Shift operation : membraned city
project, 1 month, 22 people, 120 m2, 2016
Shift Operation is a series of projects in collaboration with Maarten Schuurman. It researches the micropolitics of space in relation to artistic practice. The development and exchange of ideas about work processes and forms of cooperation are central. The name Shift Operation refers to the industrial production process that involves shift work. We use the idea of shift work as a basic structure for Shift Operation. We invite artists from various disciplines to join the project and form a temporary artists’ community together with us.Shift Operation as a series of projects taking place at different locations with different groups of artists. Each version therefore has its own dynamics, process and outcome. For this we use the installation as a working form. Within each new location, the installation forms an autonomous space with its own working method and rules. With every Shift Operation project we base ourselves on a practical example outside the art world where cooperation and the influence of shared space are central. Is this applicable to the art practice?
Shift Operation : Membraned City took place throughout December 2016 in a large vacant building in Amsterdam. This was the temporary location of Paleis van Mieris artist run space. The source of inspiration for this first project was the Kowloon district in Hong Kong. During the British era, Kowloon formed a free haven within Hong Kong where all kinds of people sought refuge. The growing number of residents led to a densification of the space within the outer limits of the neighborhood. A labyrinth of living and working spaces was created through narrow passages. The city as a living organism formed the basis for the Shift Operation: Membraned City project, an installation with a total surface area of 120 m2. We built an outer wall of wood and cardboard as skin, within which twenty artists created spaces for the production and presentation of their own work. However, due to the limited space, each boundary also formed the boundary of the neighboring workplace. This created a game of taking, sharing and redistributing workplaces and residual spaces for individual, but also joint production.
Participating artists:
Joubin Zargarbashi, Marc van Dijk, Vincka Struben, Ilona de Wind, Zsolt Mesterhazy, Ovidiu Spaniol, Sander ter Steege, Radovan Misovic, Karina Palosi, Steffen Vogelezang, Barbara Dubbeldam.
Also featuring Out Of Office #3 curated by Matthew Britton with Constant Dullaart, Danny Brian Gonzales, Shia LeBeouf, Nastja Säde Rönkkö, Luke Turner, Jonas Lund, Karina Pálosi, Nick Zhu.
Public program with a scent lecture by art historian Caro Verbeek, screening of performance videos by Petros Pangiotis and a sound performance by Jasna Veličković.