Tag: Exhibition

This spring, the Sunflower Soup collective brings PPP to life—a Political Party for Potatoes and other beings. PPP transforms W139 into a site of collective practice: an open workspace where you are welcome to make and share!

While the Potato plays a leading metaphorical role within the party, the P’s are open to many interpretations: PPP could stand for Protorealist Pan-Political Project, Practical Party of Provocation, or Paraprofessional Prototype for Progressive Procreation. This way the PPP functions as a pluriform platform for overlooked or obscured perspectives and aims to be a refuge for those who challenge the current political status quo.

Through a comprehensive workshop programme PPP will gradually expand further over the course of two months. A multitude of collectives, makers, and visitors will collaboratively explore the politics of the potato and contribute to the PPP. As well as being playful and speculative, PPP will become a real physical place of political imagination and connection, proposing alternatives to the ways contemporary politics are shaped. Find out more about the workshop programme soon on our website!

Sunflower Soup was born out of a shared activist engagement and a need to explore what art can mean beyond the confines of the individual.

PPP is supported by Fonds voor Cultuurparticipatie – Deelregeling Open Call: Cultuur voor Klimaat.

Visual identity by June Jungeun Yang.

It’s alive, alive!!! This September, Mette Sterre will transform W139 into a haunted house. In an era where the politics of fear are constantly evolving, we find ourselves grappling with the question: Are we thriving while surviving, or merely surviving while trying to thrive?

The exhibition will be a journey through moving matters, quantum entanglements, and a monstrous ballroom of the female grotesque and gut-wrenching spectacle. The tactile disruptions of Mette Sterre—in a new body of work that delves deep into the body itself—blends with works from artists that draw inspiration from monstrous beauty, haunted bodies and fantastic minds.

Mette Sterre studied at the Willem de Kooning Academy, Central St Martins and at the Rijksakademie. She develops sculptural body masks which become the foundation for performances, installations and films, and is known for her sense-provoking installations.

“One need not be a chamber, to be haunted; One need not be a house; The brain, has corridors surpassing material place”.
— Emily Dickinson

With 2025 marking the 20th anniversary of the collective, Rainbow Soulclub is returning to W139, where they first exhibited in 2007, to celebrate and situate this moment in time. This exhibition brings together works that have been created over years of collaboration, while simultaneously making visible that which forms between the making of work, together, over so long: a family that started as strangers.

Rainbow Soulclub is an art and solidarity collective founded in 2005 by visual artists Saskia Janssen and George Korsmit. Composed of makers and thinkers coming from different social, economic, and cultural backgrounds, they meet regularly at the collective studio in the drop-in centre of Stichting De Regenboog Groep, an organisation in Amsterdam dedicated to people experiencing homelessness, addiction, poverty, and the challenges that come with undocumented status.

Working from an ever-expanding and ever-changing organic model, without agendas, hierarchies and expectations, the Rainbow Soulclub puts at its centre the idea that every human being has the capacity for expression, even in complex and often self-diminishing circumstances.

This exhibition is generously supported by Amsterdam Fund for the Arts, De Regenboog Groep, VriendenLoterij Fund, and Mondriaan Fund.

Picture by Maarten Nauw / Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.

The year 2024 marks the beginning of Octavia E. Butler’s trailblazing 1993 science fiction book Parable of the Sower, from the Earthseed trilogy. In light of this important moment in time, artists Müge Yılmaz and Anna Hoetjes have initiated Taking Root Among the Stars. Emerging and expanding from the legacy of Butler’s work, this exhibition marks a year when the future became the present became the past. 

By bringing together the work of artists and writers who use science fiction not only as a theme in their work but also as a speculative worldbuilding tool to critique the society we live in, this exhibition proposes different social realities, alternative futures, and communal relations to nature. Through an interdisciplinary exploration of feminist, trans, queer, decolonial, science fiction literature, the artists in this exhibition write themselves into the future(s) they want to see.

As a platform for exchange at the intersection of art, literature, ecology, science, and activism, Taking Root Among the Stars claims speculation and its feminist possibilities by embracing what Walidah Imarisha calls ‘visionary fiction’. This form of fantastical writing helps us imagine new just worlds and affirms that marginalised groups hold the knowledge that allows them to bring into being more radically imaginative futures. Through works that are platforms of exchange in and of themselves, the exhibition holds space for processes of worldbuilding by initiating dialogue, reflection, and interaction with the audience to help us imagine a radically different future—one we look forward to, one we don’t fear.

Specifically aimed at providing a platform for feminist, queer, Black diasporic, and decolonial practitioners, each work in this exhibition is a universe in itself, holding its own community. But like an interstellar system the orbits meet, they touch, they overlap. Reaching from the depths of the oceans to the edges of space, these environments are often looked at as new territories to mine and extract from, to exploit. But as environments we know very little about, they also open up space to imagine new worlds within. The works in this exhibition move across these territories—from oceanic queerness to Afrofuturistic super beings to a speculative satellite constructed for queer, post-colonial futures. As we make our way through a feminist science fiction library, explore a collective star map, and engage in a rewriting of the protocols of time, we hope to collectively embrace what we can make instead of what we can destroy.

The community program consists of workshops, reading groups, and gatherings that make visible the possibilities of making connections with speculative literature beyond imagination and theory. Through practical workshops on survival, in both our current political climate and in the environments that we inhabit, the public program aims to build, link, and sustain communities. By gathering to read and write together, to learn new skills, to listen and be in community with one another, the public program reinforces that the speculative is grounded in gaining tools for the future.

With works by AiRich, Black Quantum Futurism, Maartje Folkeringa, Anna Hoetjes, Adriana Knouf, Brittany Nelson, Ada M. Patterson, Sondi, Müge Yilmaz and Fei Yining.

The exhibition was preceded by Gathering Earthseed, a full-day gathering about feminist science-fiction and the legacy of Octavia E. Butler on July 20th, with a panel conversation, workshops, a ritual and a collective dinner.

Visual identity by Sheona Turnbull.

This exhibition is generously supported by Gieskes-Strijbis Fund, Mondriaan Fund, Amsterdam Fund for the Arts, het Cultuurfonds, Fonds 21, The Netherland-America Foundation, Buro Stedelijk and Oedipus Brewing.

Initiated by EMIRHAKIN, Remarkable Meetings with Disgusting Men reflects on (self-)censorship as a highly tangible experience, ████ proposing ways for maneuvering through fear. ██████ ████ █ ███, ████. In this exhibition, the strategies of oppressive regimes and their bodily implications are explored, subverted, ██████ and reappropriated through a careful spatial choreography. How does political coercion permeate the personal, infiltrate bodily boundaries, and ███████████? 

EMIRHAKIN has invited a group of artists to reconfigure the symbols and strategies associated with fear and oppression—holding space to reflect on the erasure of choice, identity, agency, ████ and life within heavily politicized structures. ████ █████ ███ ████. Taking shape through video works, archival footage, performances, ████, sound and light installations, and paintings, the exhibition navigates the manufacturing of (cultural) identity, ████ ██████, nationalism, the impact of censorship, and life under authoritarian regimes.

Informed by ███ personal experiences as a ████ ████ in ████, EMIRHAKIN’s practice ██████ and visualizes the personal, emotional, and physical consequences of (self-)censorship while simultaneously paving a pathway for vulnerability and resilience. In a recurring part of the programme, EMIRHAKIN reflects on the █████ and ████ of ███ life under suppression—delving deeper into the ideological construct of masculinity that profoundly influenced his ██████ and █████.

Witnessing the rise of the right-wing and its effect on the freedom of expression, Remarkable Meetings with Disgusting Men invites you to traverse the complexities of contemporary political realities, in the shadows of systems of ██████, manipulation, commodification, and racialization. The exhibition will be accompanied by an extensive context programme of performances, movie screenings, ████ █████ and a night of storytelling.

Participating artists: Andreas Tegnander & Ossip Blits, Batuhan Keskiner, Can Demren, EMIRHAKIN, ghenwa noiré, Jonas Lerch, Ksenia Yurkova, Mohammed Tatour and Zalán Szakács. 

Context programme with: Başak Layiç, Elif Satanaya Özbay, Ghaith Kween Qoutainy and Sipan Sezgin Tekin.

More about the participating artists you can find in the digital handout of Remarkable Meetings with Disgusting Men.

This exhibition is generously supported by: Gieskes-Strijbis Fund, Mondriaan Fund, Creative Industries Fund NL, Stadt Wien, Amarte Fund, Goethe Instituut and Oedipus Brewing.

Visual identity by EMIRHAKIN and Fadi Houmani.

The exhibition Outside the Soup, initiated by artists Afra Eisma and Hend Samir, emphasizes the potential of art to create new worldviews through radical imagination and artistic experimentation; placing care, solidarity, and trust at the forefront. Rather than building on a conceptual framework as the underpinning for the exhibition, the role of mutual and reciprocal relationships within the artistic ecosystem takes center stage.

Outside the Soup brings together a large and diverse international group of artists who create narrative-based, highly visual works steeped in imagination. The exhibition will be activated through an extensive context- and community program of workshops and guided tours.

With work by Soad Abdelrasoul, Kenneth Aidoo, Dagmar Bosma, Afra Eisma, Esraa Elfeky, Tessa Mars, Marzia Migliora, Hiroki Miura, Rah Naqvi, Karin Iturralde Nurnberg, Hend Samir, Afrah Shafiq, Meenakshi Thirukode, Marnix van Uum and Debbie Young.

This exhibition is generously supported by: Gieskes-Strijbis Fund, Mondriaan Fund, Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunst, Fonds21, Iona Foundation, Nieuwe Instituut and Oedipus Brewing.

Our partners: CBK Zuidoost, IMC Weekendschool, Future Institute of Art, Stagehuis Schilderswijk and Kunstinstituut Melly for this exhibition.

Visual identity by Sheona Turnbull.

Exhibition photography by Pieter Kers.

W139 hosts… marks the start of an energetic and dynamic month at W139. We invite you to experience this special programme from March 1 to April 8, which will include pop-up stores, workshops, meet-ups, but also gatherings, rehearsals, exhibitions, experiments, film screenings, work presentations and much more.

The programme is composed of a careful selection of the many diverse submissions in response to our recent open call. Artists, designers, curators, mediators, collectives, and local initiatives were invited to propose projects and ideas they consider urgent and relevant.

The huge amount of responses to our open call made us decide that we needed to realize as many as possible within the time we can offer. The immense interest in this call has confirmed the urgent need for more production and presentation spaces in Amsterdam. W139 hosts… hopes to contribute to the community by sharing our unique space in the heart of Amsterdam.

Programme:

1 March
Ottokaji Iroke – With bye 
www.ottokaji.com

1 March
Guda Koster & Frans van Tartwijk – Holy rocks and Cosmo disco 
www.gudakoster.nl & www.fransvantartwijk.nl

2 – 3 March
Lama Aloul, Nathan Felix and Raphael Jacobs – How to build a sandcastle
www.raphaeljacobs.com  & www.instagram.com/nathan.feliot/

2 – 4 March
Elodie Vreeburg & Anna Tamm – Altars of Daily Life
www.elodievreeburg.com

2 – 5 March
Jana van Meerveld – Uncivilisation
www.janavanmeerveld.nl

4 – 6 March
VeryBadMoviesCollective – Pilot 

5 March
Omid Kheirabadi – Performance Research & Revolution
Performances 13h & 16h
www.omidkheirabadi.com/artist-portfolio

5 – 6 March
Zonder Punt Collectief – Free Floating
www.zonderpunt.com

6 March| TBC
Lijuan Klassen, Alec Mateo & Hala Namer – Performance

6 March | Private project
Balázs Varju-Tóth – Graduation Film

5 – 6 March
Zonder Punt Collectief – Free Floating
www.zonderpunt.com

6 March
Lijuan Klassen, Alec Mateo & Hala Namer – Performance

7 – 9 March

Sunrise tours – Project Mayhem
https://www.instagram.com/thesunrisetours/

Polina Fenko – Combat Breathing Laboratory
https://www.instagram.com/polya__v__ogne/

Laura A Dima – Future Affair
https://lauraadima.com/

Agata Zwierzynska – THE MUTOSCOPE & 20 OTHER BOOKS 
https://agata.home.xs4all.nl/

Alex Fischer – Hunter Trophies Works
http://www.alexfischer.net

10 March

Lauren Fong – Fog or Glitter II: Over the Sunset
http://vimeo.com/laurenfong

Catalina Reyes – Screening: “From The Verge Looking Inwards”

Henriette von Muenchhausen en Ai Hashimoto – Close Encounter

Gisela Domschke – Auroras, an art space in a modernist house in São Paulo
http://auroras.art.br

One Minutes x Sandberg – Premiere: The One Minutes Series Snack or Food Pill
http://theoneminutes.org/

11 March
The Shared Learning Collective (Piet Zwart Education in Arts Master)
– How do we study together? – Collective Learning + Listening

10 – 13 March
Shareware Collective – Shareware Studio
https://www.ollestjerne.com/shareware

11 – 13 March
Lena Karson, Maisa Imamović, Roman Tkachenko, Natália Blahová, Ekaterina Volkova, Olga Permiakova and Iskra Vukšić – Time is an unrenewable resource — and you know how we are with those
https://www.timeis.capital

12 March
Anto López Espinosa – There are still flowers that will endlessly grow
spoken-word fully lip-synced drag performance
https://www.instagram.com/somos_anto/

12 – 13 March
Lily Lanfermeijer > 2×5?
http://lilylanfermeijer.com/

14 – 16 March
Christina Stavrou – Intangible Array

14 – 16 March
Ganesh Nepalcor – Metamorphosis

14 – 17 March
Geer van der Klugt – tekeningen
Bart Stuart – sculpturen

14 – 17 March
Cor van der Meyden – EXCAVATED PICTURES⁠

14 – 21 March
Delfin Lev – Pentimento

15 – 16 March
André Avelãs – 2 looping turntables with test records & 2 frequency sweep generators, for C45 tape

17 March
Fredie Beckmans – worstclub a gogo

Linda Molenaar – Jumping Birds and More⁠

17 – 18 March
Second Thoughts – Tasha Arlova, Eva Mahhov, Maja Chiara Faber – 

Jara van Teeffelen & Clara Gradel

18 March
Aimilia Efthymion – Nights are dark but dreams are alright⁠
performance 16 – 18h⁠

Embodied Knowledge Bureau

19 March
Dots and Sounds – Robat & Andrew Macrae – Live

19 – 20 March
Belle Phromchanya – I was here the whole time (80+) ⁠

20 March
chit-chat collective – Najiba Yasmin & sanj

20 – 21 March
Reading My Panties Zine Launch

21 March
Diana Al Halibi – On Scales of Violence: How to Measure a Dictator? (Screening)

Fa ma. – porous passing with bare feet (Performance)

Bradley Charles Hamlin – Antechamber

18 – 27 March
Noa Bar Orian

23 – 25 March
Tamara Kuselman – Installation

24 March
Mie Rygh Reianes – Territitorial Anxiety (Performance)

Stichting MARC (Privé event)

24 – 25 March
Bronwen Jones – Clothing Correspondence

25 March
Gweni Llwyd & Ifigeneia Ilia-Georgiadou – One Day Home (workshop)

25 – 27 March
Jochem van den Wijngaard, Alban Karsten, Kitty Maria & Irene de Boer (Group Show)

26 March
Noam Youngrak Son & Sonic Acts – The Story-Telling Eel-Orgy: Writing as an Aquatic Intercourse (workshop)

Hefla حفلة shop

26 – 27 March
Four Sisters Collective – Guerrilla Seed Bombing (Workshop)

27 March
Sojourna Jon-Paul – Drawing Performance

04/04
Paula Chang – How to disagree
@paula_chang_

04/04 – 06-04
Joakim Derlow – Vivl (south)
@joakimderlow

04/04 – 06/04
Radio Aahaa / Sandberg Fine Arts Department – THE RESIDENCE BROADCAST
@radioaahaa @sandbergfinearts radioaahaa.sandberg.nl

04/04 – 08/04
Romy Yedidia – Beauty Molds Transitioning (BMT)
@romyyedidia

05/04
Bodies of Land
Rens Spanjaard, Sieta van Horck

05/04 – 06/04
Youngeun Sohn – Home for the Onlookers
@sohnyoungeun

05/04 – 08/04
Aafke Bennema – Off the grid
@aafkebennema

06/04 – 08/04
Tobias Groot – First, They Gave Me Bones
@tobiasgroot.jpg

08/04
Ellipsis – The Imaginative World of Objects
@ellipsis.nl

08/04
Fundraiser Koeienrusthuis de Leemweg
https://koeienrusthuis.nl

08/04
Manuela Viezzer – Promise Me version 2.0.0
@manuela.viezzer

W139, along with two other venues, Zone2Source and Het HEM, is hosting the Sonic Acts Biennial exhibition one sun after another between Sept. 30 and Oct. 23, 2022. Departing from the long-running Sonic Acts research on pollution, the exhibition focuses on the inextricable links between pollution and time. Pollution is a process that usually manifests itself long after it has begun and often in indirect ways.

one sun after another touches on deep, real and geological time, embraces nonlinearity, fluctuation and porosity, and makes room for leaks. The image of the sun – as a sign of hope, glowing without burning, imbued with warmth – feeds the imagination and brings forth life.

Contemplating multiple incarnations of time, one sun after another listens to an immersive aerial choir of bees, follows a microbe embedded within lithium traveling from a Chilean mine to a digital device, and plunges into deep time through lead-encased nuclear coconuts from the Bikini Atoll. Artistic research traces the lineages of exhaust produced by oil and other extractive economies, while in other places it speculates over Greenland’s mineral deposits, now made accessible by melting ice. In the Canadian Arctic, visual narratives on monumental ice walls come and go with tidal movements, soundtracked by a cacophony of environmental field recordings. Against the din, visitors are welcome to a joyful meditation about presence, sensing and bending time, before drifting downstream, where the exhibition stretches time even further. Diving under, performative and installative artworks explore toxic cycles of water and stretch inner time with hybrid instruments and sub-aquatic amplification.

Taking place throughout October 2022, the Sonic Acts Biennial takes place across various locations, interweaving exhibition openings, performances and lectures. These are accompanied by in/outdoor sound installations, artist presentations, workshops, excursions and other activities.

Sonic Acts Biennial 2022 is generously supported by Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie, Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunst, Mondriaan Fonds, Fonds 21, Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, Fonds voor Podiumkunsten, Paradiso, W139, Het HEM, Likeminds, OT301, Zone2Source, and Singelkerk. Co-supported by the European Union’s Erasmus+ program.

Photography by Elodie Vreeburg en George Knegtel.