TUE GREENFORT
24 Jun-6 Aug 2006
UNRAVELING ROTTERDAM
27 Jun-1 Jul 2006
Witte de With
Center for Contemporary Art
Witte de Withstraat 50
3012 BR Rotterdam
The Netherlands
T 31 (0)10 4110144
E:info@wdw.nl
www.wdw.nl
Open Tues – Sun, 11 am – 6 pm
TUE GREENFORT
EXHIBITION
Witte de With presents the first major solo exhibition of Tue Greenforts work. Adopting a cross-disciplinary, quasi-scientific approach, Greenfort examines ecosystems and recycling. He situates his practice on the blurry boundary between nature and culture and investigates the ways in which the natural world manifests itself in todays highly urbanized cities.
Using seemingly simple objects and interventions, Greenfort reveals the structures shaping our environment. He frequently includes animals in his work a string pathway for ants (Social Organism, 2001), or a camera triggered by sausages left for foxes (Daimlerstrasse 38, 2001) displaying their ability to act as a metaphor for human society. Recent projects have explored the commercialization of supposedly public natural resources. One example is his BONAQUA Condensation Cube (2005), after a work by Hans Haacke, in which Greenfort employs bottled water sold by the Coca Cola company in place of the more neutral tap water used in Haackes original. This work reveals the way in which he combines ecological concerns with notions of conceptual art history.
Greenfort has spent a month in Rotterdam creating new works inspired by the city and its ecosystems. His research includes searching for foreign plants unwittingly imported into the industrial harbor and discussions with local energy companies about switching Witte de With to green energy.
Greenfort (b. 1973, Denmark) lives and works in Berlin. His work is currently presented in the group show Don Quijote at Witte de With (open also until 6 August).
This exhibition is curated by Florian Waldvogel and Zoë Gray and is accompanied by a book co-published by WdW Publishers and Lukas & Sternberg.
Opening: Friday 23 June 2006, 6 p.m.
5 p.m. Panel discussion with Greenfort, critic Raimar Stange and ecologist Remko Andeweg.
UNRAVELING ROTTERDAM
EVENT
Unraveling Rotterdam is a series of informal discussions with leading figures from the Rotterdam art world. A week of daily talk-shows hosted by members of Witte de Withs staff, Unraveling Rotterdam will explore ideas about the citys contemporary art scene.
The Rotterdam cultural field is a fluctuating mosaic of artists, institutions and cultural players. With Unraveling Rotterdam, Witte de With seeks to create several moments that stimulate exchange and discussion between these different cultural actors, with the aim of thinking outside of institutional frameworks to cast a shared eye on current tendencies in the arts. Topics under discussion include: the (im)possibilities of private and public funding; new audiences; city policy on art and culture; new strategies for art education; and more.
Looking simultaneously inwards and outwards, Unraveling Rotterdam also explores the role of Witte de With within the city and its surroundings. What does it mean for a supposedly intellectual art center, for example, to be located in a so-called working-class city?
Unraveling Rotterdam takes place between Tuesday 27 June and Saturday 1 July, from 6.30 p.m. to 8 p.m. (with the exception of Saturday 1 July when talks start at 2 p.m.).
Please consult www.wdw.nl for the complete and up-to-date program and full list of speakers. No reservation is required and entry is free.
ALSO AT WITTE DE WITH THIS SUMMER
Don Quijote
EXHIBITION
Until 6 Aug
22 artists whose works embody idealism and irrationality in the face of reality.
Going quixotic!
EVENT
5 Aug, 10 p.m.
An open-ended summer night concoction of films featuring Kenneth Anger, marking the end of Don Quijote.
For more information on these or forthcoming events and exhibitions at Witte de With, please consult the website www.wdw.nl or contact info@wdw.nl, telephone 31 10 4110144.
