People’s Forum
An exhibition by Farida Sedoc
People’s Forum, Farida Sedoc’s first solo exhibition, explores the conditions for art as livelihood and as a vehicle for change. Sedoc starts from her own precarious experience as an artist to address new forms of collectivity. Amplifying past and current voices of diasporic and transnational communities, the exhibition reports on resistance and civil disobedience, and suggests tools for emancipation. The punk, reggae, and hip-hop aesthetics in her visual imagery contrast the visual language of mainstream media.
In People’s Forum, repurposing this visual research material echoes the spirit of the 80s and proposes alternative realities of the present. This not only forms the basis for addressing many urgent topics in the exhibition and in society today but also speaks about global power structures in relation to people’s social, cultural, and economic positions.
Next to a series of new works by Sedoc, People’s Forum will bring together a program offering alternative and accessible forms of artistic production and autonomy: an art market, how-to workshops, and an office-in-residence of Platform BK.
People’s Forum Art Market—a freely accessible weekend market taking place on 25-26 November and 2-3 December—is full of unexpected treasures, self-published magazines, records, clothing, art works and craft products, and wholesome homemade food and drinks by local artists, designers, and makers.
Every Friday, the weekly How-To Workshop Programme experiments with alternative modes of economic self-sufficiency within the arts field and beyond, in collaboration with various Amsterdam creators and experts.
Platform BK’s Office-in-Residence offers insights into their work as an advocacy organisation for artists and cultural workers, aiming to mobilise independent art workers, and encouraging self-organisation and solidarity for a better art climate
People’s Forum is generously supported by Amsterdam Fund for the Arts, Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds,
Mondriaan Fund, Gieskes-Strijbis Fund and Oedipus Brewing.
ART MARKET
25-26 November
Participants to be announced soon!
ART MARKET
2-3 December
Participants to be announced soon!
opening hours
18 November – 17 December
Tues – Sun 12:00-18:00
upcoming
17 November 19:00 – 22:00
People’s Forum Opening Night
We cordially invite you to the grand opening of People’s Forum on the 17th of November, featuring drinks, a performance by Strangie and sounds by Farida.
ongoing
Refresh Amsterdam #2
Susanne Khalil Yusef
(Germany, 1984)
Bidnan3eesh
بدنا نعيش (WE WANT TO LIVE), 2022
The neon artwork with the Arabic words بدنا نعيش (We want to live) was created by visual artist Susanne Khalil Yusef. The neon design is based on the handwritten words of Hamza, an artist friend of Khalil Yusef who lives in the Gaza Strip. “We want to live” is the desperate appeal that inspired her to produce this work of art. Under the Israeli occupation of Palestine, living conditions are poor and unsafe, often a lifelong reality for many inhabitants.
As a counterpart to this violence, Khalil Yusef creates seemingly cheerful installations in which she uses an abundance of color and diverse materials, from carpet, glass, and ceramics to video work. Behind her brightly hued works lurks a world of menace, displacement, and fear.