Exhibition — Sep 4 until Sep 27, 2014

The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and cultural foundation De Verdieping present Trouw Invites...: three commissioned exhibitions at TrouwAmsterdam. This second installment is curated by the contemporary art space Beirut (Cairo), presenting an installation of artist Rayyane Tabet (1983, Ashqout). 

Rayyane Tabet: Here Today Gone Tomorrow (2014)

TrouwAmsterdam and the Stedelijk Museum are very proud to present the ongoing exhibition series Trouw Invites… For the second installment of the series, which opens on September 4, the contemporary art space Beirut (Cairo) has invited Lebanese artist Rayyane Tabet (1983, Ashqout) to create a new installation in the basement area of Trouw. Beirut is an independent art space based in Cairo that has gained international recognition for its engaging and cutting-edge programs and exhibitions. Its curators, Antonia Alampi, Jens Maier-Rothe, and Sarah Rifky, are working with Rayyane Tabet to develop the new installation Here Today Gone Tomorrow (2014), which explores the various layers of history that are associated with the Trouw building and name.

Here Today Gone Tomorrow samples found objects and utterances from Trouw’s past and conjures their double lives in a historically conscious liaison with the club’s present. The starting point takes us back to August 1944, when Trouw was a newspaper affiliated with local resistance movements during German occupation. The Nazis tried to stop the publication by rounding up 24 Trouw couriers and issuing an ultimatum. The editors refused to surrender and all of the captured were executed. Shocked by the dramatic events, Trouw ran the headline "Trouw tot in den dood" (translation: “Faithful until death”) on the following day. From here, Tabet's project unfolds across three timelines, which come together in a large-scale installation in Trouw’s basement area, “De Hal”:

The club's illuminated nameplate on the facade – a remnant of the Trouw building’s former function as a newspaper printing press – will be altered to complete the headline from August 1944: “Trouw tot in den dood.” First shown separately during the exhibition, the sentence will remain on the facade until the new owners of the building decide to remove it when the club Trouw no longer occupies the building on Wibautstraat.

At Tabet's request, Trouw’s resident DJ Tom Trago remixed a version of the Huzarenmars, a parade march of the Dutch cavalry used during official receptions, featuring samples of its original chorus line, "Trouw tot in den dood." Like all other elements in this project, the new composition has a double life, similar to the A- and B-sides of a record release: the experimental dubbed version fills the basement exhibition space while Tom Trago might mix it into one of his DJ sets upstairs.

Tabet asked the current Trouw editorial office to reprint the original 8-page spread from August 1944, which will be distributed as part of the installation that Rayyane is showing in this exhibition in “De Hal”.

The title, Here Today Gone Tomorrow, draws on a saying that was once popular among house squatters in the 1970's and then gained mainstream status with a song of the same title by American punk rock band The Ramones in 1977, and is a reference to the current underground status of Trouw.

opening event

During the opening night on September 4, the curators of the exhibition will interview Rayyane Tabet about this exciting new project. Also, Trouw will offer a special music program, featuring DJ Tom Trago, Kindness, and others. The exhibition Trouw Invites... Beirut can be visited for free until September 28th, from Tuesday through Thursday between 5:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. On Friday and Saturday, the exhibition will only be accessible to visitors of the club or restaurant.

More about the opening event.

About Trouw Invites…:

The Stedelijk Museum and TrouwAmsterdam have invited three international art institutions to curate the monumental basement space of Trouw, “De Hal”: Palais de Tokyo (Paris), Beirut (Cairo), and the New Museum (New York). From July until December 2014, each of these institutions will invite an artist to create a new work for the space. The full program is:

  • Trouw Invites… Palais de Tokyo: Fouad Bouchoucha, July 3 – August 3, 2014
  • Trouw Invites… Beirut: Rayyane Tabet, September 4 – 28, 2014
  • Trouw Invites… New Museum: AUNTS, November 6 – December 6, 2014

More information about the artist:

Rayyane Tabet (1983, Ashqout, Lebanon) explores the relationship between history and the built environment. His multi-faceted installations often reconstitute the perception of physical and temporal distance. His work was showcased in the Sharjah Biennial X in 2011, the New Museum Triennial in 2012, and was part of a collateral event at the Venice Biennial in 2013. Tabet lives and works in Beirut. His work will also be shown in the exhibition This is the Time: This is the Record of the Time at Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam, opening September 13, 2014.

Trouw Invites… is organized by the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and the foundation De Verdieping, the monthly cultural program of TrouwAmsterdam.