MaMA 

From the 15th of July until the 25th of July, 2004, Showroom MAMA will remove all the windows from its shop front. The exhibition will be open to visitors day and night.

The curator, Boris van Berkum, has given the architects from De Ruimte and 2012 the assignment of creating a public podium within the remains. Anyone is welcome to approach MAMA to organise something for this platform. The first proposals have already been received.
MAMA’s windows will be used as the material for creating the Glass Hotel Suite. The artist duo, De Humobisten will present their absurdist radio play,Sonic Spocht, from this civic platform.

The Cam Kong Collective has created a video installation that makes use of security cameras. The video animation by the artist Jan van Nunen, “Warning Petrol Pipeline” is best described as a hallucinatory contemporary scenario about the sabotage of oil distribution. This ten-day phenomenon originates as a complement to the unveiling of the sculpture, “The Hermitage” by the American architect, Lebbeus Woods. The 15 participating artists have created a total of 5 installations taking Woods’ body of conceptual work as inspiration.

The Hermitage
The NAI [Dutch Architectural Institute] will unveil its newest acquisition, The Hermitage by visionary American architect, Lebbeus Woods [born 1940] on Thursday, 15th July, 2004. This parasite-evoking steel sculpture – Woods’ only realised work in a public space- is situated at the east end of the depot building. “The Hermitage” was conceived in 1999, the result of a collaboration between the TU Eindhoven and the MU Art Foundation. Woods has developed an abstract “hermit cell” representing the tension between the individual and the mass.

The artwork stood as a temporary installation in front of the De Witte Dame in Eindhoven for two years and was later placed in storage. Recently The Hermitage was donated to the NAI by TU Eindhoven and subsequently drastically restored. The commanding new location on the border of the city centre and the Museum Park strengthens the expressive power of the work. The Hermitage has finally found a home.

City City Bang Bang
MAMA has taken The Hermitage as the starting point for the project City City Bang Bang. The conceptual body of work of Lebbeus Woods has been served up as food for thought for 15 Dutch artists. The result consists of 5 installations in the open-air shell of Showroom MAMA – NAI. Would you like to attend the unveilings and presentations? Then join the promenade…

The City in Crisis is the central theme of the project. ‘Especially in crises’ proposes Woods, ‘there is space for an unorthodox approach.’ MAMA has taken this quote to heart: the glass frontage of MAMA will be entirely removed forcing the gallery to become an open public space; an Open City Platform and exhibition exist in this new open space.

Open City Podium
The podium is open to all organisations and individuals that would like to organise something: a party; a performance; a film project or anything else engaging. The first proposals have already been processed.