ROTTERDAM.- Art Rotterdam has evolved into the most important place to discover young art. This seventeenth edition again brings you the latest developments in visual art in a variety of exhibition concepts. You’ll experience the rich diversity in contemporary art production from different points of view; video art at Projections, installations and performances at Intersections, the latest generation of Dutch artists in Prospects & Concepts and young galleries with solo presentations at the New Art Section. With the abundance of young art and the well-balanced mix of commercial and non-commercial presentations Art Rotterdam is an art fair for all art lovers and attracts international attention in the busy schedule of art fairs.
To explore the art fair and find your own personal way to the art that inspires you the most Art Rotterdam made an effort to provide extra information on and around the fair so you have a clear view of what’s on show. For instance, the Dutch art critic Hans den Hartog Jager will illustrate his personal highlights of the fair in a film. This film is on show at Intersections and is the ideal starting point for your visit to the fair. Encounters is the name of a three-day debate-programme initiated by Galerie West, Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art and the magazine for contemporary art Metropolis M.
Unique project | a world première at Art Rotterdam
Visitors of Art Rotterdam are the first spectators to view an impressive installation, the Detroit Home by artist Ryan Mendoza, a world première!
Detroit was once the largest centre of automotive industry in the world. Till the credit crunch that is when car factories like General Motors, Ford and Chrysler got into financial trouble and had to close down. People were dismissed and were left with immense mortgage debts. The crisis on the housing market was the final blow. Residents left their homes and entire neighborhoods were abandoned. What once was a prospering city with 1,8 million inhabitants is now a ghost town of less than 700.000 inhabitants with chaos, decline and crime as a result. Homes are sold at auction for as little as 1.000 dollar to prevent vacancy in the area. Houses dilapidate and are being torn down with bulldozers all the time.
Visual artist Ryan Mendoza, born and raised in New York, lives and works in both Berlin and Naples. In 2013 he returns – after 20 years- to his home ground. It is then he sees in Detroit the reality of today. With his Detroit home he tells a story we’ve hardly heard of in Europe. The story is also difficult to grasp for us. A piece of history we can be part of. Mendoza: “As an artist I am very happy that I have the opportunity to freeze a piece of my home ground, and myself with it, in time. By saving one home from demolition, to relocate it and rebuild it I am inviting people from all over Europe to not only experience the memory of one person but also the collective ambitions and unintentional shortcomings of a whole nation.”
The home was recently demolished and transported to the Port of Antwerp. After being shown at Art Rotterdam it will find a permanent place at the Verbeke Foundation, a private initiative for contemporary art in Belgium founded by Gert Verbeke. Verbeke was prepared to transport the containers to Rotterdam and had the home rebuild at the entrance of the art fair Art Rotterdam. After the fair the home will be demolished and transported to Belgium.
Experience Art Rotterdam in the breathtaking spaces of the Van Nellefabriek, a Unesco World Heritage Site, from Thursday 11 - Sunday 14 February 2016
