Rotterdam for Real
For the Record
Launched in 2018, For the Record explores local and global themes in video culture together with the public and a broad network of creatives, media producers, researchers and organisations. Many Rotterdam-based partners, artists and designers have taken part in this multi-year programme.
Set Stage Screen: A Situated Video Channel
Hannah Dawn Henderson, Safiq Nasution, Natalia Papaeva, Ashley Röttjers, and Geo Wyeth & Jay Tan present audiovisual work at various locations in Rotterdam as part of Set Stage Screen: A Situated Video Channel. The programme reflects on the ways in which the urban environment plays a central role in films and music videos, with each of the participating artists having a personal connection to Rotterdam.
Henderson saw a vision of Manchester in Rotterdam, Nasution grew up here, Papaeva found her mother tongue, Röttjers learned about sisterhood, and Wyeth & Tan struggled through the city's waters. Using different publicly accessible locations throughout the city in lockdown, the Set Stage Screen artists put the viewing experience of videos in a different light. They seek out the messiness of the city, challenging the viewer to relate to the work and its surroundings in a different way.
Set Stage Screen: A Situated Video Channel has been postponed due to Covid-19 - read more here.
G/D THYSELF: Spirit Strategy On Raising Free Black Children
Het Nieuwe Instituut and the International Film Festival Rotterdam invited artist collective The Ummah Chroma to realise an installation at the institute based on their film G/D THYSELF: Spirit Strategy On Raising Free Black Children.
In spring 2020, as people around the world were forced into quarantine by the coronavirus pandemic, isolating and distancing themselves from others, the need for rituals of togetherness, solidarity, and connectedness became stronger than ever. During the exhibition period, Het Nieuwe Instituut presented an on- and offline programme in the spirit of G/D THYSELF. Various activities, including ritual performances and meditations, were based on a variety of spiritual and cultural traditions, with contributions from Rotterdam-based, national, and international artists and collectives. These included rituals, performances, film screenings, masterclasses and lectures.
Contributors included dancer and presenter Jiv the Chief, HipHopHuis Rotterdam, artist Nash Caldera, krump dance performer The Empress, The Sacred Boiling Tub collective, poet Dean Bowen, and writer and photographer Johnny Pitts:
Live from G/D THYSELF with Jiv the Chief The first in a series of activities in which artists carried out the G/D THYSELF installation's spirit strategies, which could be experienced from home through a live stream with supporting information. The programme started with a performance and workshop by Jiv the Chief in collaboration with HipHopHuis in Rotterdam.
Live from G/D THYSELF with The Empress The Dutch krump and Afro dancer The Empress invited audiences to take part in a theatrical dance workshop in which different musical eras were reviewed, from old school to new school dance steps, from funk and 1990s street dance to hip hop and more - everything was covered.
Live from G/D THYSELF with The Sacred Boiling Tub Rotterdam-based collective The Sacred Boiling Tub combined the healing power of live music with yoga and art in a sound meditation session.
Reflection #1
Ana-lize: a poem by artist Nash Caldera Artist Nash Caldera made the first contribution to a three-part series of Reflections with the poem Ana-lize, previously performed during the Spirit Strategies through Performative Sounds sound meditation. Inspired by G/D THYSELF, a series of reflections, stories, and spirit strategies was sent out by writers, poets, and designers as a way to reflect together, albeit at a distance from each other.
Reflection #2
DON'T LET THEM BURN: a poem by poet, performer and psychonaut Dean Bowen The second reflection was by Dean Bowen with the poem DON'T LET THEM BURN - a dark lullaby for Black babies in burning cities. Poet, performer, and psychonaut Dean Bowen is concerned with the dynamics of composite identity and how it relates to political and social positioning.
Reflection #3
A poem by writer, photographer and journalist Johny Pitts The third and final contribution in the series of reflections was a poem by writer, photographer, and journalist Johny Pitts, founder and curator of the award-winning online magazine Afropean.com, a platform dedicated to the Afro-European diaspora. In the book Afropean: Notes from Black Europe, Pitts shares a personal story and experiences gained in the search for the Afropean in various European cities.
More information about G/D THYSELF: Spirit Strategy On Raising Free Black Children is available in the web magazine
YouthDem
As part of YouthDem, programmes were created not just for, but _with _a community of young people. Rotterdam collective Concrete Blossom guided young Rotterdam-based designers, film-makers, artists, and musicians in programme-making. Over a period of several months, the young designers organised a series of interventions celebrating and questioning the themes of exhibitions, either individually or together with their group. Read more about the programme here.