Beutiful Distress
Not-In-My-Backyard (2009) | Rob Voerman
ART PROGRAMMING BY STICHTING NDSM-WERF
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Photo credits: Gert-Jan van Rooij
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Photo credits: Gert-Jan van Rooij
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Photo credits: Gert-Jan van Rooij
Rob Voerman’s installation Not-in-my-Backyard will be visible at NDSM from the end of August. Rob Voerman made an installation in which different functions and references are combined: that of a shelter, nightclub, church and, perhaps, a bar. The work is a response to the (over)regulation of public space in the Netherlands. According to Rob, every square meter has been designed and functions in the public space are (too) carefully chosen. “It is almost impossible to find a place where functions of public space are mixed in a more loose way.”
Originally created for the Biennial Open Source in the Bijlmer in 2009, Not-in-my-Backyard moved to the AMC (Amsterdam Medical Center). Now Not-in-my-Backyard finds a home for 9 months in a different context: that of NDSM: a cultural site where there is room for experimentation, for questioning public values, and for a non-exclusive, polyphonic public space where a lot is possible. Art, festivals, events, creative space for arts and crafts, and industrial heritage all come together at this location.
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Photo credits: Gert-Jan van Rooij
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Photo credits: Gert-Jan van Rooij
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Photo credits: Gert-Jan van Rooij
At the place where Sexyland used to be, and for the past two years, only grass has risen. And now, there is a sculpture that you can also sit next to or in (during the day). Stichting NDSM-werf presents site-sensitive art in response to the context of NDSM. This changing context is determined by the space that is now available for art, creativity, and experimentation, a cultural site around which many new buildings have risen.
“The architectural constructions, sculptures, drawings, and staged photographs of Rob Voerman (1966) are disturbing and seductive at the same time. They sketch a perfectly constructed, utopian world with apocalyptic touches, a world that is constantly growing but also protected, a world that is broken, but also rises from its ashes.”
We will launch the work on August 31 at 6 pm during NDSM Get Lost, an evening during which various cultural parties open their doors.