Eventless Event 7

Melodrama for Men # 2, performance by Meiro Koizumi (duration 20 min.)

9 September 2009 from 19:00 at Bergstraat 14

Eventless Event 7 features Melodrama for Men # 2, a new performance developed by the Japanese artist Meiro Koizumi (1976) for RED AiR| Redlight Art Amsterdam.

In Melodrama for Men #2, Koizumi uses this project to comment on social values, male-female relations, individual obsessions and nationalist uses of human bodies. This performance will raise the question of Japanese sex slavery during World War II through the experiences of Jan Ruff O'Herne, a Dutch woman forced to become a 'comfort woman' for Japanese soldiers. From the end of the war nationalist sentiment required the denial of the existence of these women until the women themselves raised their voices in the 1990s. They declared that they had been forced into prostitution as a method of keeping the soldiers under control. For the performance Koizumi disguises himself as an androgynous creature, creating a setting for the perpetrator and the victim or for the male and the female narrative to meet, as well as for the two cultures participating in this crime.

In this performance Koizumi touches upon motifs of an individual’s inner turmoil, Japanese nationalist war romanticism and the uses women’s bodies were put to within the Japanese wartime social system. Koizumi exposes human nature free of imposed interpretation or direction. When nationalism is once again on the rise around the world, Koizumi feels the need to reveal the cruel value system hidden behind Japanese historical narratives and portrays it in a theatrical work centered upon the female body. Through this performance Koizumi’s ritualistic act will confront the audience with the wartime crimes of those in power in Japan who seek to readjust historical facts as a means to obtain political power in the present day.

Meiro Koizumi was born in Maebashi, Gunma, Japan in 1976. He studied in Amsterdam and lived in London before recently relocating to Tokyo. He obtained his BA from International Christian University, Tokyo, in 1999 and his BFA from London Institute Chelsea College of Art and Design in UK in 2002. He was a resident artist at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam in 2005-2007. Presentations of his work have been held at the Stedelijk Museum Bureau in Amsterdam, Tate Modern in London, the Govett Brewster Art Gallery in New Zealand and more recently in a solo show at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo.

He is represented by Dicksmith Gallery and Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery.

Coming Soon:

RED AiR at de Bouwkeet, the mobile unit of Stedelijk Museum.

12 September 2009 from 12.30 – 14.30

Stedelijk Museum Bouwkeet, Zuidas, Gustav Mahlerplein.

RED AiR - Artists in Residence in the Red Light district and Zuidas AIR.

Angela Serino, curator of Red AiR will be in conversation with Minke Horn (Vrije Ruimten Zuidas AIR) about artists in Residence programs. The past years Artists in Residence programs have greatly gained in popularity. Serino and Horn seek to explain what happens when an artist uses a particular place as an inspiration for artworks.

Jelle Bouwhuis, Curator of Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam will moderate the conversation.

Mark the dates:

Final presentation of RED AiR ‘A Second Exchange’

25, 26 and 27 September

Opening 25 September, 17:00-19:00h, Bergstraat 14

Due to limited space, we request that you make a reservation for this event at red.air@online.nl

For more information on RED A.i.R. program and activities, please visit our Info-point at Bergstraat 14. Opening time: Thursday and Friday, 13:00 - 17:30 or by appointment or at red.air@online.nl

Eventless Event 6

"Public Swimming Pool" by Laurence Aëgerter

New public swimming pool in Amsterdam

August 22 and 23 2009

After "Public Library" and "Turkish Snack bar" the last episode of "Opening Soon / Opening Now" accessible to the public will take place on August 22 and 23. This time the former brothel on Korsjespoortsteeg 23 will become a public swimming pool.
For two days all ages are welcome to recreate in a unique swimming pool, under supervision of professional bath superintendents.

The swimming pool at the ground floor is for recreation, instruction and competition according to the timetable below. Bring your swimsuit and towel and drop by for some aquarobic, maternity swimming or recreational swimming. Seperate changing rooms and lockers are available on the upper floors.

Location: Korsjespoortsteeg 23 (A street between Herengracht and Singel, two bridges from Amsterdam Central Station)

Opening hours: from 8 am until 8 pm

"Opening Soon / Opening Now"

"Opening Soon / Opening Now" is the title of a year project Laurence Aëgerter is developing for RED A.I.R. Korsjespoortsteeg 23 was originally assigned to Aëgerter as a studio. She chose not to use the space as a studio however, but as a place to question her role as an artist in the city's political plans of gentrification in Amsterdam. To research the transitional character of the location, in between brothel and renovated house, she has applied 8 new public and semi-public functions to the space. Some of the episodes were private performances and installations. 

The episodes of "Opening Soon / Opening Now":

"Public Library"
"Golf Club"
"Institute for Cultural Remembrance and Mnemonic Practices"
"Turkish Snack bar"
"Agnostic Temple"
"Symposium for Urban Investment"
"Public Swimming Pool"
"New Wing Anne Frank Museum"

The final presentation of RED A.I.R. will take place on September 25-27. At this occasion Laurence Aëgerter will present a database of "Opening Soon / Opening Now" in an artist book and an installation. Aëgerter has also made a series of eight photographs in connection with the project.

Posters

A series of posters was developed for "Opening Soon / Opening Now" in collaboration with graphic designer Jennifer Skupin. These posters play a central part in the project. The posters inform the passers-by and emphasize the building's continual transformation by graphically showing the sequence of its different functions. Current information is alternately revealed. The series of 18 posters has been made into an edition of silkscreen prints.

"Public Swimming Pool" is realized with support of AFK and Fonds BKVB. With special thanks to Het Marnixbad.

Eventless Event 5

When: 4 & 19 July

Scriptings#3

Kerstin Cmelka: "Microdramas" and Guy de Cointet: "Tell me"

You are cordially invited to the third edition of Achim Lengerer's Scriptings series with the Austrian artist Kerstin Cmelka presenting her microdramas "Supporting movie" and"Change" starting at 7pm.

The same evening Scriptings starts to present a rare selection of artist books by the French artist Guy de Cointet (1934 – 1983) and original video recordings of his performance work in the early eighties as well as recent restagings. The books and videos will be on display at Scriptings until the end of September. Scriptings would like to thank the gallery "air de paris", Paris, for their kind support.

“Microdramas” by Kerstin Cmelka


"In my collection of "Microdramas" I use existing dramatic text excerpts as well as clichéd feature film scenes and theatrical shorts that already found their form, function and meaning aswell as their audience in order to rehearse and perform them - for camera and live - with befriended amateur performers. The potential of language, gesture and mimicry in this folk like theatre play material lies in it´s rhythmical, bodily rehearsal and repetitive use and mediation and is reinforced and brought onto another plain of meanings and connotations through the hermetic and intimate atmosphere in which it is trained in. Its format is expanded through the coexistence of privacy and the identification with the suggested characters that have to be performed." Kerstin Cmelka

Kerstin Cmelka studied at the Städelschule, Frankfurt . She currently lives and works in Berlin and Frankfurt am Main. Recent performances and exhibition participations include: "Ein Traum ist alles Leben und die Träume selbst ein Traum", Kunsthalle Lingen, GER; "Die Wahrnehmung von Ideen führt zu neuen Ideen", Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf, GER; "Schnecke, Vogel, Katze und Qualle", Galerie Mezzanin, AUT and 2nd Moscow Biennale for Contemporary Art, RUS.

***

"Tell me" by Guy de Cointet

"Northern California, October 1979. It’s late afternoon at Mary’s. Her house is situated on the bank of the Sacramento River, in that stretch of the river which is as beautiful as the Danube between Ybbs and Melk, east of Vienna. A few miles away is the town of Courtland, a Chinese settlement for many years, where the famous Dr. Sun Yat Sen lived for a time in exile. After her day’s work, Mary is home planning to spend the evening with some of her best friends: Michael, Olive, and hopefully, the elusive Mark. The way these young women behave, talking and listening to each other, how they see and perceive their surroundings interest me. One of these days, I believe, I’m going to drive up North and pay a visit to Mary" Guy de Cointet, 1979

French artist Guy de Cointet (Paris 1934 – Los Angeles 1983) moved to the states in the late 1960s, briefly becoming one of Warhol's Factory visitors in New York, before settling in Los Angeles. His work was well regarded in his lifetime, and remained influential long after his death, particularly to west coast practitioners such as Mike Kelley and Allen Ruppersberg. In the last couple of years his work was rediscovered and featured in shows and re-creations of his performances e.g. at Stuk, Leuven, BE; de Appel, Amsterdam, NL and Tate Modern, London, UK.

Entrance is free but due to limited space please make a reservation via our e-mail address: red.air@online.nl. Thank you.

Where:
Scriptings#3 by Achim Lengerer
Kerstin Cmelka and Guy de Cointet
Korsjespoortsteeg 9/12
Saturday 4 July: 7pm

Eventless Events 4

When: June 20 & 21

Scriptings#2 by Achim Lengerer

June 20, from 7-8pm

Korsjespoortsteeg 12-1

Who You Think You Are.

Performance by Dafne Boggeri

June 20, from 8-9pm

Bergstraat 16

Secrets From the Street: No Disclosure (part 1), Film screening curated by Francesco Bernardelli

June 20, from 9-11pm

Bergstraat 14

Secrets From the Street: No Disclosure (part 2), Film screening curated by Francesco Bernardelli

June 21, from 8-10pm

Bergstraat 14

20-21 June

Eventless Event 4 features film screenings, a presentation and a performance. We start on Saturday at 7pm with a presentation by Meris Angioletti, hosted by Achim Lengerer for Scriptings, the temporary show room where writers, graphic-designers, artists and performers, all of whom use the formats of script and text in their production process are regularly invited.

We continue at Bergstraat 16 with the performance Who you think you are by Dafne Boggeri. Boggeri, whose work explores the body as a site of contested powers, has responded to Francesca Grilli’s invitation to take over her studio space.

Following immediately that same evening we move to the living room of the guesthouse for the first part of Secrets from the street: no disclosure, a film screening curated by Francesco Bernardelli with works by Joan Jonas, Trisha Brown, Martha Rosler, Peter Hutchinson, Gabriel Lester, Mike Hoolboom, Todd Solondz and others.As Bernardelli states, “this audio-visual exploration tackles one of the fundamental issues of today urban living: how to read embedded signs mimetically disguised as plain elements of an extensive urban fabric, and at the same time to disentangle them and reinvest them with new functions and a new direction”. The filmic and video works of Secret from the street are examples of a re-invention of the urban drift. “They speak of basic personal freedom, but even more of the possibility of a constant re-imagination of our communicative tools, which are continuously being subverted and recreated according to needs and urgencies of the moment.” The film screening continues on Sunday night, from 8pm on at the guesthouse. You can read the complete film program below.

Drinks will be served during the evening.

Entrance is free but due to limited space please make a reservation via our e-mail address: red.air@online.nl. Thank you.

For Eventless Event 4 we would like to thank the Italian Cultural Institute of Amsterdam (Mr.Silvio Marchetti) and the Netherlands Media Art Institute Montevideo (Theus Zwakhals).

Film program Secrets from the street: no disclosure, devised by F.Bernardelli

Saturday June 20.

From 9pm till midnight

Bergstraat 14

Posterama (1980) by Lous America, David Garcia, Henk Wijnen & Annie Wrightthe Netherlands, sound, colour, 11:39

Excerpts from Wild Style (1982/83) by Charlie Ahearn USA, sound, colour, 82:00

Secrets from the Street: No Disclosure (1980) by Martha Rosler USA, sound, colour, 10:45

Song Delay (1973) by Joan Jonas USA, sound, b/w, 18:35, 16 mm film on video + Midnight Movie:The Girl from Monday (2005) by Hal Hartley USA, sound, colour, 84:00

Sunday June 21.

From at 8pm till midnight

Bergstraat 14

Shorts (1973) by Peter Hutchinson Germany, sound, colour, 17:50

Urban Surface (2005) by Gabriel Lester The Netherlands, sound, b/w, 10:40

Horizontal Silence (2003) by Seoungho Cho USA, sound, b/w - colour, 8:31

What I'm Looking For (2004) by Shelly Silver USA, sound, colour, 15:00

Mapping a City of Fragments (1997) by Chip Lord USA, sound, colour, 9:30

Public Lighting (2004) by Mike Hoolboom Canada, sound, colour, 76:00 + Midnight movie:

First Episode from Storytelling (2001) by Todd Solondz USA, sound, colour, 90:00

Eventless Events 3

When: 6 & 12 June. From 5 till 8pm

This Saturday, 6 June, Eventless Events will feature the second Salon organized by Niels Vis as well as the opening of Scriptings, the temporary showroom by Achim Lengerer at Korsjespoortsteeg 12.


For the second Salon Niels Vis has invited Czech artist Barbora Klímová (b.1977, Brno) to take part in a dialogue about Famous Brno Villas II. (2006), her ongoing personal research project in the field of individual family housing in Brno in the Czech Republic during the period of normalization between 1968 and 1989. In this dialogue Vis will contrast Klímová's research with Dutch and western architectural experience in the same period by focusing on varying expressions of the modernist ideal of architectural transparency in villa architecture.


Following immediately that same evening, on the first floor of Korsjespoortsteeg 12 Achim Lengerer will open Scriptings with Amsterdam-based graphic designer Paul Gangloff. Scriptings is a discursive platform parallel and additional to Lengerer’s writing and performance project Songs#. In the coming months Lengerer will regularly host artists, writers, graphic-designers, performers and publishers, all of whom use the formats of script and text in their production process. The presentations at Korsjespoortsteeg 9 and 12 will be live events (talk, discussion, reading, display, performance) plus an immediately-published magazine that will contain textual and visual materials provided by the participants. The magazine is designed in collaboration with the Lithuanian graphic designer Goda Budvytyte.


Drinks and soup will be served during the evening.


Entrance is free but due to limited space please make a reservation via our e-mail address: red.air@online.nl. Thank you.


Where
Les Salons by Niels Vis


A dialogue with Barbora Klímová


Korsjespoortsteeg 12 (ground floor)


Saturday 6 June: 5 – 7 pm

Scriptings#1 by Achim Lengerer


Presentation with Paul Gangloff


Korsjespoortsteeg 12-1


Saturday 6 June: 7 – 8 pm

"Opening Soon / Opening Now: Turkish snack bar" by Laurence Aëgerter

New Turkish snack bar in Amsterdam

June 12 2009, 6 pm - midnight

After "Public Library", "Golf Club" and "Institute for cultural remembrance and mnemonic practices" a Turkish snack bar will open in the former brothel at Korsjespoortsteeg 23 on June 12. You can order a delicious Turkish pizza or drink an Ayran in Turkish style all night. After midnight the snack bar will be dismantled and the space will await its next transformation.

Location:
Korsjespoortsteeg 23
(A street between Herengracht and Singel, two bridges from Amsterdam Central Station)

Opening hours:
from 6 pm until midnight (only open on June 12)

Eventless Events 2

When: 15, 16, 17 and 23 May

The May program of Eventless Events features the opening of Public Library by Laurence Aëgerter from 15 May till 17 May, a screening program selected by Ahmet Ögüt on 16 May and the first Salon organized by Niels Vis on 23 May.

For one weekend the former brothel at the Korsjespoortsteeg 23 will be transformed into Public Library, an installation by Laurence Aëgerter. On the ground floor 40 meters of classified books will be on display on shelves. During opening hours a librarian will be in attendance for visitors while she carries out research into methods of book classification, several of which will be tested at the temporary library, including renowned systems of classification such as Harvard's, as well as alternative systems using principles from mathematics or game theory.

On Saturday 16 May a 12-hour private reading performance will take place in the Reading Room on the second floor. Aëgerter has invited 24 men and 24 women who have never previously met. Each man will be asked to bring a book and to read an extract aloud from it to one of the women for fifteen minutes. The chosen extracts will be collected in an artist’s book. Public Library is the first part of Opening Soon/Opening Now, a series of transformations of Aëgerter’s studio into spaces with different public designations.

In the same weekend, on Saturday 16 May, Ahmet Ögüt will screen a selection of videos from Random Rules: A Channel of Artists’ Selections from You Tube, followed by Underground (1976) by Emilie de Antonio, a documentary which combines interviews with and archival footage of the Weatherman, the militant faction of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) who fought the U.S. government during the 1960s and 1970s.

Eventless Event 2 continues on 23 May with Les Salons by Niels Vis. The first Salon kicks off with an ongoing visual dialog between Niels Vis and Alexis Blake, which will be shown in the front space of their shared studio. Continuing with a brief verbal dialog, they will address an aspect of Blake's research - the rhetoric of images constructed collectively through means of focus groups. In this discussion Vis will look at the specific spatial setting of these focus groups.

Where: 
Public Library by Laurence Aëgerter, Korsjespoortsteeg 23 
Friday 15 May: 10 am - 5 pm 


Saturday 16 May: 11 am - 11 pm 


Sunday 17 May: 10 am - 5 pm

Screening selected by Ahmet Ögüt, Korsjespoortsteeg 12 


Saturday 15 May: 5 – 7pm

Les Salons by Niels Vis, Korsjespoortsteeg 12 


Saturday 23 May: 5 – 7pm

Due to limited space please make a reservation for Ahmet Ögüt’s screening and Niels Vis’ Les Salons via our e-mail address: red.air@online.nl. Thank you.

RED A.i.R Open Studios

When: March 20 11:00-18:00 Open Studios


March 21 11:00-18:00 Open Studios


Where: 19:00-21:00 Drinks and Music at the Guesthouse
Where: Studios, Bergstraat 16 / Korsjespoortsteeg 9,11, 12 and 23, Guesthouse, Bergstraat 14.

Free admission


On March 20 and March 21 the resident artists of RED A.i.R., Laurence Aëgerter, Mounira Al Solh, Alexis Blake, Egle Budvytyte, Francesca Grilli, Achim Lengerer, Ahmet Ögüt and Niels Vis will open their doors to the public. Come and visit the former brothels, which are now used as working spaces.
Special event: "Nine lives", performance/installation by artists Francesca Grilli and Anna Franceschini. Location: Bergstraat 16, March 20 and 21, 18:00-20:00

"Nine lives"
Bergstraat 16 featured in the news in May 1959, when a prostitute was murdered. The prostitute was the 45-year old Truus Krieger. That same week, another prostitute was nearly strangled in the nearby Oude Nieuwstraat. Fortunately, “Pretty Hetty” had resisted fiercely and was luckier than Truus. Truus’ murder was solved only in 1963, thanks to Ria, another prostitute.
For the occasion, we invite Ria and Pretty Hetty to take possession of the Studio of Bergstraat 16.

RED A.i.R. is curated by Angela Serino for Redlight Art Amsterdam which is organized by the City of Amsterdam and the housing corporation De Key/Principaal, in collaboration with Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam and Kunsternaars&CO. The project comprises a residency program, a series of events and a final presentation throughout this year.