Kick-off 2030: War Zone Amsterdam

There is no audience, there are only participants

28 Nov 2009

On Saturday 28 November the first phase of the multiyear event 2030: War Zone Amsterdam will be launched with Blitz presentations by thirty international artists and collectives. Curator Brigitte van der Sande developed the project on the basis of an idea of Partizan Publik. On the same occasion the special issue of Open, Cahier on Art and the Public Domain # 18 will be launched.

NOTE: admission is free, but seating is limited. R.S.V.P. with the pink 'do something' button above.

2030: War Zone Amsterdam is an exercise in imagining the unimaginable: a state of war in your own city in the year 2030. A cease-fire has just been announced, and a group of international artists, theatre makers, filmmakers, journalists and intellectuals go out into the city to investigate what the war has done to Amsterdam and its inhabitants.

Enlarge

Depictions of Amsterdam in World War II (310 x 400 cm), detail - Gert Jan Kocken, detail Depictions of Amsterdam in World War II (310 x 400 cm), kaart opgebouwd uit 33 kaarten die gebruikt zijn in WOII, kunstenaarsbijdrage in Open 18 Jans Possel

2030: War Zone Amsterdam names no enemies, provides no answers, but fires questions at a possible future. The participants occupy public space, infiltrate exhibitions, festivals and publications, or seek cover in underground spaces. The Dutch people will be confronted, on their own doorstep, with an experience that for many people around the world is day-to-day reality.

The thirty artists and artists’ collectives from all around the world, from the Middle East, former Yugoslavia and Western Europe through to South Korea, Mexico and Canada will come together in Amsterdam between 22 and 29 November for an intensive week of lectures, workshops and reconnoitring of the city above and below ground. The week will be concluded on 28 November with a series of four-minute Blitz presentations of the initial impressions and ideas of the participants. The second phase, during which the works will be realised, will take place at dates still to be announced in 2010 and 2011. The special issue of Open includes contributions from Willem Schinkel, Frank Furedi, Tom McCarthy and Matteo Pasquinelli & Wietske Maas, an interview by John Armitage with Paul Virilio and artistic contributions from Gert Jan Kocken and Adi Kaplan/Shahar Carmel. Open 18 will serve as a reader during the arts event 2030 War Zone Amsterdam. Brigitte van der Sande is the guest editor of this issue.

Programme 28 November, 16:00 - 20:-00 hrs

16.00 - 16.10 hours Introduction by Brigitte van der Sande, curator of 2030: War Zone Amsterdam
16.10 – 16.20 hours Presentation Open 18, ‘2030: War Zone Amsterdam, by Editor-in-chief Jorinde Seijdel
16.20 - 17.16 hours 14 Blitz presentations by participating artists
17.16 - 17.46 hours Break
17.46 - 18.18 hours 8 Blitz presentations by participating artists
18.18 - 18.40 hours Break
18.40 – 19.12 hours 8 Blitz presentations by participating artists
19.12 - 20.00 hours Drinks

Participants

Maja Bajevic (Sarajevo, 1967/Paris), Joze Barsi (Ljubljana, 1955), Sawsan Bou Khaled (Beirut, 1975), Persijn Broersen/Margit Lukács (Delft, 1974/Amsterdam, 1973), Giorgio Andreotta Calò (Venice, 1979/Amsterdam), Tony Chakar (Beirut, 1968), Lana _maj_anin (Sarajevo, 1984), Danny Devos (Vilvoorde, 1959/Antwerp), Katja van Driel (Kleve, 1971/Amsterdam), Ronen Eidelman (Jaffa, 1971), Jamelie Hassan (London, Ontario, 1948), Khaled Hourani (Ramallah, 1965), IRWIN (Dusan Mandi_, Ljubljana, 1954/Miran Mohar, Novo Mesto, 1958/Andrej Savski, Ljubljana, 1961/Roman Uranjek, Ljubljana, 1961/Borut Vogelnik, Kranj, 1959/Ljubljana), Adi Kaplan/Shahar Carmel (Kibutz Ein Hahoresh, 1967/ Tel Aviv, 1958/Tel Aviv) Nesrine Khodr (Beirut, 1973), Gert Jan Kocken (Ravenstein, 1971/Amsterdam), Reine Mahfouz (Beirut, 1975), Hwayeon Nam (Seoul, 1979), Pil and Galia Kollectiv (Jerusalem, 1975/1976/Londen, GB), PiST/// (Didem Özbek/Osman Bozkurt, both Karabük, 1970/Istanbul), Plastique Fantastique (David Burrows/Simon O'Sullivan, London, 1965/Norwich, 1967/London), Sebastian Romo (Mexico City, 1973), Menachem Roth (Israel, 1975), Eran Sachs (Jerusalem, 1975/ Jaffa), Sala-Manca Group (Lea Mauas/Diego Rotman, Buenos Aires, 1974/1972/Jerusalem), Malkit Shoshan (Haifa, 1976/Amsterdam), TG42 (Joeri Vos, Haren, 1981/Isil Vos, Haren, 1986/Mariana Aparicio Torres, Leiden, 1983/Noel S. Keulen, Heerlen, 1978/Amsterdam and Rotterdam), Alite Thijsen (Eibergen, 1957/Amsterdam), Philippe Van Wolputte (Antwerp, 1982/Amsterdam)

The first phase of 2030: War Zone Amsterdam has been made possible with financial support from the Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture and the Mondriaan Stichting.