Opening BLUE: Architecture of UN Peacekeeping Missions
On 26 May, General Tom Middendorp, Chief of Defence, opened the exhibition 'BLUE': 'Architecture of UN Peacekeeping Missions' in the Dutch Pavilion. Architect Malkit Shoshan has been invited by Het Nieuwe Instituut to curate the Dutch contribution to the fifteenth edition of the Venice Architecture Biennale. 'BLUE 'explores the architecture of the peacekeeping base as a component of the United Nations missions.
26 May 2016 11:30 - 11:30
The exhibition in the Dutch Pavilion turns the spotlight on contemporary UN peacekeeping missions as an urban phenomenon and takes the Dutch UN peacekeeping base Camp Castor in Gao, Mali, as a case study. Camp Castor is located in the Sub Saharan region of the Sahel, where the encounter between the 'blue people' (the Tuareg) and the 'blue helmets' (the UN), the desert and the Dutch approach, the nomads and settlement spark the appearance of new spatial forms.
_BLUE _presents a series of new stories and proposals about architecture in conflict areas. The stories have emerged from conversations with military engineers and architects, anthropologists and economists, activists, policy-makers and locals. The colour blue is used as a metaphor for the encounter between the 'blue men' and the 'blue helmets'. This metaphor has also guided designer Irma Boom who, together with Malkit Shoshan, has designed the exhibition's graphics.
Programme
- 11:30 a.m Official opening by General Tom Middendorp, Chief of Defence, with speeches by Malkit Shoshan, curator, Marjan Hammersma, Director-General Culture and Media, Joep Wijnands, the Netherlands Ambassador in Rome, and Guus Beumer, director of Het Nieuwe Instituut
- 4:00 p.m. A performance by Malian rapper Master Soumy
- 5:00 p.m. Reception
BLUE: Architecture of UN Peacekeeping Missions is open to the public from 28 May until 27 November 2016.
Contributors to the _BLUE _exhibition are Arnon Grunberg, David Turnbull, Debra Solomon, Erella Grassiani, Joel van der Beek, Laura van Santen, LEVS architecten, Malkit Shoshan, Marcel Rot, Marion de Vos, Moussa Ag Assarid, Peter Chilson, Rob de Vos, Foundation Dogon Education, Studio Jonas Staal, Travis Bunt.