stedelijk at trouw: contemporary art club

Location: TrouwAmsterdam, Wibautstraat 127-131, Amsterdam
Time: 8:30 pm - 02:00 am
Language: English
Entrance/reservations: €10 in advance and at the door, €5 for Trouwe Honden and students (includes entrance to night program with Emptyset). For tickets see: www.trouwamsterdam.nl

The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and TrouwAmsterdam are proud to present the first program of Stedelijk at Trouw: Contemporary Art Club, an exhibition and performance program in which contemporary art is presented in an innovative way. Following the successful program in 2012 in the context of Temporary Stedelijk 3 – Stedelijk @, three theme-based multimedia exhibitions will take place at TrouwAmsterdam this year. There will be an elaborate Public Program during each opening evening with lectures, performance, and music related to the themes of the programs. For the Contemporary Art Club exhibitions, film and video works with soundtracks inspired by pop and dance music, which have determining influences on the work, have been selected. The theme of the first program is MOTION, with works by Tracey Emin, Cheryl Donegan, Jimmy Robert, and Jeremy Shaw. During the opening on the evening of September 5, there will be a lecture by dance expert Tim Lawrence, a discussion with artist Jimmy Robert, and performances by the Mike Koldin music trio and the Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT). The night program will be presented by Emptyset. 

Opening program of Contemporary Art Club: MOTION (September 5, 2013)

In order to provide context for this thought-provoking exhibition, international dance expert Tim Lawrence has been invited to reflect on the meaning of dance, the club scene, and contemporary art since the 1980s. The lecture is followed by two special performances: a dance performance by the Nederlands Dans Theater and the explosive combination of image, sound, and music of the Mike Koldin trio. Artist Jimmy Robert will be interviewed by Bart Rutten, the co-curator of Contemporary Art Club: MOTION. The opening evening flows into the night program with Emptyset, a joint performance by James Ginzburg and Paul Purgas from Bristol. They examine the relationships between noise and music, space and sound, and analog media and architecture with charming, experimental sounds.

Contemporary Art Club exhibition: MOTION (September 5 – 15, 2013)

The first program of Contemporary Art Club is characterized by motion. The relationship between identity and dance will be examined in a number of different video artworks, with special attention on intentional and unintentional temptations. The influence of both the club and image culture since the 1970s is clearly visible.

During the first program, you can see the work Why I never became a dancer (1995) by Tracey Emin from the Stedelijk Museum collection. In this work, Emin discusses traumatic personal memories, accompanied with home video-like images of her hometown and a very personal voice-over. She  concludes the video with a liberating and emotional dance, which comes into its own very effectively in the club atmosphere of TrouwAmsterdam. 

The second work, Head (1993) by Cheryl Donegan, clearly shows the influence of the video clip on performance art. Head is about sensuality, extravagant exhibitionism, and evocative colors. Accompanied by pounding rock music, Donegan plays with her sexuality by taking milk into her mouth, spitting it back out, and licking the carton. 

Variation FQ (2012) by Jeremy Shaw centers on the flowing movements of American transgender Vogue dancer Leiomy Prodigy. Vogue is a highly stylized house dance dating to the 1980s, inspired by the poses of models in the fashion magazine Vogue. Shaw also composed the soundtrack for the work, which is projected in the exhibition on 16mm film. Variation FQ examines the evolutions of subculture and gender in dance.  

The fourth work is Vocabulary (2011), a dance performance by Jimmy Robert. In this work, the artist wears earplugs and dances to techno music, cataloging a group of movements which he has observed in dance clubs and is now imitating.  

Further information:

The second program of Contemporary Art Club will take place from October 31 to November 9, 2013, and the third program will take place from November 28 to December 7, 2013. 

Contemporary Art Club can be visited free of charge for the duration of every program between 5:30 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. There will be an entrance fee for the opening events.

Contemporary Art Club is organized by the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and De Verdieping, the monthly cultural program of TrouwAmsterdam. TrouwAmsterdam aims to introduce its visitors to art with the Nachtmuseum. The Nachtmuseum links all the Trouw components: music, food, and art. 

The Blikopeners (young people aged 15 to 19 who have part-time jobs in the Stedelijk) will organize a special program of activities on Sundays.