Gentle Dust
Leaving the Museum of Modern Art
Opening on 7 September, Gentle Dust is a collective project initiated by Dorine van Meel and co-curated with Rianna Jade Parker, in which artists, activists, and writers imagine what art could be beyond the supposedly neutral white walls of the museum of modern art.
Gentle Dust sets out by recognising that such institutions have determined for too long what ‘art’ is and argues that their claims to social critique mean little if they do not actively break down the power structures that underpin their existence.
In a new video installation by Dutch artist Dorine van Meel, computer generated images of abandoned gallery spaces and museums drift by. While digital dust settles on emptied-out vitrines and stacks of wrapped paintings, a sound environment designed by Sami El-Enany forms the backdrop to a number of texts that are written and spoken by the participating artists. In these contributions, the artists and activists foreground their own stories, perspectives, and lived experiences, specifically within the political context of the Netherlands. Their texts explore the ways in which colonial-era relationships of power and violence continue to be at work in the present, through mechanisms of exclusion and institutionalised racism, and address the impact of islamophobia and xenophobia on their lives. The video installation itself is understood as a platform that gives space to a growing number of voices, languages, stories, and histories.
The exhibition also includes a ‘reference space’ that contains key texts and imagery compiled by independent artist-curator and writer Rianna Jade Parker, co-founder of The Lonely Londoners and Thick/er Black Lines. For MAMA, the reference space is the start of a growing library in which inclusiveness and informal communities are central.
Opening & performance event
7 September, 19:00 – 21:00
On the evening of 7 September, Susu Amina, Tirza Balk, Yakari Gabriel, Abdel-Rahman Hassan, Alina Jabbari and Dorine van Meel each present their new contributions. The performance begins at 20.00 prompt, and the public is kindly requested to stay for the whole duration of the presentation.
With contributions by:
Pelumi Adejumo, Albinus, Susu Amina, Tirza Balk, Alina Jabbari, Rianna Jade Parker, Yakari Gabriel, Abdel-Rahman Hassan, Natasha Jacobs, Hudda Khaireh, Isaac Kariuki, Thato Magano, Imani Robinson, Natalia Sorzano, MAMA’s Artistic New Talents; een compositie van Sami El-Enany en een nieuwe video installatie van Dorine van Meel
Curated by:
Initiated by Dorine van Meel and co-curated with Rianna Jade Parker
About HOME
HOME is the leitmotiv by which we encourage conversation about conceptions regarding belonging, representation and identification. HOME is a fundament, the place you return to and anchorpoint for the journey onward. HOME (offline as well as online) is the start of feeling connect to others. Under the name HOME we also present exhibitions in the showroom of MAMA. In collaboration with young makers we express interpretations about HOME | IN REAL LIFE | NETWORKS.
