Events

Before moving to Rotterdam, artist Natalia Sorzano worked as coordinator for the LGBTIQ affairs for the Colombian Government. Her performance Office for Irrelevant Affairs addresses the issues she encountered working at a Ministry that neglected and politically instrumentalized sexual and gender identities.The title of the performance is taken from a quote by her co-worker, after a briefing about the threats to the community was met with indifference. Now, years later, Natalia Sorzano remains in touch with her activist colleagues, and looks back at her time as a policy maker in Colombia from her new home town.

Idiosyncratic, Rotterdam-based band Tommy Moustache released their debut album in late 2014, challenging critics to define their ineffable brand of raw, instrumental jazz. After bedazzling the stages of reputable Dutch festivals like the North Sea Jazz festival, Jazzfest, Jazz International and being voted audience choice in the 2016 edition of the Dutch Jazz Competition they have come up with a new masterpiece: “EGO”, full of daring improvisation, rock riffs, humor, mood swings, rhythmic and melodic adventures and everything else these four men, supporting appropriate facial hair, could come up with.

We would like to invite you to a new edition of the art & dinner event Natafelen on Friday 5 July 2019. This event marks the start of the summer and the end of the cultural season. We will also say goodbye to the visual artists whose work is exhibited in De stad, de stad (The City, the City). All the more reason to come and enjoy dinner surrounded by art at Garage Rotterdam.

Welcome to this years final Bcademie show. The Bcademie is an institute that coaches recently graduated art students. The founders Alex Jacobs and Daan den Houter and guest art-professionals help the students in finding their ways in the Universe of the Arts.
The Bcademie’s goal is to close the gap between the graduation and the practice of an autonomous visual artist.
In this eclectic show Bcademie-participants and guest lecturers will exhibit their work in two predesigned cubes.

On Friday 6 September the exhibition What if Women Ruled the World? by curator Imke Ruigrok for Garage Rotterdam opens. In the group exhibition What if Women Ruled the World? five international artists explore imaginations of temptation, roleplay and the relationship between being male and female through performance, installation, mural and film.

With: Wafae Ahalouch, Tyna Adebowale, Yael Bartana, Hadassah Emmerich, Caz Egelie, Alexis Blake (artist talk) and Marijke De Roover (performance)

This edition of ‘Brandstof’ will be hosting two outstanding artists invited by Nina Folkersma, curator for this performance programme on the occasion of the exhibition ‘What if Women Ruled the World?’.

The renowned artist Alexis Blake (US, 1981) will talk about her multidisciplinary practice in conversation with Nina Folkersma.
In her work she brings together visual art and performance through various methods of translation such as choreography, sculpture, video, text and script. She explores the language of movement, creates spaces to expose and elude systems of representation and mechanisms of subjectivisation. In doing so she aims to reformulate the relationship between the object and the subject.

Marijke De Roover (BE, 1990) will be showing her performance ‘Live, Laugh, Limerence, 2019’, which premieres this week in both London (Frieze Art Fair) and Rotterdam.*
De Roover works with video, text and performance. She focuses on the meaning of identity and its performative aspect and thereby also touches on their social and political constructions.

* Commissioned by David Roberts Art Foundation.

doors open: 12.30 hrs
start performance: 15.00 hrs
entrance: €4,50

TALKS about architecture is the lecture series that offers a stage for emerging international architectural practices. On Thursday 17 October, Site Practice will be the first speaker in this series of TALKS about architecture.

Site Practice is an architecture and design studio based in Mumbai and Amsterdam and is led by Dutch architect Anne Geenen. With projects in Southeast Asia, India and Europe, they explore the design process through acts of making and engage with collaborators from various backgrounds and disciplines. In response to local conditions, human interaction and material considerations, we aspire to create buildings, spaces and objects that become moments of quality in daily live.

start programme: 20.00 hrs
entrance: €10
To buy tickets for this event visit www.talks-about-architecture.eu

Our permanent Natafelen-chef Laurence van Bergeijk invites will prepare the diner for this special vegan edition. Sommelier Joost Meenks selects matching wines.

Want to know more about the exhibition ‘What if Women Ruled the World?’ by Imke Ruigrok? Imke and some of the artists will be present to tell you more about the expo. Enjoy great food and good company in a unique setting and join.

Friday 1 November, 18.00-23.00 uur
Costs: €40 (incl. 4 course diner and entrance exhibition)
Wine arrangement (optional): €20

Please make your reservations by 30 October 2019 at info@garagerotterdam.nl with the subject: Natafelen | ‘What if Women Ruled the World?’
Let us know with how many you will be joining us and if you have any allergies.

Join us on Friday, November 15 for the opening of our new exhibition Orgonomics!

At the invitation of curator Pádraic E. Moore, six international artists show their work inspired by the work of Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957) in a multidisciplinary exhibition. The main focus is on Orgone energy, a phenomenon that Reich claims to have discovered in 1939. Orgone connects all aspects of existence and unifies social, scientific and spiritual realms. You are invited to experience the restorative power of orgone energy!

With work by: Dorothy Fadiman, Jasper Griepink, Christoph Keller, Christine Ödlund, Annie Ratti and Kenneth White

TALKS about architecture is the lecture series that offers a stage for emerging international architectural practices. The Paris based architecture studio Muoto (meaning form in Finnish), founded by architects Gilles Delalex and Yves Moreau in 2003, is the third guest of this years’ TALKS about architecture series.

start programme: 20.00 hrs
entrance: €10
To buy tickets for this event visit www.talks-about-architecture.eu

BRANDSTOF | GLOWING IN THE DARK AGAIN
Featuring Uncertainty Scenarios, S T O N E O R G Y and other special guests.

This nocturnal edition of Brandstof consists of a collage of screenings, readings and live music performed for one night only in response to Orgonomics.

This stimulating event brings together diverse contributions from artists, some of whom are local and some from further afield. The event in two parts consists of a collage of readings and screenings that relate to the ideas of Wilhelm Reich.

The event culminates with a performance of S T O N E O R G Y; an interactive ritual music performance project by Jasper Griepink, supported by the inimitable Giek_1. This theatrical performance explores ideas of collective energy and the thresholds of transfer between one body and another.

S T O N E R G Y is supported with an O&O subsidy from CBK Rotterdam.

Join us on Friday, January 31 for the opening of our new exhibition Animalia!

At the invitation of curator Imke Ruigrok, 13 international artists take you into a world full of fabulous, lettable and wild creatures, performances, voodoo and homour. This group exhibition invites you to consider the worldly stage from another point of view; animals.

With work by: Semâ Bekirovic, Melanie Bonajo, Tom Claassen, Niek Hendrix, Idiots, Juul Kraijer, Paul Kooiker, Francesco Merlini, Femmy Otten, Khvay Samnang, Charlotte Schleiffert, Jessica Segall, Simon Wald-Lasowski.

Art Rotterdam After Party with a talk by Melanie Bonajo.

During Art Rotterdam, Garage Rotterdam is organizing a special evening with DJ & Drinks on 6 February for Art Rotterdam VIPS, curators, gallery owners and other guests.

BRANDSTOF – SATURDAY 7 MARCH 2020
ANIMALIA DURING MUSEUMNACHT010
Brandstof x Museumnacht010
8 PM – 1 AM with DJ, drinks & bites* (vegan|no animalia)

During Museumnacht010, we have a special Brandstof event, complementing the Animalia exhibition. Garage Rotterdam will open its doors for a festive nocturnal edition. The program invites you to take an in-depth look at our relationship with animals. Can we adopt a non-human perspective, abandoning the human-centered worldview? Garage Rotterdam invites you to engage in a both serious and humorous conversation with the artists.

The evening starts off with a short lecture by animal ethicist Willem Vermaat, after which artist Jessica Segall will talk about her displayed work ‘Uncommon Intimacy’, a film in which the artist swims with wild animals. The evening will be concluded with a talk between Edo Dijksterhuis and Semâ Bekirovic, focusing on her booklaunch ‘Reading by Osmosis’, in which she gathers work by non-human ‘artists’ such as animals, wind, fire, seaweed, and time.

Timetable

08.00 pm – Doors open
08.00 pm – Introduction by curator Imke Ruigrok
08.30 pm – Lecture on animal ethics by Willem Vermaat
09.30 pm – Book presentation ‘Reading by Osmosis’ by Semâ Bekirovic with Edo Dijksterhuis
10.30 pm – Talk about Jessica Segall’s (Un)common Intimacy
from 11.00 pm – Legendary dj’s HENK & FATIMA

With an energetic mix of Persian pop, Arabic funk and Middle-Eastern hiphop HENK & FATIMA invite you to sweat like a hot & spicy hummus on the dance floor. Be ready to immerse yourself in a dizzying trip along the best oriental hits and all time Dutch classics.

–
March 7, 2020, 8 p.m.

Brandstof x Museum Night010
Brandstof is the in-depth program for the Animalia exhibition (1 February to 19 April 2020).

Curator Imke Ruigrok gives a special tour through the mythical animal world of Animalia. Join us and learn more about Animalia and the participating artists.

Garage Rotterdam is part of Unlocked / Reconnected with the work 7 Allen Park Drive (2020) by Steven Maybury.

Steven Maybury; ‘I carry around a key that I consider to be my family home’s key, changing it from key chain to key chain for many years. For a home that doesn’t exist anymore. Last January I found myself noticing the key once more in my hand and felt a very real urge to use it again. This resulted in commissioning a locksmith to make a lock backwards from the key, just so I was able to feel the sensation of turning it once more.’

You are cordially invited to the opening of the exhibition Through the Looking Glass on Friday 19 June from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on the doorstep at Garage Rotterdam. Silvia B., Jochem Rotteveel and Antye Guenther, among others, will be present to explain their work. Olivier Scheffer, better known as the Wild Pruner, prunes his work on the spot.

Registration is required and can be done via info@garagerotterdam.nl

Do you have flu-like symptoms or cold symptoms? Stay home, we look forward to welcoming you another time!

The exhibition can be viewed day and night from the street from Friday to 19 July.

We start the new cultural season at Garage Rotterdam with the opening of the group exhibition Heavy Metal Parking Lot. On Friday 11 September, the second exhibition by curator Pádraic E. Moore opens. This exhibition focuses upon the aesthetic and conceptual potential of the car in contemporary art.

Due to the current situation, the opening will be a little different to what you are used to. We’ll work with time slots and advance registration is required.

You can register via info@garagerotterdam.nl. The timeslots are from 8 PM to 9.30 PM and from 9:00 PM to 10:30 PM.

Not feeling well? Please stay at home, we would love to welcome you another time!

This nocturnal edition of Brandstof consists of a collage of screenings and readings presented in response to Heavy Metal Parking Lot. Drive-In Saturday brings together contributions from artists, some of whom are local and some from further afield.

In this event we contemplate the car as cultural artefact and explore how it’s role has evolved since the 1950s when Roland Barthes optimistically described it as “the supreme creation of an era, conceived with passion by unknown artists, and consumed in image if not in usage by a whole population which appropriates them as a purely magical object”.

Drive-In Saturday focuses upon the car as symbol of speed, sex and death and is significantly informed by Crash, J. G. Ballard’s 1973 novel about ‘the perverse eroticism of the car-crash’.

Featuring Chris Petit, Alexandra Phillips, Dan Walwin and others.

RSVP via info@garagerotterdam.nl
Tickets: € 4,50

We would like to invite you to a new edition of the art & dinner event Natafelen on Friday, November 6, 2020. This event marks the end of the exhibition Heavy Metal Parking Lot. We will also say goodbye to the visual artists whose work is exhibited. All the more reason to come and enjoy dinner surrounded by art at Garage Rotterdam.

After the two week lockdown, Garage Rotterdam will reopen on the 20th of November with the third and final exhibition of Imke Ruigrok: A New Order, A New Earth. A New Order, A New Earth brings together visual arts, quantum science, philosophical traditions as well as ancient shamanistic wisdom and AI technology. Nine international artists, thinkers, and scientists have created visions of an alternative relationship between man and nature. Re-envisioning us as (part of) nature, instead of separate from it.

We invite you to the opening of the exhibition on Friday, November 20th from 5 to 22 pm.

Due to the current situation, the opening will be a little different to what you are used to. We’ll work with time slots and advance registration is required. Each time slot starts with a word of welcome by curator Imke Ruigrok, followed by a guided tour and a number of the participating artists will be present to explain their work.

The number of places per time slot is limited, so don’t wait too long.

Not feeling well? Please stay at home, we would love to welcome you another time!

If the current lockdown is extended and we have to cancel the opening, you will be informed.

https://garagerotterdam.stager.nl/Garage%20Rotterdam/tickets

Celebrate the start of the Christmas holidays at Garage Rotterdam!

On Sunday 20 December, Garage Rotterdam is organizing a special program for the whole family, accompanying the exhibition A New Order, A New Earth.

Program
Happy Wobbel Yoga (2 – 3 years)
10.00 am – 10.45 am
11.15 am – 12 noon

Guided 1.5 meter Tour
1:00 PM – 1:45 PM

Participatory Artist Talk by Annika Kappner: “Be Water My Friend”
4:00 PM – 4:45 PM

Happy Wobbel Yoga
In the morning we invite the little ones (2 – 3 years old) and their parents to BLIJE WOBBEL YOGA in the exhibition
A New Order, A New Earth. The rhythmic movements on the Wobbel bring peace to mind and body, exertion and relaxation alternate.

Together with your child you will discover the exhibition A New Order, A New Earth. Can you imagine yourself as a tree? How do you move like Water? Can you surf on the vibrations of the sound?

At the end of a WobbelYoga class, each child steps off the Wobbel proudly, relaxed and with a big smile.

Costs for participation in WobbelYoga: € 15.00 (1 parent and 1 child)

Guided 1.5 meter Tour
Together with our regular guide Miriam Sentler you will discover the exhibition A New Order, A New Earth. In the group exhibition A New Order, A New Earth, we are invited into a world where the cards have been shuffled. We are introduced to other world views than the dominant Western scientific paradigm. The nine international artists, thinkers and scientists create visions of a different relationship between man and nature. Do we dare to put ourselves in a different perspective, that of nature?

Costs Guided 1.5 meter Tour: € 5.00 per person

Participatory Artist Talk by Annika Kappner; “Be Water My Friend”Be Water My Friend – exploring water as information technology of nature

Annika will share AKWĀ, the latest chapter of her research project Deep Planetary Sensing, through a series of somatic exercises entering in conversation with the element of Water. Together we will explore and speculate on the possible roles somatic and digital technologies play when we consider our planet as a living being using our bodies, emotions and minds.

Costs Artist Talk: € 5.00 per persoon

AKWĀ is a participatory immersive performance unfolding through a dialogue between two water spirits. The participant is invited to journey through the different dimensions of water on a physical, emotional and mental level. Through sound, movement, narration and scent the qualities of water as an alchemical element, chemical substance, economic resource, political weapon and sacred being, throughout history and in possible futures, are activated and shared. AKWĀ seeks to add complementary experiential, somatic perspectives to the contemporary relationship between man, nature and technology.

AKWĀ is part of Kappner’s long term research project Deep Planetary Sensing exploring how we can relate differently to our planet – the planetary body – through the somatic and experiential. The performance is part of the latest chapter AKWĀ that manifests as immersive installation, workshop and digital guided audio meditation. This chapter explores water as information technology of nature in relation to contemporary digital technologies.

Costumes: Min Li
Performers: Jihae Ko, Annika Kappner
Sound: Eric Maltz

ONLINE SCREENING | Brandstof: Holocene Memorial with Ambassade van de Noordzee
April 11, from 2 pm via YouTube

Commemorating a geological epoch
To conclude the exhibition A New Order, A New Earth, an online edition of the in-depth program Brandstof will take place on 11 April. Especially for this edition, the Embassy of the North Sea has been invited to create a special ritual.

The Holocene is coming to an end. We are saying goodbye to an era during which the North Sea and the Dutch coastline were formed. We are entering a time in which mankind has become a disruptive force of geological proportions.

We must now relate to inconceivably large matters: The planet, the climate. It is quite maddening. Our individual lives are difficult to rhyme with such an enormous, geological responsibility. How do we, humans and non-humans, take care of ourselves and of each other now that the Holocene is coming to an end?

With a wholesome ritual, we will make time and room for reflection and for personal stories and the non-humans we are saying goodbye to are given a voice.

This online ritual will be directed by Performance artist Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti, together with Harpo ‘t Hart. With an introduction by curator Imke Ruigrok.

The ritual can be viewed online from Sunday 11 April, 2 pm via YouTube

From May 1, the bar of Garage Rotterdam will be open for take away.

While you wait for your order, at the same time take a sneak peek of the exhibition Garden State.

Opening hours: Wednesday to Sunday, from 12.30 to 5.30 pm.

For one night only during this exhibition, Garage Rotterdam turns into a unique setting for dinner & drinks. Enjoy good food and great company in a beautiful setting, surrounded by works of art. The culinary night Natafelen will incorporate the performance The Secret Ingredient: Wilderness by Hilda Moucharrafieh.

During the dinner performance, The Secret Ingredient: Wilderness, multimedia artist Hilda Moucharrafieh re-traces the locations from where the ingredients for this dinner were foraged. What do these sources tell us about our surrounding environment, and of the wild patches that manage to break through cracks within land control?

Costs four-course menu: € 45.00
Matching wine arrangement: € 25.00

Tickets are available via the link via the menu top-right on the website.

Screening – Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf (directed by Thomas Piper)
with Garage Rotterdam in conversation with landscape designer Piet Oudolf

Saturday, July 10 at 2 pm.

We start the afternoon with a keynote by Piet Oudolf. During this keynote and in conversation with Natalya Boender from Garage Rotterdam, he will talk about his philosophy and working process, as well as about using wild plants and (or) weeds as bases in his gardening methodology.

Piet Oudolf is a landscape designer, plantsman, and author. He’s one of the pioneers of the “New Perennial” movement which calls for making gardens in symbiosis with nature. With hardly any formal training, he designs through passion and 45 years of experience which is inspired by nature.

His practice is concerned with the cycle of perennials; “What it takes humans a lifetime to experience, a plant will experience in its own yearly life cycle. In that sense, gardening is a microcosm of life”. Oudolf’s work is internationally renowned in various countries including Sweden, Great Britain, Germany, and the United States amongst others.

Afterwards, we’ll screen the movie Screening – Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf (directed by Thomas Piper). The movie Five Seasons takes the viewers into a visual introductory journey to the gardening world of artist Piet Oudolf. According to Oudolf’s philosophy; a garden is never dead, it just changes shape and colors throughout the different seasons. This resembles the journey of life is which is about discovering the beauty in things that allegedly don’t look beautiful.

Program
2 pm: Keynote Piet Oudolf
2.45 pm: Piet Oudolf in conversation with Garage Rotterdam
3.30 pm: Screening Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf (1 u 16 m)

Tickets (€ 10,00 incl. Service Fee)*

* link to ticket shop Garage Rotterdam via menu top right

Garage Rotterdam proudly presents the group exhibition The Great Invocation by curator Pádraic E. Moore. We will start the new cultural season in Garage Rotterdam on Friday, September 3rd with the opening of Moore’s third and final exhibition, on contemporary art as a source of revelation and transcendence.

The opening will take place in two time slots, from 7pm to 9pm and from 9pm to 11pm. Tickets (free) can be booked via the ticket shop (via the menu on the website).

This nocturnal edition of Brandstof, in response to the exhibition The Great Invocation, is an event with contributions by artist Ruchama Noorda, Linder Sterling, Ewoud van Rijn and Dr. Tessel M. Bauduin.

Dr. Tessel M. Bauduin kicks off the evening with a brief lecture entitled ‘The Castle Problem: reflections on automatism and other dimensions in modern and contemporary art’. Bauduin will explore, together with the audience, how ‘automatisms’ remains relevant today within (contemporary) art. Ewoud van Rijn will take over and give a short introduction on his new publication, made especially in conjunction with his works in the exhibition.

In the second part, Garage Rotterdam presents And the space like a root, a new moving image work by Linder Sterling, made for The Great Invocation. In this work, Linder takes vintage softcore pornography as a raw material, activating and obscuring it with a process called ‘mantic staining’. Ruchama Noorda concludes the evening with presenting Rx, a performative PowerPoint presentation. Derived from the Latin word ‘recipere’, the title refers to Rx as used in electronics and telecommunications for ‘the receiver’, but also refers to the medical term for a doctor’s prescription. The PowerPoint presentation is associated with corporate offices and academic institutions, the stuff of proposals and sales pitches. Here, Noorda hijacks the format and uses it for higher, spiritual purposes.

Tickets are 5 euros and can be ordered through the menu on the top right of our website.

For one night only during this exhibition, Garage Rotterdam turns into a unique setting for dinner & drinks. Enjoy good food and great company in a beautiful setting, surrounded by works of art. This is what Natafelen is all about: a culinary night at Garage Rotterdam. The curator Pádraic E. Moore and artists taking part in the current exhibition will join you for dinner and tell you more about their work in-between courses.

Our in-house master chef will prepare a scrumptious four-course dinner. Local and seasonal vegetables are the main ingredients for his dishes. The Gouden Ton, our wine merchant, will serve exquisite wines that have been carefully selected to accompany the food.

We hope to welcome you to our dinner table. You can make your reservation by sending an email to info@garagerotterdam.nl. Let us know the number of people that will be joining you. We would also like to receive your telephone number, as we will contact you to confirm your booking.

Costs four-course menu: € 45.00
Wine pairing: € 25.00

Garage Rotterdam proudly presents the group exhibition A Slippery Slope by curator Youri Appelo. We will start this winter season in Garage Rotterdam on Friday, November 19th with the opening of Appelo’s first exhibition, on letting go of our ingrained ways of thinking.

The opening will take place from 8 pm on. Tickets (free) can be booked via the ticket shop (via the menu on our website).

To what extent does moving image enable artists to portray complex stories on breaking with habits, patterns and assumptions? This question is the main focus in this edition of Brandstof, which includes an extended program on the exhibition A Slippery Slope. During this event there will be one-off screenings of work by belit sag and Claude Nassar.

On Friday, February 4th, Garage Rotterdam will open the new year with the second exhibition of Fadwa Naamna. We welcome you to a special opening of the exhibition Dearest Y. Within the exhibition the question how motherhood is valued and positioned in contemporary society and its institutions is asked.

Titled Dearest Y, the exhibition is inspired by the 1960’s and 1970’s feminist cry “the personal is political”, which underscored the connections between the personal experience of motherhood and the broader socio-economic and political systems.
The exhibition brings together paintings, video, textile and mixed media installations. As a group, the works aspire to give a wider picture on how the subjective experience of motherhood reflects and intertwines within the surrounding public structures.

Artists: Kristina Benjocki, Yasmim Salim Flores, Cecilia Jonsson, Csilla Klenyánszki, Esther Kokmeijer, Irene Lusztig, Emmeline de Mooij, Ghinwa Yassine

Please note that you need a QR code in the CoronaCheck app in order to visit this event.
Not feeling well? Please stay at home, we would like to welcome you another time! Thank you for your understanding and see you on Friday 4th of February at Garage Rotterdam.

Through body gestures, Yasmim Salim Flores’ performance deepens into the politics of sisterhood and feminine friendships as an agent for social empathy. In a state of diaspora, sprouts out a need for proximity and for a safe space to share experiences of sensitivity, strength, maternity, happiness, sadness, grief, affection, touch, elasticity, and beauty. But how can closeness be realized between strangers? Can we take motherhood as a shared ground towards social exchange?

For this performance during an afternoon edition of Brandstof, artist Yasmim Salim Flores will collaborate with (amongst others) cellist, singer and composer Chieko Donker Duyvis.

For the first time, more than 30 leading Rotterdam art galleries and institutions are joining forces to organise Art Central Rotterdam XL.

On 12 and 13 March 2022, people can immerse themselves in and join tours of the galleries and exhibition spaces to celebrate and further promote Rotterdam’s vibrant visual arts scene as a valuable part of the city. Rotterdam is a cultural breeding ground for contemporary art; the galleries and exhibition spaces showcase the latest developments in the visual arts.

With a (stamp) map, including an overview and locations of all participating parties, people can join the organised free bicycle or walking tours (recommended) or plan their own route. Art Central Rotterdam XL is therefore a unique opportunity to experience and discover the flourishing art world of Rotterdam.

For the closing of the Dearest Y exhibition and for one night only, Garage Rotterdam is turning into a unique setting for a culinary artistic evening. Enjoy a 4-course dinner and a company in the exhibition space and between the artworks.

During the dinner, curator Fadwa Naamna will be conversating with artist and researcher dr. Deirdre M. Donoghue about the politics of motherhood within contemporary art and its structures.

Dinner €45,-
Wine pairing €25,-

Is het nog mogelijk om te breken met een economisch systeem dat zich inmiddels diep heeft geworteld in alle facetten van het leven? Ondanks protesten en waarschuwingen leidt dit kapitalistisch systeem van ‘gewenste’ concurrentie tot monopolies, groeiende ongelijkheid en uitputting van zowel de mens als de planeet.

Volgens de Franse econoom Thomas Piketty stevenen wij af op een maatschappij die sterk lijkt op die van vóór de industriële revolutie. Een samenleving, waarin geen middenklasse bestaat en alle rijkdom in handen is van een kleine elite. Een samenleving waarin onderwijs en werk geen garantie meer bieden voor een klim op de sociale ladder. De eerste signalen hiervan zijn al zichtbaar én voelbaar: de groeiende precariteit van arbeid, de overspannen huizenmarkt en het gegeven dat een diploma geen inkomenszekerheid meer biedt.

In For what it’s worth worden kunstwerken getoond die kritisch en poëtisch reflecteren op deze ontwikkeling. Waar sommige kunstwerken pijnlijke realiteiten blootleggen, tonen andere kunstwerken tegenacties om het systeem te veranderen of te ondermijnen. Bestaat er een mogelijkheid ons te ontdoen van deze ‘culture of capital’? Óf is het einde van de wereld logischer dan het einde van het kapitalisme?

VIP tour by curator Youri Appelo with party afterwords. The party is open to every Art Rotterdam visitor.