A Lasting Truth Is Change

Artists: Karel Appel, Rasheed Araeen, Mercedes Azpilicueta, Jo Baer, Joseph Beuys, Ansuya Blom, Marinus Boezem, Boudry / Lorenz, Marcel Broodthaers, stanley brouwn, Günter Brus, Simnikiwe Buhlungu, Daniel Buren, Kees Buurman, André Cadere, Heinrich Campendonk, Hendrik Chabot, Jan Dibbets, Theo van Doesburg & Sophie-Taeuber-Arp & Jean Arp, Jean Dubuffet, Marlene Dumas, Aldo van Eyck, Barry Flanagan, Dan Flavin, G, Isa Genzken, Theaster Gates, & The Black Monks, Dan Graham, Laura Grisi, Guerrilla Girls, Nilbar Güreş, Lubaina Himid, Rebecca Horn, Joan Jonas, Donghwan Kam, Ellsworth Kelly, Iris Kensmil, Natasja Kensmil, Yves Klein, Imi Knoebel, Annette Krauss & Petra Bauer, Fernand Léger, Sol LeWitt, El Lissitzky, Richard Long, Jos Manders, Glenda Martinus, Ana Mendieta, Piet Mondriaan & Museum of American Art, Marlow Moss, Li Mu, Olaf Nicolai, Otobong Nkanga, Christian Nyampeta, Ima-Abasi Okon, Constant Permeke, Pablo Picasso, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Jewyo Rhii, Albert Servaes, Erzen Shkololli, Mounira Al Solh, Mladen Stilinović, Lily van der Stokker, Peter Struycken, Superflex, Jennifer Tee, Dustin Thierry, Niele Toroni, Lawrence Weiner, and Ian Wilson.

A Lasting Truth Is Change asks how heritage institutions—those that preserve and display content of “historical” value—can get into a sound relation with change and model just and joyous ways of living that reflect equitable future societies. 

The exhibition began as a dialogue with science-fiction writer Octavia E. Butler’s unfinished Parable series (1993–98), particularly her words: “All that you touch, you Change. All that you Change, Changes you. The only lasting truth is Change. God is Change.” The protagonists in Butler’s parables show strength in their openness and adaptability to the inevitable continuum of change.

For us, artists are these protagonists—as much as, we hope, the museum can be with their guidance. This is an experiment in recasting history and our relation to the modern art canon. It emphasizes relationality rather than artistic autonomy or “genius”. By reconsidering the collection, we illuminate artworks that are useful to us at a time when we need freedom-based experiments to survive and flourish.  

On view are over 90 artworks made in the last century and in the Van Abbemuseum collection that act against the status quo and speak to change as continuum, including full-gallery installations by stanley brouwn. Accompanying works from the permanent collections, are pieces not acquired by the museum despite past presentations by Theaster Gates & The Black Monks and Christian Nyampeta; recent acquisitions by Ana Mendieta, Glenda Martinus, Mounira Al Sohl, Boudry / Lorenz, and Mercedes Azpilicueta; first-time showings at the museum by artists Ima-Abasi Okon, Simnikiwe Buhlungu, Ansuya Blom, G, and Donghwan Kam; and historical works by Marlow Moss on loan from Kröller-Müller Museum. The exhibition is curated by Yolande Zola Zoli van der Heide.

A Lasting Truth Is Change publication out now!
English, 186 pages, 17 x 24 cm, full color, thread-bound, and a hole
ISBN 978-3-947858-38-5
€19, available via co-publisher K. Verlag

Transformative justice movements recognize the power of art; culture workers are challenging the historical and institutional conditions in which art is made. That visual culture can normalize violence is an acute concern for heritage art institutions — while these spaces display radical works, it is often without meaningfully addressing the structural injustices that constrained their production. What lies beyond oppressive traditions that can activate change here and now? This collection features responses from artists, collectives, and scholars conducting emancipatory experiments at institutional perimeters.

Edited by Yolande Zola Zoli van der Heide and Taylor Le Melle, with contributions by Simnikiwe Buhlungu, Clare Butcher, Nuraini Juliastuti, Kunci School of Improper Education (Gusti Nur Asla Shabia, Mokhsa Imanahatu Atolu, Eris Setiyawan, Eliesta Handitya, Yngvie Ahsanu Nadiyya, and Rifki Afwakhoir), Kabelo Malatsie, Taylor Le Melle, Christian Nyampeta, Noleca Anderson Radway (with Blu and Moxie), Karen N. Salt, Yolande Zola Zoli van der Heide, and the Van Abbemuseum Acquisitions committee (Nick Aikens, Charles Esche, Chantal Kleinmeulman, Steven ten Thije, and Yolande Zola Zoli van der Heide). The book is designed by Sandra Kassenaar.