Final presentations Art & Society #Team2: INTER SPACE
The members of #Team2 worked on their arts projects in the AHK Culture Club for nine months. In this interdisciplinary environment where art forms intersect, they learned from each other and about themselves. Ideas merged together. On 25 June, they presented their work and transformed the Marineterrein into an INTER SPACE.
A light drizzle fell on the city as the climax to the nine months of effort was about to start. Around midday, the Culture Club began to fill up for the first meeting. Those present entered the INTER SPACE, which the members of #Team2 of the Arts & Society programme had created, for the first time. A space where it’s OK to be insecure, where you investigate, are curious and look critically, and question why things are the way they are.
These were the same conditions under which #Team2 had been working in the Culture Club for nine months. Six alumni from different academies of the AHK came into contact with new perspectives, different ideas and various art forms. They inspired and helped each other, influenced each other’s work and ideas, were critical where necessary, always inquisitive and, above all, they learned; from each other and each other’s different points of view.
Presentaties #Team2
Now, after nine months of research, hard work and cross-pollination, #Team2 presented the fruits of their labour at five locations in and around the home base of the Culture Club, the Marineterrein. Following a group discussion about the Arts & Society programme, Kim Spierenburg gave the first performance of the day on the stage of the Culture Club. In a show full of music and sound, the Conservatorium alumna addressed inclusion and exclusion and questioned what it means to feel good. She played four new compositions, based on her voice and live electronics. A little while later, Jacopo Grilli (Academy of Architecture) exhibited his project Future Encounters in the meeting and work space the Commandantswoning; a combination of painting and architecture in which participatory work, neuroscientific theory of imagination and the artists’ vision came together in a first impression of the Marineterrein of the future.
Are adults still able to play?
As the sun cautiously began to reveal itself, Laura Bolscher (Master of Education in Arts) took the visitors onto the street. At Kattenburg and Wittenburg, she challenged them to examine what it means to participate in art. And how important is it to play as an adult, and are we still able to actually do that? Participants in Laura’s interactive guided tour through the neighbourhood found out about that in a playful manner. In the Schietbaan building, weaving, spinning and polyphonic singing fused together in the performance of Conservatorium alumna Teresa Costa. The result of this performative interaction was an archaeological exercise between feminist, ecological and anti-capitalist threads.
Water as perfect metaphor for fluïdity
Rebecca Wijnruit (Academy of Theatre and Dance) put various collaborations on the stage. Together with Jacopo, she demonstrated the potential of water as perfect metaphor for fluidity – diverse in form and size, which goes beyond the binary. Together with Diede Daalman, also an alumna of the Academy of Theatre and Dance, she presented the highlight of the day. In the Schietbaan, they searched for an escape to the repetition of day-to-day life through the repetition of music and dance to the accompaniment of the violin sounds of Kim Spierenburg. These types of collaborations are precisely what the Culture Club is all about, says founder Matthijs ten Berge. ‘Alumni come into contact with different arts disciplines here. The ensuing collaborations enrich their own work practice. An architect never comes across a dancer during the degree programme or in the field of work. That does happen here, however, and it adds an extra layer to the work.’
Good art turns a spectator into an observer
Annet Lekkerkerker nods approvingly. Earlier, the Executive Board member spoke during a group discussion about the importance of art. ‘Good art turns a spectator into an observer. You make the link between yourself, the artwork and the surrounding environment. That type of art matters. The great thing about the Culture Club and the other AHK locations at the Marineterrein is that students from different backgrounds come into contact with each other here. That leads to a greater depth in the art. In order to achieve this, education plays a key role. That is why we are entering into collaborations at the Marineterrein with the coding school Codam and the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS Institute). Under the title ‘art, tech and science’, we want to make it possible for students to continue learning from each other and each other’s perspectives.’
The day came to an end with the performance of Diede, Rebecca and Kim. As dusk settled at ten in the evening, the INTER SPACE disappeared along with the visitors as they made their way home. This day blurred the boundaries between art forms and disciplines, and #Team2 created a space with everything needed to express their nascent story.
