IDEOLOGY MEETS IMPLEMENTATION
Between 13 October to 9 November 2017 in W139 Amsterdam, I initiated an exhibition with the core idea of showing examples of confrontation between systems and the way they implement themselves, and the ideologies on which they are based, through an artistic point of view. Later when the group was formed, we developed the idea further together with the artists of the group:
Mojtaba Amini, Vasily Bogatov, Ehsan Fardjadinia, Barbad Golshiri, Yoeri Guepin, Joseph Hughes, Mehregan Kazemi, Dimitra Kondylatou, Taisiya Krugovykh, David Maroto, Pendar Nabipour, Mojtaba Tabatabaie, belit sağ, Dorine van Meel
During the exhibition, 14 public events were held at the exhibition, which turned the exhibition into a stage for dialog, debate, and dynamic discussions. An approximate number of 5000 people visited the exhibition.
Here is some information about our public events, and how they unfolded:
During the whole exhibition, from 14th October until 19th of October Ehsan Fardjadniya together with three other people lived in the exhibition space as part of the “Non-Fascist House”. They first lived for two weeks in the apartment space and the studio in the back in W139. But then after altering the exhibition design and tearing down the plastic sheets which wrapped the whole space into complete darkness, they managed to live in the exhibition space for three weeks. Their belonging and their beds and clothes were stationed at their beds made out of boxes from the performance.
Every Sunday we had an introduction by a curator, to a screening program which would be played on loop for the rest of the week. First screening selection was made by Vasily Bogatov and Taisiya Krugovykh titled “Russian Activism and Prison System”. The second one was made by Sophie Hoyle, “LGBTQI+ in West-South Asia & North Africa”. The third one by Amirali Ghassemi, “Monument in Flux”, fourth by belit sag titled “How to Talk about WE”, and the last one was made through an open call, in combination with invitations to Robert Glas and Seecum Cheung. Six artists’ videos were selected to be screened for the last week next to the invited guest videos.
On three Thursdays, 2nd, 9th and 16th November, we organized a public reading. On 2nd November the talk was titled “Public Reading Group: Muslim Feminist Perspectives” moderated by Alina Jabbari. On 9th there was going to be a public dialogue moderated by Mercedes Zandwijken, “Deconstruction of White Privilege & United Non-Racial Movement”, but it was canceled due to Mercedes’ flu. And finally, on 16th November was a conversation circle, “Decolonizing the Globalized Dutch Art Institution”, moderated by Katayoun Arian.
On Saturdays, we had either a performance episode from “Round Heads and Pointed Heads” performance by Ehsan Fardjadniya and his team of performers, or we had other programs such as “Open Source Government” public session moderated by Pendar Nabipour, or “Empathy” game tournament moderated by David Maroto.
During the second scene of Fardjadniya’s performance on 4th of November, he combined the performance with a debate inviting Quinsy Gario to moderate the debate, with the participation of Angela Bartholomew and Menno Grootveld to discuss “Contemporary Subversive Insurgency”.
Randomly throughout the exhibition, we had occasional and spontaneous performances by the residents of the Non-Fascist House, other artists involved in the production of this exhibition, or student groups visiting the exhibition. One example is Veniamin Kazachenko and Sander Uitdehaag making Borscht soup two times, and we would give them out for free to passerby people. Another one is the group visit of students from Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, and their performance at the exhibition together with the Non-Fascist House. Not to mention, there were other group student visits made to this exhibition, in which they did receive an introduction to the exhibition.
Ideology Meets Implementation was a great experience which elaborated on many issues of the day, on which we should be all concerned about and involved with. Many issues from the Dutch society, the art scene, and global issues such as discrimination, decolonization, and systematic oppression were discussed.
The project is made possible through financial support from the Amsterdams fonds voor de kunst, Mondriaan Fund, CBK Rotterdam and Stichting Stokroos.
