Zaterdag
30 Juni 2007
Zaterdag
30 Juni 2007
Dinsdag
23 Januari 2007
Zaterdag
2 December 2006
Zaterdag
2 December 2006
Passport project
2006-12-02
2006-12-02
Kitty Zijlmans:
"Our CO-OP started a few months ago, when we decided to call into being a ‘Laboratory on the Move’ - explicitly a work in progress and of change. Cultural exchanges can take place and can be studied in a number of ways, and we are trying out several. Our first project is the 'Passport project'. It builds upon a previous work by Haifeng Ni commissioned by the city of Amsterdam to celebrate the 'naturalisatiedag of nieuwkomersdag' [phrasing KZ], the day on which New Dutch (= immigrants) receive their residence permit. In his view, the notion of Amsterdam being a tolerant and hospitable city throughout history contrasts sharply with the present day politics which aims to re-strengthen national borders and to stop the free flow of human-beings. Haifeng decided to award a gift to those who are striving to obtain the Dutch nationality. 'Art as Gifts' for this unique occasion is an art installation of which the parts come from the 'new' land. Pieces of stone, brick, and wood – the building material of the city – and as a representative of basic Dutch food, the potato, are re-molded in porcelain Delft Blue objects, together forming a large installation. Each object tells you that it is part of something. This work of art is divided and the parts will be distributed to the new Amsterdammers as gifts from the city.
The potato evokes feelings of homeliness – but does this also apply to people new to the country? Part of the 'inburgeringsproces' may well be the embracing of Dutch food. Perhaps the potato - not being an indigenous plant itself – may well serve as a metaphor for the process of becoming Dutch: we cannot possibly think Holland without potatoes. The accompanying booklet in the format of a passport welcomes the newcomers.
We have been discussing this project: what does this work tells us? What does a passport mean to us, and: what makes up one's identity? We have taken a more critical stance. There is an innate criticism in the aforementioned project. For Haifeng, a passport is just a tag that conceals and complicates the contents it represents. It shows to whom the bearer belongs, rather than who he is. Problematic is what lies behind the concept of nation-states, because this implies a unified place and a unified people, where in fact there is an invented place and an imagined community."
Photo's: Passport project
"Our CO-OP started a few months ago, when we decided to call into being a ‘Laboratory on the Move’ - explicitly a work in progress and of change. Cultural exchanges can take place and can be studied in a number of ways, and we are trying out several. Our first project is the 'Passport project'. It builds upon a previous work by Haifeng Ni commissioned by the city of Amsterdam to celebrate the 'naturalisatiedag of nieuwkomersdag' [phrasing KZ], the day on which New Dutch (= immigrants) receive their residence permit. In his view, the notion of Amsterdam being a tolerant and hospitable city throughout history contrasts sharply with the present day politics which aims to re-strengthen national borders and to stop the free flow of human-beings. Haifeng decided to award a gift to those who are striving to obtain the Dutch nationality. 'Art as Gifts' for this unique occasion is an art installation of which the parts come from the 'new' land. Pieces of stone, brick, and wood – the building material of the city – and as a representative of basic Dutch food, the potato, are re-molded in porcelain Delft Blue objects, together forming a large installation. Each object tells you that it is part of something. This work of art is divided and the parts will be distributed to the new Amsterdammers as gifts from the city.
The potato evokes feelings of homeliness – but does this also apply to people new to the country? Part of the 'inburgeringsproces' may well be the embracing of Dutch food. Perhaps the potato - not being an indigenous plant itself – may well serve as a metaphor for the process of becoming Dutch: we cannot possibly think Holland without potatoes. The accompanying booklet in the format of a passport welcomes the newcomers.
We have been discussing this project: what does this work tells us? What does a passport mean to us, and: what makes up one's identity? We have taken a more critical stance. There is an innate criticism in the aforementioned project. For Haifeng, a passport is just a tag that conceals and complicates the contents it represents. It shows to whom the bearer belongs, rather than who he is. Problematic is what lies behind the concept of nation-states, because this implies a unified place and a unified people, where in fact there is an invented place and an imagined community."
Photo's: Passport project
