Intense and tangible

One of our innovative projects in 2017 was the collaboration with the dance company Conny Janssen Danst on the occasion of its 25th anniversary. In the set of their production ‘HOME’, the dancers rehearsed the performance in the exhibition space, enabling our visitors to witness the making and rehearsal process of a dance production live at the Kunsthal. And in a special video installation featuring a choreography projected on man-sized video screens, visitors were able to come face to face with the dancers. The scale-model of the set of ‘HOME’ and a photographic retrospective of the company were also part of the exhibition.

Humanity and technology

For the first time in the Netherlands, the Kunsthal showed a large retrospective of (post) internet art in the exhibition ‘HUMAN/DIGITAL: a symbiotic love affair’, produced in close collaboration with the private art collectors Hugo and Carla Brown. The exhibition was accompanied by ‘Digital Days’ and focused on the relationship between human beings and technology. Among other things, the programme included lectures by artists and experts, workshops, movies, games and interactive installations. In 2018, the Digital Days are again part of the Kunsthal programme.

Commitment

The Kunsthal’s audience participation project ‘All you can Art’ uses art as its point of departure for actively making connections. The aim of the second edition of ‘All you can Art’ was to establish even more connections between people of various different backgrounds, institutions, fields and communities. Therefore, we connected with three Rotterdam partners and went beyond the Kunsthal walls. On the basis of the assumption that art should take its responsibility with regard to people and society, the artists realised extra studios at Stichting Laurens (geriatric and dementia care), the Zuiderpark College (VMBO school) and Antes (psychiatry and addiction care). Here they worked together with residents, students and clients on a site specific work. The presence of the artists on these locations, and the presence of these target groups at the Kunsthal, resulted in an exchange of knowledge, stories, meanings, content, cultures and skills between people who would probably not have met each other in daily life. Kunsthal visitors were also taken along – both actively and passively – in the daily hustle and bustle surrounding the project. In 2016, the Kunsthal and IBB entered into a collaboration for a period of at least three years.

Apart from working with partners in health care and education, ‘All you can Art 3’ will even go a step further to reach the people of Rotterdam in 2018. All summer long, a mobile studio will move from location to location, past cultural events in the city or local initiatives at shopping or community centres in areas such as the Afrikaanderwijk. Completely according to good IBB practice, the artists will approach and inspire residents, passers-by and event visitors and persuade them to work with them on artworks in or on the mobile studio, or exchange ideas.