings, as well as photographic documents—are presented every day in the Bull & Bear exhibition, but they are just as ephemeral as the performance itself. Following the time deposits project, Reinert will make a new film from the information and images that she collects. On the other hand, Al Solh uses extant documents in the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs—the portraits documenting the institution’s history—but changes them thoroughly for a brief moment.
Biographies of the artist
Marie Reinert studied at l’École superieure des arts décoratifs in Strasbourg. Her work is at the cutting edge of performance, video, and installation art. The artist works and lives in Berlin and Marseille.
Mounira Al Solh studied painting at the University of Beirut and the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, and continued her post-academic studies at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam. Al Solh works in various media, including video, performance, and installation art. The artist works and lives in Amsterdam and Beirut.
For more information about time deposits, the Vereniging Bedrijfscollecties Nederland (VBCN) and the curatorial prize VBCN Open 2012/2013, please visit www.vbcn.nl/EN.
