When You Drive It Out One Door, It Gets In Through Another / Pro Vienas Duris Isveji, Pro Kitas Ilenda

A collaborative project produced in the context of ‘Displacements’ – a workshop with Cesare Pietroiusti

Participants; Agnieszka Roguski, Alex Auriema, Anna-Sophie Springer, David Buob, Egle Micikeviciute, Eric Von Robertson, Felix Marlow, Georgios Papadopoulos, Katarzyna Perlak, Katy Beinart, Laura Garbstiene, Manuel Prados Sanchez, Manuela Buttiglione, Nico Angiuli, Saulius Leonavicius, Susan Barnet, Susan Schmidt, Timea Anita Oravecz, Valentina Vetturi

Transient Spaces – The Tourist Syndrome is an interdisciplinary project on the symmetries and asymmetries between contemporary tourism and migration, encompassing research, theory, practice, workshops, seminars, conferences and art exhibitions in Italy, Lithuania, Romania and Germany in 2009 and 2010.

The Tourist Syndrome Summer Camp, 3 – 11 September 2009.  Palanga, Lithuania –  a renowned seaside resort on the Baltic Sea coast.

projectspace.uqbar-ev.de

http://www.organhaus.org/exhibitions/view/8

16-23 may 2009

Organhaus Art Space is a non-profit and independent art organization, founded in 2001. It is located next to the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute. It organizes multi-media art-exhibitions and cross-media art activities for young and experimental artists. 

Address: Organ, 501 Art Space. Huang Jueping, Jiu Longpo District, Chongqing, 400053. PR China

Chongqing workshop  May 25- June 4 . Xia Ke – The Fog Guest is dipping into every nook and cranny with a group of 26 from the Sichuan Fine Art Institute

Over the coarse of two weeks these students set out across the sprawling city of 4million to capture the everyday life being performed in their city.  To offer the world a mere glimpse of a city that is rapidly expanding between the Jialang and Yangzi rivers.  Amongst the mountains and below the skyscrapers, citizens arrive daily from the countryside looking for work and a better life offered by this era of hyper-industrialization in the Sichuan region.

The videos from this workshop were presented on June 4th at the Zero Bar, a popular hang out below a large complex of artists studios and galleries located in the Jiu Longpo District.  At least 70 people showed up for an evening of celebration, discussions and above all a moment to reflect and consider a city in the making. A city in all of its irrational scale and vibrant street life was in focus, offering a glimpse of what plays out in front of us as we navigate our zones of urban life. 

城市一分钟 City One Minutes – ChongQing screening at the Zero Bar, Jiu Longpo District

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Kansas City, April 9-23

                             

About city one minutes

Making a portrait of a city is to record the unique. To register the characteristics with which this city distinguishes itself from others. It is also the city seen through the eyes of the artist.

The exhibition will be a walk through the world of cities. An insight into where and how people live. A visual report of the now.

The city one minutes is a project in partnership with the Dutch digital documentary channel Holland/Doc VPRO and the East China Normal University in Shanghai. The videos will be screened on a new website www.cityoneminutes.org on digital television, at  the Rotterdam Architecture Biennial in November 2009 and the World Expo Shanghai 2010 among other international venues.

participate   c1-app-form

A city is a living entity and its face in the morning is different from the night. One artist makes a portrait between 9:00 and 10:00. Another one makes a portrait between 21:00 and 22:00 or 01:00 and 02:00; together a portrait of 24 visions. 24 individual portraits 

     

I have submitted some excursions to a website that accompanies the current exhibition running at the The Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal

Please check it out and leave a comment if your compelled

http://cca-actions.org

 

The Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) presents the exhibition Actions: What You Can Do With the City, an exhibition with 99 actions that instigate positive change in contemporary cities around the world. Seemingly common activities such as walking, playing, recycling, and gardening are pushed beyond their usual definition by the international architects, artists, and collectives featured in the exhibition. Their experimental interactions with the urban environment show the potential influence personal involvement can have in shaping the city, and challenge fellow residents to participate. 

In cooperation with Architecture Center Aorta, The Center for the Advancement of Recreation and Leisure (Eric von Robertson) will provide two excursions through the shopping-terminal. These tours highlight; collisions in architecture, the key roles of sculpture in commercial settings, a banished rest area with large tropical palms and other improvised encounters in an attempt to gain some sense of orientation amongst the surrounding visual congestion of the shopping-terminal

Resevation is neccesary. send an e-mail to tours@aorta.nu   or visit www.aorta.nu 

Publication presentation
> 10th July, 20.00 hrs, Krugertsraat 11, Utrecht.
> As part of this project, Expodium presents a publication in which the whole trajectory is documented.   With contributions by Luuk Boelens, Hans Buiter, Saskia Sassen and participating artist.

———————————————————————————

Traversing the ‘Knot’

Upon arriving by train in Utrecht I find myself caught in a tangled wash of pedestrian traffic, being cut off, skipping stride to avoid the oncoming wall of elbows and briefcases. In this situation it’s essentially a question of gaining some sense of orientation, of locating myself in relationship to a space or existing elements that maintain some continuity for the entire layout. With this in sight I kept returning to an existing sculpture by the artist Shinkichi Tajiri a large vertical tube twisted into a knot. This work seems to lend a clear definition for the space and functions, as it was probably intended – as a landmark or central meeting point.

Revisiting the rest area

 What is difficult to grasp and which remains invisible behind this ‘knot’ today, is a complete rest area with high tropical palms and adjoining hardwood benches. These are the kind of spaces that provide an inhabitable atmosphere and visually distinguish the site. When malls begin occupying city centers or defining the routes between public transit hubs, consideration should be taken to provide more than the average shopping experience. This means creating environments that are compelling, legible and publicly accessible. 

Weathering the Storm 

It happens a few times a season. A severe storm closes all transportation terminals over a wide region and you’re stranded. Ticket in hand, with no idea how to get where you’re going or what to do with the time in-between. In summer it can be hurricanes, heavy rains, thunderstorms, or high winds that delay travel plans for days, but every season has its natural disasters.

Jan 18 2007, Thousands of travelers stranded in Utrecht Central / Hoog Catharijne.

Hurricane force winds battered parts of Europe on Thursday.  The storms brought torrential rains and winds gusting at close to 170 kilometers per hour (105 mph). The Dutch transport ministry suspended public transport leaving thousands of commuters stranded throughout the country. 

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

———————————————————————————

Hoog Catharijne project opens May 29  

Expodium, Utrecht
 o.a. Tilmann Meyer-Faje, Hendrik-Jan Hunneman, Edward Clydesdale Thomson, Sebastiaan Verhees en Eric von Robertson


Opening thursday 29th May, 20.00 hrs, Gildenkwartier 37 (inside Hoog Catharijne, just across the Mediamarkt).

Jewel of the….. HC on the move focuses on urban development in Utrecht, and in particular the development of the Hoog Catharijne shopping complex The complex was built in the early 1970s as a revolutionary shopping concept, but already during the construction concessions were being made that watered down the original design and the vision of the design team that lay behind it. After the completion of Hoog Catharijne there were more and more adaptations made over the course of time, so that little of the revolutionary concept is left today. Hoog Catharijne is no longer equipped to deal with today’s public and the demands of our day. With a group of ten artists, research will be done into the redevelopment of Hoog Catharijne and all of the agendas that are caught up with that redevelopment.

As part of EXPERIMENTADESIGN and Hacking IKEA,  The Center for the Advancement of Recreation and Leisure will host the Sunday Adventure Club

This Sunday: Hacking IKEA in public space

Location; Platform 21 

Prinses Irenestraat 19, Amsterdam

Sunday Sept 21 @ 15:00 hr.

Join us in publicly Hacking IKEA, participants are in invited to build their own version of the Desert Lodge.

The Desert lodge is a prototype for a makeshift shelter used for getting from here to there – a synthetic tumbleweed drifting in the wind. It plays on an intuitive sense of geometry and lightweight structures. The Lodge traverses diverse zones in an attempt to be realized, from an instore prototyping demonstration in IKEA to the High Plains mesas in Arizona, the Lodge is in a constant state of motion.

Where I Lived and What I Lived For - Henry David Thoreau, 1854

“As for a Shelter, I will not deny that this is now a necessary of life, though there are instances of men having done without it for long periods in colder countries than this…. But, probably, man did not live long on the earth without discovering the convenience which there is in a house, the domestic comforts, which phrase may have originally signified the satisfactions of the house more than of the family; though these must be extremely partial and occasional in those climates where the house is associated in our thoughts with winter or the rainy season chiefly, and two thirds of the year, except for a parasol, is unnecessary.”

6 september t/m 12 oktober 2008   

 Voorstraat 180,  Dordrecht 

CBK Dordrecht presents an exhibition of works by recent post-graduates who have studied in the Netherlands. Participating artists;Michael Anhalt, Joshua Beck, Julien Grossmann, Chris Meighan, Margo Onnes, Eric von Robertson, Sanne Rous, Boba Mirjana Stojadinovic, Aldwin van de Ven, Sjoerd Westbroek and Emily Williams.

Curated by Hanne Hagenaars - art historian and initiator of art magazine Mister Motley, Theo Tegelaers – freelance curator and project coordinator at SKOR and Maaike van de Wiel – assistant director CBK Dordrecht

Hours: Wednesday – Saturday 12-17 uur

Become a tourist in Your Backyard – 12 fluid ounce excursion, Location Den Haag, 2007

HM: I recently went on an excursion with your can in Kansas City. I began the drive at the western edge of Kansas City and throughout this drive through low-density suburbs, maybe 10 miles; there was simply no response. This was the middle of the day; people were completely oblivious to the can being on top of the car. As soon as I passed I-35 and drove into the higher-density, established suburbs, there was an immediate escalation. Drivers began to honk and point at the roofs of their own cars. Then when I entered the center of the city the responses were much more dramatic — a homeless man left his grocery cart and sprinted down the street flagging me down, people got out of their cars and knocked on my window, pedestrians would frantically point at the can. Driving with the can creates an opportunity to gauge awareness of public space and the various levels of participation that occur throughout the city. You could almost use the can to map zones of consciousness. The theory would be that suburban, low-density new development areas breed a lack of engagement with public space. I was truly surprised by the complete oblivion.

EvR: Even when presented with this completely misplaced object — a can riding on the top of your car? And at all different intervals of speed, even cruising down the highway? They have to be left with some kind of thoughts; maybe at dinnertime they think, “what was going on there?”

HM: Have you had any experiences with that piece in The Netherlands where the response to the can has varied?

EvR: We did this project for the Bureau for Contemporary Adventure in The Hague, but it would be more difficult to gauge that here, because the density level is so high. It was the same setup — the can was on top of the car. Early in the morning there was an older couple already waiting for an excursion. I drove in their car and the guy had his own camera so he was documenting the work for me. We left the area and headed down these small streets in the morning. It escalated from one thing to the next — bicyclists were signaling, a guy driving a backhoe pulled into the middle of the street and was signaling as he was turning. We continued and stopped at an intersection and a guy got out of his van and knocked on the window and was talking to me, letting me know I had a misplaced object. He got back into his van and honked, because I didn’t remove it, then he got back out again and pulled it away and realized it was kind of this situated object and that he had been caught between a reality and the stage I had created. So we toured this for three days. There was a guy following us in a Mercedes for 20 minutes doing a cell phone movie.

HM: That’s great, I wonder if he understood it was a staged scenario?

EvR: In some sense it doesn’t matter that it’s staged. It is a reality. When people walk out the door everyday they trust the sidewalk is going to be there. When they see a can on top of the car, it’s just a fact, there’s no trick to it.

HM: So then the question in suburban Kansas City is if the sidewalk disappeared one day, would people take notice? Or, how surreal do things have to get to jolt the suburbanite?

EvR: Right, it’s oblivion. Or maybe it isn’t oblivion, it’s just suburbia. Where are they on route to, and what’s occupying their mind? They have no periphery, it’s like they don’t have binocular vision; they are Cyclops! I like this catalyst of the can — it is so mundane and everyday and it’s accidental. It is unexplainable — nobody can explain the accidental. The accidental happens everyday and causes great consequences and stress for people. For some people in poetry and art, this is really the work — the accidental, the uncertainty that we are looking for… It’s about the encounter and being engaged on other levels…

Excerpt from a conversation with Hesse Mcgraw, curator at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art

The Desert Lodge prototype travels to South Korea NOV.21 – DEC.17

‘design MADE_ Saving by design’

 a design event in the Hangaram Design Museum/Seoul Arts Center. 

      Platform 21

Desert Lodge, in-store prototyping at IKEA

WHITE FLAG PROJECTS IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE ITS NEXT EXHIBITION:
EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF/
GOD AGAINST ALL

Curated by Hesse McGraw

Featuring artists Tim Hyde, Jill Magid, Lilly McElroy, Eric von Robertson,
Zachariah Rockhill, and Marco Boggio Sella

EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF/GOD AGAINST ALL is concerned with the state of being out of place and the process of becoming a stranger. The artists and films included highlight both the experience of the stranger and the native. The spaces explored by these artists are often contested and their works celebrate the tension between belonging and the unexpected guest. It’s irrelevant whether one perceives these places as arrival or departure, these works strip hierarchy, defer the right to property, blow out the boundaries of the city and forgive urgently. There is no hubris, only complete reciprocation and rampant trespassing. EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF/GOD AGAINST ALL seeks out spaces actively trespassed and forgiving of trespassers.

LOST CAVES AND STOLEN CARS OF ST. LOUIS

Urban Culture Project – Kansas City January 18-March

  

Locate | Navigate: exercises in mapping , curated by Charlotte Street Foundation Associate DirectorKate Hackman, is a two-part exhibition project including drawings, paintings, sculpture, photography,installation-, audio-, video-, web- and performance-based work by diverse local, national, and international artists. Taking a broad definition of “map” as a starting point, the exhibitions explore the convergence of artmaking and mapmaking through the presentation of contemporary artworks that”map” specific sets of information from explicitly subjective points of view. As a whole, locate |navigate highlights widely varied, individualistic approaches to positing, investigating, and representing relationships among particular elements of interest, from places to objects, ideas, actions, and points intime. Pushing the parameters of what might be considered a map, the project further aims to encourage expansive approaches and attitudes toward exploring and examining our surroundings, and to suggest alternative methods for envisioning and depicting such terrains.

                                               W139 & Andy Warhol Club

KUNSTQUIZ #6

The Center for the Advancement of Recreation and Leisure has organized an orienteering excursion as part of the quiz practicum around Warhol and the Red light district in Amsterdam

If you would like to get to the gritty street value of your purple desires join us at W139 

Woensdag 19 december | start om 20:00 uur

De locatie is: W139, Warmoesstraat 139

De SERVICE GARAGE opens on Saturday the 1st of December at 20:00.

5 December T/M 23 December

Kunstenaars: Frank Ammerlaan, Thijs Rhijnsburger, Arik Visser, Maurice van Daalen, Oscar Peters, Zoro Feigl, Nathan van Heynsbergen, Linda Nieuwstad, Benjamin Roth, Daniel Hofstede, Dafna Maimon, Charlott Markus en Michiel Schuurman.


Artist in Residence Eric von Robertson

 De SERVICE GARAGE is a new cultural platform in Amsterdam of 2000m2. There are twelve studio spaces, an Artist in Residence, an exhibition space and accessible roof.

Preparations for installation at W139 November 2007, temporary studio at Service Garage

  with guest artist Andreas Templin

W139 Interview       The Center for the Advancement of Recreation and Leisure is a destination. What I'm doing at the moment is mapping out different routes and ways of getting there. new works W139 - Amsterdam    

 Excerpt from interview with curator Hesse Mcgraw

HM: That brings up this issue of the attachments that you make to culture at large. There tends to be some catalyst, which varies wildly between umbrellas, a river, stray dogs, drugs, and visionary architecture. You seem to approach these catalysts as a means of making a larger attachment to a given community or culture. In one of your texts, you’ve written: “from stray dogs to speed boats to mega tourist resorts on deserted islands or the discovery of a returning wilderness in an abandoned zoo in the Netherlands … these places become models in tourism or personally reflected souvenirs.” There is a certain poetry in the interchangeability of these catalysts. Can you articulate your attraction to these catalysts?

EvR: When I’m working through my process, there may be some assumptions, because I’m often traveling somewhere and I may have read some guidebook. I’m actually going somewhere, standing there and trying to read the city and to figure out what triggers my imagination and how I can work within the vocabulary of the specific place. I’m trying to extract elements from the city, for instance in Tbilisi with the stray dogs…  

bureau voor hedendaagsavontuurCatalogue presentation and debate concerning community art.vrijdag 16 november om 17.00 uur in het Nutshuis, Riviervismarkt 5 in Den Haag.      Wayward exchanges between artists and the public Instigators – Erik Jutten and Ramon Ottenhof

In May-June I took part in a 5-week residency at the European Ceramics Work Center – EKWC This is a full on production studio with around the clock access along with several technicians to advise in the process. Get Away, Far Far Away Island – untouched mechanical wilderness