Videostill Shifting Sitting 2009. Aernout Mik. Courtesy ITN/Reuters
Concept and curated by Theo Tegelaers
The My name is Spinoza programme is taking place in September 2009 at several locations in Amsterdam.
For a complete overview please check: www.spinozamanifestatie.nl
My name is Spinoza continues in September 2009…
My name is Spinoza is an art manifestation throughout the city of Amsterdam that offers artists, art institutions and the public a platform to explore in a stimulating fashion Spinoza’s philosophy and the subjects that he wrote about. Baruch de Spinoza was born to Jewish-Portugese immigrants in Amsterdam in 1632. His groundbreaking ideas about nature and God, good and evil, reason and emotion formed the foundations of his revolutionary views regarding tolerance, respect and freedom of speech, all topics that are no less relevant today. Despite this, Spinoza, for a variety of reasons, never actually gained the recognition that he rightly deserved. And this is exactly what the manifestation My name is Spinoza aims to change.
Spinoza’s ideas and written work are characterized by an inquisitive and investigative attitude, which ties in well with contemporary art. Indeed artists recognize themselves in Spinoza’s curiosity and social engagement. In collaboration with the participating cultural organizations, (international) artists were invited to become inspired by Spinoza’s heritage and to interpret the following question: what significance could Spinoza have for today’s society?
Art and cultural institutes all over Amsterdam and in public space, chosen as offering the most appropriate context for dialogue and debate, hosted several exhibitions, performances, debates and events in May and June 2009. The second phase of My name is Spinoza will take off in September 2009 with the presentation of three large-scale autonomous works by Sturtevant, Nicoline van Harskamp and Aernout Mik, and the on-going projects: Spinoza Mondial Reading Performance Half-Time by Job Koelewijn, the Krakersmonument [monument to the squatters] by Jeremiah Day and Francisco Camacho’s Group Marriage Initiative project.
The My name is Spinoza programme is taking place in September 2009 at several locations in Amsterdam. For a complete overview please check: www.spinozamanifestatie.nl
Theo Tegelaers, curator SKOR (Foundation Art and Public Spac)
Programme My name is Spinoza, September 2009
Spinoza Mondial Reading Performance Half-Time
Job Koelewijns work in progress
Job Koelewijn is undertaking a worldwide tour of public readings from Spinoza’s Ethica. In sixteen different cities, groups of local volunteers will read out aloud until the book is finished. The results from the first readings in Istanbul, Dar El Salaam, Barcelona, Venice and Amsterdam are to been seen from 28 August 2009.
28.08.2009 to 27.09.2009
@ W139, Warmoesstraat 139, Amsterdam
Spinoza in Las Vegas
Sturtevant (in cooperation with De Appel and Frascati Amsterdam)
“Spinoza in Las Vegas” is the first theatre piece by American artist Sturtevant. This live work stages the adventures of Spinoza, radically displaced into the cyber world of present-day Las Vegas. The performance features an unexpected line-up of characters alongside Spinoza, such as a dummy, a ventriloquist and a chorus line of teeny-boppers. Full of fun and folly, Spinoza in Las Vegas addresses several sensitive current issues simultaneously.
13.09.2009, 20.30 pm
@ De Brakke Grond, Nes 45 Amsterdam
*Cancelled due to an unfortunate injury of the artists.
Any Other Business, A Scripted Conference
By Nicoline van Harskamp
Any other business is a scripted conference in an Amsterdam Congress Centre. Different debates and discussions will take place in various rooms. It is a staged version of real negotiations which have actually taken place. Van Harskamp is exploring meetings, debates and readings which fail because important unwritten rules are not followed. More is revealed about the influence of conventions, balances of power and personalities in the public domain.
20.09.2009, 13.00 — 19.00 uur
@ Regardz Meeting Center Planetarium, Kromwijkdreef 11, 1108 JA Amsterdam Zuidoost
A Survey — Shifting Sitting (for Spinoza)
By Aernout Mik
Aernout Mik is showing a new video work on three screens. This is a preliminary study for a video to be made with entirely stage-managed material. Mik selected and examined raw documentary material from various international press agencies such as ITN/Reuters and ANP. The footage used by Mik shows polical or social inspired spontanious and organised gatherings and meetings that give an unusual view on the way power and democracy and media are intertwined with each other.
23.09.2009 to 18.10.2009
@ De Inkijk, projectspace of SKOR (Foundation Art and Public Space),
Ruysdaelkade 46, Amsterdam
Endpresentation Group Marriage Initiative
By Francisco Camacho
A final presentation of Francisco Camacho’s Group Marriages Initiative can be seen in De Inkijk, SKOR’s project space. Camacho has been campaigning for several months to collect 40,000 signatures so that he can submit his petition to the Dutch Lower House. A report of the activities that he has been organising in order to collect as many signatures as possible will be shown in De Inkijk.
26.08.2009 to 18.09.2009
@ De Inkijk, project space of SKOR (Foundation Art and Public Space),
Ruysdaelkade 46, Amsterdam
The manifestation My name is Spinoza is an initiative of the Amsterdam Spinoza Circle, concept and organisation by SKOR (Foundation Art and Public Space), in collaboration with Foundation Spinoza Centrum Amsterdam.
