The social, cultural and financial structures we erect around us as edifices to shape our existence are often invisible, as well as coercive. We want to be able to rely on these systems, but they are anywhere and everywhere. Ubiquitous and yet elusive. Sometimes they trap us, manifest in unspoken expectations, subject us to a normative gaze that controls our self-expression like an unforgiving iron mold. Then again, they seem to thwart whatever free space we have, yet simultaneously too fragile to lean on. Sometimes they are so invisible that they go unnoticed until they disappear: 404, ERROR, PAGE NOT FOUND. In Amsterdam, 66 cultural institutions are in danger of disappearing, Nieuw Dakota is one of them.
In the second act of Gespannen Tijden (Tense Tides), we show work by artists who confront, present or subvert the errors that creep into our systems. We balance this happening between errors and glitches, where the former is a mistake that simply needs to be fixed, the glitch offers an opportunity: it is a hitch in the system that produces something new, something surprising.
Nieuw Dakota invites the audience, during an interactive afternoon, to playfully explore the tension and opportunities between errors and glitches, sometimes as metaphor and sometimes literally. And perhaps sometimes by knocking down structures that no longer serve us.
With work by Lorenz Beckmann, Julie Goslinga, Inge Kengen, Pum van de Koppel, and a subdued rant by Nathalie Hartjes.
Lorenz Beckmann, a German artist born in 1999, explores societal and personal blind spots through playful and thought-provoking experiences. His project "The Library as a Loom" invites participants to weave connections between books, inspired by Pamphila's ancient approach to knowledge organization. This installation challenges outdated library classification systems that reflect Eurocentric and patriarchal views, promoting interdisciplinary, queer, and feminist readings that reveal hidden intertextual relationships.
Julie Goslinga, a 2024 graduate from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, explores the concept of "Otherness" from a queer perspective in her work. Her short film "Understanding Other(s)" invites viewers to engage with 'otherness' through seemingly monstrous and alien characters, reflecting on how we encounter and understand one another. The film uses humor and self-criticism to examine the political positioning of Otherness in art, encouraging viewers to reconsider their judgments of the unfamiliar.
Inge Kengen is a Dutch artist based in The Hague who explores identity, belonging, and self-discovery through poetry, videos, sound pieces, installations, and live performances. Her project "To Do's or Should Do's" examines how we organize everyday chaos by showcasing a collection of to-do lists, prompting reflection on our expectations and the pressures of productivity.
Pum van de Koppel, a 1999-born visual artist from Amsterdam-Noord and 2023 KABK graduate, explores social codes from an autistic perspective, using art to challenge his own rule-bound tendencies. His installation "At long last" for Tense Tides uses spaghetti and glue to build a precarious structure, symbolizing the uncertain fate of cultural institutions like Nieuw Dakota. Through this work, van de Koppel celebrates the comforting power of unstable things and proposes collective creativity as a response to cultural austerity.
