Performances part of MOVEABLE TYPES
7-9 February 2020
At the institution formerly known as Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art
Witte de Withstraat 50, 3012 BR
Rotterdam, Netherlands
EVANN SIEBENS
In Evann Siebens’ performance Gesture by Number, she creates an archive of gestures that references the history of performing arts, media, dance, visual art and performance histories from Allan Kaprow through Gilbert & George to Marina Abramovic. She will present recent photographic collage work and this ever-evolving performance from A Lexicon of Gestures.
MOVEABLE TYPES is a curated book event by Frances Horn, and highlights the importance of printed matter and publishing for contemporary art. At Witte de With, the fair presents 18 publishers that especially have a close relation to poetry and performance.
A series of public programs are organized in conjunction to MOVEABLE TYPES, including performances by artists Nora Turato, Evann Siebens, Mette Edvardsen, and Jason Dodge. These programs are hosted at MELLY, and are free of charge. Additionally, on Thursday 6 February, from 3–4:30 p.m., a special program takes place in the Reflections Room of Art Rotterdam: the conversation Lines of Travel: Ongoing Artistic Discourses between Rotterdam and Vancouver between Wil Aballe (Director, Wil Aballe Art Projects, Vancouver) and Evann Siebens (Photographic, video, installation and performance artist, Vancouver).
Lines of Travel: Ongoing Artistic Discourses between Rotterdam and Vancouver
Thursday 6 February 2020, 3 – 4:30 pm
Location: Reflections Room, Art Rotterdam, Van Nellefabriek
Participants: WIL ABALLE, EVANN SIEBENS
What is it about Rotterdam and Vancouver that has enabled an easy dialogue about contemporary art over recent decades? A conversation with Wil Aballe (Director, Wil Aballe Art Projects, Vancouver) and Evann Siebens (Photographic, video, installation and performance artist, Vancouver).
The modernity of Rotterdam could be something that has tuned curators to Vancouver, a place that is so far away and so new. Both cities are major seaports, and both Canada and the Netherlands have their bedrock of art set upon the landscape tradition, invented by the Dutch, and a style of art that has enabled Canada to populate a land mass spanning three and a half time zones. The institution formerly known as Witte de With has been an instrumental institution for facilitating this dialogue, since an early show with Ken Lum spawned his infamous work of public art, Melly Shum Hates Her Job. Lum was followed by solo exhibitions of other Vancouver photographers and conceptual artists, Ian Wallace, Geoffrey Farmer, Brian Jungen, Luis Jacob, Judy Radul and Douglas Coupland over two decades. Aballe and Siebens will discuss possible factors that has resulted in this cultural exchange, and discuss how these precedents allow for ongoing dialogue of art between these two centres, all the way to the present with Siebens’ presentation of new performance work in MOVEABLE TYPES at the institution formerly known as Witte de With, from 7 February until 9 February 2020.
