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curatorialprogrammedeappel · 10 years

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Performative protagonism

Performance and improvisation seem to lead many crucial moments that are unfolding in our exhibition Father, can’t you see I’m burning?

The first visible occasion to experience these kinds of moments has been the opening speech, that will probably become notorious for being one of the worst opening speeches of the Curatorial Programme ever (maybe of any opening even??). Just to provide a general sense of the disorientation and the bitterness that such a bad behaviour left on the faces of the audience, which was confused by some nervous laughs coming from someone standing in the crowd, or from the evident blushing of some of these young curators-orators, I will say that the performance hinged on truly existing patterns of disagreement. The whole thing was the artist’s fault – I won’t write her name here, but you could find it if you really search for it - who wanted us to reveal the human fragility that normally has to remain hidden behind a façade of professionalism and etiquette. But the beginning of it all was a series of pictures of us together, that this artist saw online; a group of young professionals standing in the building of de Appel or in some fashionable cities of Biennial venues around the world. This demonstration of protagonism inspired her I guess, as she underlined how images and presentation strategies are key for good performance.

An artist once told me he was impressed by how during a studio visit, a curator is able to form an idea of his work in maybe 10-15 minutes? What if the artist is a young student, and this meeting is really the first opportunity to present his or her work? But of course a curator is supposed to have a certain sixth sense for discovering hidden talents! So it seems we live midst clairvoyants and geniuses. What matters at the end is the quality of the performance that one is able to get out of his or her self in a short time span. A real challenge if you consider the psychological pressure and many others unexpected factors. So it’s better to rehearse a lot, just in case…

And so we did... We have been constantly rehearsing for the last two months. It’s probably not a coincidence that more than one of the artists we have invited has asked us to perform a series of instructions, more or less detailed or undefined. Probably, curator as protagonist is an attitude of curating which is becoming more and more popular, and this trend could be seen both as an act of generosity and of availability towards the audience. At the same time it is the consequence of a constantly growing demand of visibility expected from institutional structures. Another example comes from this viral presence of the six of us, namely the group, roaming around the exhibition in yellow jackets. During the opening day we were in our Kunsthalle Beijing uniforms. You could see many pictures of these team-building-like moments, as we have been documenting everything, where the ace in the hole of curating is building your own archive and creating a memory of your career. We have been even compared to Kill Bill’s character due to our screaming yellowness, and the step from this to starting considering an acting career isn’t that far.

Improvisation came as a natural effect to the series of all these preludes. Starting with a spontaneous reaction to the request of performing in public without being trained to do it, it has affected the tone with which we have been leading our public programme. We have come to realise that, what is probably really important is what you are able to imagine and do as an immediate reaction to a specific situation. This is probably more about feeling than about rehearsing, but still it’s about performing.

The next occasion will come in a few weeks. It is going to be presented in the form of a press conference at the Stedelijk Museum, on the 8th of June. It is based on Kurt Schwitters’ Merz stage, as well as on a poem inspired on Theo van Doesburg and Kurt Schwitters performance at Dada-tournee, and on the attack on Charlie Chaplin at the Ritz Hotel in Paris by the recently formed Lettrist International-later to become Situationist International. The artist, Dina Danish will not be able to be present at the performance, she probably over trusts us or maybe we over consider ourselves. The cast she proposed: Sacha Baron Cohen as Charlie Chaplin, Simon Baron-Cohen (Director of Autism Research Centre and Sacha’s brother) as Kurt Schwitters, Christopher Walken as Theo van Doesburg , Two male and two female supermodels as Lettrist International.

See you there!

-Emma Panza (CP 2013-2014)

#father can't you see i'm burning #performance

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curatorialprogrammedeappel · 10 years

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The dogs days are over ... or so says grandma

After all the traveling, we landed in Amsterdam for good around the end of November. We soon needed to deliver the outline of our final project, and in doing so we realized we hardly knew the scene in the city. We wanted to meet more artists working around, and get to know better the ones we already met.

Many ideas came up, but finally we decided to offer artists a special evening in our office, were we would cook for them and eventually see some of their latest projects. If there´s something we all feel equally passion about it is eating and sharing recipes. Surprisingly enough, each one of us has a specialty, something we tend to prepare when we face a long evening of work or endless hours in the office. When it comes to cooking, coming from different parts of the world suddenly becomes a plus. Emma, for example, tends to prepare risottos and lasagnas which saved our spirits more than once. Aneta is obsessed with carrot juice and fish soups, and Kate always gets inspiration to fix some drinks after a rough day. Kris is a non-declared pastry chef, her cakes (main protagonists in all of our birthdays so far), cantucci (so superior!), and apple pies are in my top ten list. Lara makes amazing hummus, yoghurt stuff and some other tasteful dips involving secret ingredients she gets in special shops. As for me, well, I can share the made-up recipe I prepared for our first dinner. Here it goes:

Fajitas for 6:

- 4 big white onions

- 1 red pepper

- 1 green pepper

- 500gs carrots

- fresh corn, as much as you want

- broccoli or corniflower, as much as you like

- sprawns, chicken or beef (or the three of them if you want a hardcore version)

- a couple of chilis, depending on your personal taste.

- 2 lemons

- garlic, as much as you want

- 12 tortillas, or as many as you want

- olive oil, as much as you need

- salt, pepper, as much as you need

- sugar, around 50gs

- curry, around 50gs

Optional:

- white cheese (optional)

- hummus (homade is always better, but you can also get it ready-made)

- guacamole: 2 tomatoes, 3 avocados, olive oil, salt, pepper.

- Chili sauce (in Mexico is mandatory, not in Buenos Aires)

Peel the onions and cut them in four, slightly splitting each layer. Cook them on a hot pan with some olive oil, salt and pepper. After some minutes add the sugar, they taste better a bit caramelized. If you have curry add it now, otherwise once they look transparent they are ready.

Boil the corn, and cook the carrots, broccoli and/or corniflower as you prefer (boiled, vapour, or sauté in the pan). Separately cook the meat or fish, you can use the same pan from the vedgetables, but remember to add some garlic at the beginning and more oil. This should always be hot before putting anything in, otherwise the oil is absorbed by the ingredients. If you are pro chili, chop some in small pieces and put them into the mixing with the meat/fish while they get ready. Be careful with it, don´t put it to all the ingredients cause otherwise everything you take to your mouth will make you cry.

Once everything is ready, warm up the tortillas on a pan (don´t put any oil to it) and start getting ready the dips. You can put them directly over the tortilla or over the ingredients you add to it.

Cilantro Mojito (refreshing for summer evenings):

- 120 cc of white tequila

- 4 tbsp of sugar (it may be white or brown, I go for brown)

- 1 lime

- Soda

- A handful of cilantro

- Crushed ice

Put the sugar into a bowl and add the lime slides, a dash of soda, a handful of cilantro and crush everything with a pestle and mortar. Add the crushed ice, the white tequila, and end with soda and a slice of lime to furnish the glass.

Enjoy!!

Some of our guests so far have been: Tamara Kuselman, Daniel Jacoby, Bea McMahon, Aditya Mandayam, Vincent Verhoef, Arnisa Zeqo, Carlos Irijalba, Jan Hoeft, Sanne Oorthuizen, Nathaniel Katz, Dina and Jean Baptiste.

Our third dinner will be announced soon after the opening of Father, can´t you see I´m burning?, and Emma will be cooking…

- Renata Cervetto (CP 2013-2014)

#father can't you see i'm burning #cp deappel #curatorial programme #curating #fajitas #fajitas for 6 #Cilantro Mojito

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