Unfamiliarities

Unfamiliarities is a space for artists of various disciplines to present their work in progress and to create a conversation subsequently. The project finds its genesis in the desire to design a space, where fragile, unfinished, and perhaps unfunded works can be witnessed and nourished. The aim is to create a momentum for artists, that stimulates their artistic processes by means of exchange. The event can be a potential meeting space, supporting the artists’ work process in addition to the institutional, educational or academic contexts. Each session hosts a maximum of 4 artists + an audience that can stimulate the creation process of the presented works by engaging into conversation. After each artists’ shared proposal, there is the possibility of feedback, in a manner chosen by the artists.The first editions followed a "pay-what-you-want/can" policy, with the sales going to the artist. There were small contribution of warm soup and drinks, that the audience could purchase during breaks, which supported the space/host. Unfamiliarities happened first in late 2019 at QRU Amsterdam, organised completely on volunteering basis. Its second edition was prepared together with Subbacultcha but had to be postponed because of Covid-19. The third edition is in its development.

Photo credit: Ricardo van Heuvel

Credits:

Unfamiliarities #1, collaboration in between Toni Steffens and QRU Amsterdam, October 2019

Participating Artists:

Annelieke Holland

Stefa Govaart

Eva Pel

Wietske Joan

Ellen Ogawa

Former Forms
Former forms appear as materialised memories or “half-forgotten” materials in the realm of performing arts or life arts. Being both elements of former performances and elements that have been appeared and performed before, former forms mostly work as reminder of pasts, that one is unable to memorise or as defaults and disturbances of functions that belong to their former life, and which they now do not want to associate with anymore. Becoming dysfunctional in respect of their past, former forms are desperately asking the viewer and collaborator to revisit their agency while not forgetting their former identity. Former forms can be found within set design, sounds, physical practices and words. They operate in relation to their significance: while being mostly still identified as a sign x they claim to not be able to any longer represent or pursue specific ideological or functional activity and ask for state of retirement or repurpose. Former forms are mostly philosophically ahead of their users, entering into their living context to open up discourse and  perspective on what they are or became in the meantime. Former forms in that respect detect potential futures while remembering their own pasts. These futures though can only be generated by collective intervention and radical reconsideration of what those forms are able to be. Former forms attract humans in the re-pre-mirror state, who are again not able to sharply identify the borders of subjects and/or subobjects. Former forms are therefore intersubjective subobjects dealing with the chronics of significance of non-humans, that have been utilised by humans in order to write fiction, to not say history. Their main function can be seen in the stubborn insistence of motivating the human to re-evaluate this function and utilisation and hopefully rewrite, actualise and alternate their function.Former forms refer to holographic processes that transform information into form that expresses frequency. Former forms long for an activation that alters their frequency and detects their hidden information expressing their desire of being and not their function of being.

Weaving Passages for the momentous

An Attendee

Orange Rest/Sacrifice

Spinner

Metamotion for 270degrees

Hope, Test

Night Flying Project

Movement

delineations

Unfamiliarities

DATES/ NEWS

2-3/09/2023: "Line,lo0sing line", Research Presentation at Oldenaller, commissioned by Fransien van der Putt, working with the archive of painter Claartje Berger
3-5/07/2023: Research residency at Oldenaller, commissioned by Fransien van der Putt, working with the archive of painter Claartje Berger
23/06/2023: "THE FATE CAST / IN THE SEARCH / OF FOUR PETALS", during " Even in the dark I know I am sleeping with myself" at Perdu Amsterdam, Collaboration with Mercedes Azpilicueta
24/05/2023: "SPRING WOUNDS" as part of the warp, a shared evening at KUNSTKAPEL, AMSTERDAM
14/04/2023: "ORANGE REST/ SACRIFICE", ATELIERS PACT ZOLLVEREIN, ESSEN
30/03/2023: "WEAVING PASSAGES FOR THE MOMENTOUS", Extra Intra Reader #2 :A SLIGHT BREATH, editors HARRIET FOYSTER, ROSIE HAWARD, NELL SCHWAN, editorial board for  intercurricular Programmes, GERRIT RIETVELD ACADEMY, SAN SERIFFE, AMSTERDAM 2023
10/11/2022:  "HOPE,TEST- A STRATEGY OF PERFORMATIVE MEMORIES", PUBLISHER: 4BID GALLERY AMSTERDAM
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2022: "SPINAL CATASTROPHE" RESEARCH PROJECT, SUPPORTED BY NEUSTART KULTUR, #TAKE HEART, PACT ZOLLVEREIN, BERLIN/AMSTERDAM, RESEARCH
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2022: DRAMATURGY FOR ELVAN TEKIN, TANZFABRIK BERLIN
08/07/2022: "THE FATE CAST / IN THE SEARCH / OF FOUR PETALS", DURING "CHANGE FEELING" , COLLABORATION WITH MERCEDES AZPILICUETA, VANABBE MUSEUM EINDHOVEN  
02+03/07/2022: "ON J0YFUL MILITANCY", PERFORMING FOR MERCEDES AZPILICUETA, ROZENSTRAAT, AMSTERDAM
19/05/2022: "SPINNER" PREMIER AT FLAM FESTIVAL AMSTERDAM
08/05/2022: "AN ATTENDEE" MANDALA FESTIVAL, WROCLAV
14/03-04/04: RESIDENCY AT WORKSPACE BRUSSELS