Tomi Hilsee
Tomi Hilsee is dedicated to being a friendly and approachable neighbourhood architect, bringing warmth and energy to everything they do. They are deeply involved in co-operating the Doe-Het-Zelf Werkplaats in Rotterdam, a dynamic and growing autonomous urban commons. For the past 5 to 7 years, Hilsee has been an active participant in artistic social practices and spatial activism in Rotterdam, supporting squats, encampments, and similar grassroots movements. In addition to this, Tomi Hilsee teaches, works professionally in the architectural field, and conducts research at various institutions.
Over the course of three exhibitions at Garage Rotterdam, the curators Reza Afisina and reinaart vanhoe revisit the term underdeveloped – exploring diverse forms of art-practice and working methods. The term underdeveloped is among others inspired by the film development process – in which images come out over-orunderdeveloped. The word refers as well to overdeveloped notions of education, quality and value.
Reza Afisina and vanhoe’s understanding of an art-practice is one of building together instead of a focus on personal excellence. Through gatherings, re-modeling and collective working methods taking place live at Garage Rotterdam, Afisina and vanhoe aim to create a space where artists can connect their ideas and experiences with the input of visitors.
The first Underdeveloped exhibition addresses social and cultural urgencies in Rotterdam, using the space of Garage Rotterdam and the online platform lumbung.space as a digital living room and publishing tool for visitors to share both processes and outcomes with. Underdeveloped aims to build a connected chain of events, emphasizing community and development over definitions or conclusions.
Artists: Autonomy Lab (WdKA), Bellina Erby & Yen-Ting Kuan, Cooperativa Cráter Invertido, De uitpluizers, Hassan Omar Ahmad, Marishka Soekarna, ook_anders, Patrick Mudekereza, Reading Sideways Press, Spoiler (TBA), Tomi Hilsee, Vincent van Velsen, Zoë Cochia / Niffo Galerie.