Nieuwe Instituut
Nieuwe Instituut

Sonneveld House

In Search of the Pluriverse

Join us on a journey through the Pluriverse, a place where multiple worlds coexist and thrive. How realistic is the idea of such a world, where people and other beings live together in harmony with each other and the environment? Can there ever really be such an equal world, in which we together shape a future that truly does have a future? In fact, people around the globe are already working on this multiverse. Makers and thinkers are creating site-specific and communal projects that confirm this world view, based on their own knowledge and experiences. Curators Sophie Krier and Erik Wong take us on a journey to meet these designers of worlds. Wong and Krier mainly search on the fringes and in the margins, where one thing ends and another begins - because, as they show us, it is there that change first becomes visible.

23 April 2022 10:00 - 7 August 2022 17:00

Old oak tree photographed at Tireragan rewilding resort, Isle of Mull, Scotland, 2021. Photo: In Search of the Pluriverse / Sophie Krier.

Taste the relationship between humans and microbes with Aslı Hatipoğlu. For her, the kitchen is the place to research how humans and micro-organisms can work together. Making and sharing food always ends in a story. Artist, weaver and cook Hatipoğlu creates a world in which she combines psychology, history, ecology, spirituality and science - and comes up with new recipes.

Step into a tale with 'air wizard' Ariel Bustamante and curator Camila Marambio. A boy and a girl share words with the wind. Betting on the power of openings and oracles, tunnels and caves, Bustamante and Marambio ask permission to move through the bodies of Nico and Isa. Permission given, permission taken.

Reflect with artist Joke Robaard on the formation of groups. Why do people come together? Where do we find common ground? From her rich archive of images from fashion magazines and newspapers, Robaard has put together a domino game especially for this exhibition. Connecting images of groups of people creates new connections and meanings. Can the players produce a picture of our joint future?

Practice the 'no' of resistance and the 'yes' of the imagination with la C.A.R. (Cellule d'Actions Rituelles). From a reclaimed territory near Nantes that fought off a climate wrecking airport project, la C.A.R. initiates events that bridge art, activism and magick. Using both artistic and activist tools, they advance what they call "a world that exists because another one was resisted". A world without a clear distinction between protest and the creative process, or between pleasure and political success.

For the spatial design of In Search of the Pluriverse, architect Sean Leonard draws on the idea of the Caribbean yard, a semi-public private space where daily activities such as cooking, playing, working and rehearsing (for Carnival!) need to be combined. Negotiation is key. What does a pluriversal yard look like? Come and find out.

"The weather" is a perfect way to link a "here" to a "now". Wong and Krier often start their podcast conversations with a weather report. Graphic designer Miquel Hervás Gomez translated weather conditions into typographic constellations. These likable yet abstract narratives form the basis of the graphic layer of the exhibition.

The exhibition has been put together as an inspiring introduction to the themes, locations, thinkers and designers that feature in a long-running project by Wong and Krier. Through intensive field research, a lively Instagram channel, a series of podcasts, several do-it-yourself exercises and a list of reading suggestions, In Search of the Pluriverse offers further depth to what can be seen in the exhibition. Krier and Wong aim to connect different places in the world, different kinds of knowledge and different ways of living together.

Come on in, the door is open.

Nieuwsbrief

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