Black or White
08 Jun - 15 Oct 2013
BLACK OR WHITE
8 June - 13 October 2013
Animated films, comic strips and cartoons.... these are rarely exhibited in a museum for contemporary art. However in the 'Black or White' exhibition at the Van Abbemuseum they play the main role in combination with drawings and video installations. 'Black or White flirts' with what is politically incorrect. It aims to provoke visitors to reflect upon their own behaviour and its interrelation with social conventions by exhibiting politically engaged art. The works that are exhibited are not necessarily politically correct at first glance. They attempt to test the boundaries; they are bizarre, provocative, sometimes coarse, exaggerated or ugly. In other words, in each of the works something is simply “not quite right”. This elicits a direct and sometimes even physical reaction in the viewer in the form of laughter or discomfort.
The exhibition includes works by Michael J. Baers, Sue Coe, Robert Crumb, Emma De Swaef and Marc James Roels, Piotr Dumała, Extrastruggle, Philippe Grammaticopoulos, Greg Irons and Tom Veitch, Phil Mulloy, Prabhakar Pachpute, Dan Perjovschi, Peter Pontiac, and Ton Smits. The installation The Refusal of Time by William Kentridge (2012), one of the favourites of the public at dOCUMENTA13 last year in Kassel, is exhibited in the Studio.
Black or White provides an overview of different forms of sequential art: from animated films and video installations to drawings and comic strips. Bringing these to the exhibition space emphasises the political potential of a medium with a long history of critical commentaries on society. In Black or White this medium is used to address various conditions in the current political moment, such as isolation or exclusion on both an individual and a collective level.
Activities during Black or White
During Black or White the museum is organising different activities. Both young and old visitors can become active themselves in the museum and workshops will be given . The works in Black or White are also an important source for the lectures on certain themes, the three-day summer course , the Zomertoer (Summer Tour) and the exhibition Colourful in black-and-white by children of Korein Kinderplein.
8 June - 13 October 2013
Animated films, comic strips and cartoons.... these are rarely exhibited in a museum for contemporary art. However in the 'Black or White' exhibition at the Van Abbemuseum they play the main role in combination with drawings and video installations. 'Black or White flirts' with what is politically incorrect. It aims to provoke visitors to reflect upon their own behaviour and its interrelation with social conventions by exhibiting politically engaged art. The works that are exhibited are not necessarily politically correct at first glance. They attempt to test the boundaries; they are bizarre, provocative, sometimes coarse, exaggerated or ugly. In other words, in each of the works something is simply “not quite right”. This elicits a direct and sometimes even physical reaction in the viewer in the form of laughter or discomfort.
The exhibition includes works by Michael J. Baers, Sue Coe, Robert Crumb, Emma De Swaef and Marc James Roels, Piotr Dumała, Extrastruggle, Philippe Grammaticopoulos, Greg Irons and Tom Veitch, Phil Mulloy, Prabhakar Pachpute, Dan Perjovschi, Peter Pontiac, and Ton Smits. The installation The Refusal of Time by William Kentridge (2012), one of the favourites of the public at dOCUMENTA13 last year in Kassel, is exhibited in the Studio.
Black or White provides an overview of different forms of sequential art: from animated films and video installations to drawings and comic strips. Bringing these to the exhibition space emphasises the political potential of a medium with a long history of critical commentaries on society. In Black or White this medium is used to address various conditions in the current political moment, such as isolation or exclusion on both an individual and a collective level.
Activities during Black or White
During Black or White the museum is organising different activities. Both young and old visitors can become active themselves in the museum and workshops will be given . The works in Black or White are also an important source for the lectures on certain themes, the three-day summer course , the Zomertoer (Summer Tour) and the exhibition Colourful in black-and-white by children of Korein Kinderplein.