Press release Rotterdam, 19 December 2014
Witte de With Turns 25!
Design by A Practice for Everday Life
In 2015, Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art celebrates its 25th anniversary. Founded in 1990, Witte de With has distinguished itself by offering intrepid commentary on our shared political and cultural predicament through curated exhibitions, symposia, various lectures and education programs, live events, and a bold publishing arm. Over the last 25 years, these endeavors aimed to understand the development of vital contemporary issues, but more importantly, to play an active role in their continual evolution. Witte de With's anniversary celebration builds on this legacy and offers key moments of reflection throughout the year. Witte de With director Defne Ayas is excited to use this entire period to “shed light on and think together about the present and future state of contemporary art, through the prism of the long-standing history of this jewel of an institution.�
On 27 January 2015, 25 years to the day it was established, Witte de With presents a new installation by artist Willem de Rooij, Character Is Fate. The work showcases artist Piet Mondrian’s astrological birth chart that was made on his request in 1911. A special display system that relates to the solar calendar allows for the birth chart to be illuminated by the sun, best seen from 2.15 pm to 2.30 pm each day. Concurrently, In Light Of 25 Years casts a prismatic view on Witte de With’s archive by commissioning a select group of contemporary artists and curators to create an image-based work that analyzes sediments of contemporary art history and which is visible to the city day and night. In addition, we consider the present and look to the future through Art In The Age Of…, a threepart series of programs examining contemporary artistic practices, their circulation, and prospect vectors throughout the year. These presentations focus on the role of raw materials, computation, and destruction within art’s creation and dispersal. On 22 October 2015, a public ‘Roast’ playfully and irreverently allows critical interrogations of the institution by invited artists, journalists, and critical thinkers.
About the Projects Character Is Fate Willem de Rooij 27 January 2015 – 3 January 2016 On 27 January 2015, twenty-five years to the day it was established, Witte de With will present a new installation by artist Willem de Rooij. Character Is Fate showcases an astrological birth chart Piet Mondrian had made in 1911. A special display system that relates to the solar calendar allows for the birth chart to be illuminated by the sun, best seen from 2.15 pm to 2.30 pm each day. While considering the conservational parameters displaying historical objects, Character Is Fate also visualizes Witte de With’s physical position in relation to the sun. In late 1911 artist Piet Mondrian was about to move to Paris and leave his native country of the Netherlands behind. During this period of artistic and personal transformation he turned to theosophist Adriaan van de Vijsel for an astrological reading. Mondrian was born under the sign of Pisces on 7 March 1872, and according to his horoscope was “very susceptible and [had] psychic tendencies.” He was “able to feel things without being able to give an explanation of how this knowledge was obtained, [with] a mind that can express itself diplomatically, calmly, and systematically.”
Special thanks goes to the Netherlands Institute for Art History (RKD) in The Hague for their generous loan of Piet Mondrian’s original horoscope. The loan also marks a first-time collaboration between the RKD and Witte de With, which will be continued annually.
Character Is Fate, an artist book by Willem de Rooij Commissioned by Witte de With Publishers, artist Willem de Rooij creates an artist book that focuses on the historical and unique documents of an astrological reading of Piet Mondrian. Works of other artists often play a role within the artistic practice of Willem de Rooij’s work. The idea to make Piet Mondrian's horoscope accessible to a wider, English-speaking public arose out of De Rooij’s personal interest in astrology. In addition to a series of specially-commissioned essays, the publication will feature reprints of the original horoscope, exclusive use of which has been granted to Willem de Rooij and Witte de With by the Netherlands Institute for Art History (RKD).
In Light Of 25 Years 27 January 2015 – 3 January 2016 With: Özlem Altın, Wineke Gartz, Camille Henrot, Germaine Kruip, Mahony, Raimundas Malašauskas, Zin Taylor, Freek Wambacq, Christopher Williams, and Xu Zhen On the occasion of its 25th anniversary, Witte de With examines its legacy, dedicating the groundfloor gallery to a series of commissioned presentations by a select group of contemporary artists and curators. Each participant makes use of Witte de With’s archive and creates an image-based work that analyzes sediments of contemporary art history, presented on a large-scale light box that is visible to the city day and night. Throughout the year, In Light Of 25 Years functions as a space for critical reflection upon Witte de With and its role in the development of contemporary art, its landscape and possibilities. Where can or should we go in the next twenty-five years, when questions of autonomy and universalism, or critical reflections on the global dissemination and power of art, are still as urgent today as they were in 1990? “The image of art that Witte de With disseminates is a universal and autonomous one. It is dissemination that should not prevent the construction of a framework which can tell us, for example, something about the glamour of art and its capacity for communication, about art from beyond Europe or North America, or about the terror of current events.” Introductory essay in The Lectures, Witte de With Publishers, 1990
In Light Of 25 Years is conceived by Witte de With’s Director Defne Ayas, Paul van Gennip (Deputy Director) and Samuel Saelemakers (Associate Curator). A forthcoming publication concluding this project collates each contribution and features critical essays reflecting on the anniversary year. For specific dates of each presentation, please consult our website.
Art In The Age Of… 23 January 2015 – 3 January 2016 Opening: Thursday 22 January 2015, 5-8 pm Art in the Age of... is a three-part presentation series that investigates future vectors of art production. These presentations focus on the role of raw materials, computation, and destruction within art’s creation and its dispersal throughout the year. Art In The Age Of… Energy and Raw Material is the first installment of Art In The Age Of…, opening on Thursday 22 January 2015, 5-8 pm. This framework focuses on how forms of energy and raw material shape, or are narrated by, contemporary artistic practices. Since ancient times art objects have drifted with the motion and transformation of raw materials like wheat, minerals, and cotton. How does contemporary art relate to geothermal energy? To oil, gas, or alternative sources such as the sun? Or could it even fly on rays of cosmic energy? With: Nina Canell, Celine Condorelli, Mikhail Karikis, Nicholas Mangan, MAP Office, Marlie Mul, and Anton Vidokle. Art In The Age Of… continues throughout 2015 with frameworks dedicated to Planetary Computation (22 May – 23 August 2015) and Asymmetrical Warfare (11 September 2015 – 3 January 2016), opening May 21 and September 10 respectively. More information about this yearlong program can be found online and in the Art In The Age Of… press release.
About the Public Program Witte de With Roasted Thursday 22 October 2015, 6-9 pm As a key moment in our anniversary celebrations, our doors are open to visitors, participants, and friends for a public ‘roast', in which the institution is playfully critiqued as a mock counter to a toast. For this gathering we will invite artists, writers, curators, art historians and academics to contribute to a series of presentations telling tall tales, soul searching, and perhaps lavishing praise on Witte de With. Through this ‘roast’ Witte de With reflects on its continuing role within the field of contemporary art, and speculate as to where its future will lead in a precarious landscape of growing pressure on the arts and humanities. Other public programs will be announced shortly.
Support The exhibition In Light of 25 Years is kindly supported by AMMODO and SAHA. Stichting Gifted Art and Buchholz Gallery kindly support the publication Character is Fate by Willem de Rooij.
About Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art is an international public institution with Rotterdam as its home base. Established in 1990, Witte de With explores developments in contemporary art worldwide. Witte de With has been commenting on the social and political predicament since its inception through the presentation of curated exhibitions, symposia, live events, educational programs, and a bold publishing arm. Contact Witte de With For press requests or for further information, please contact Adelheid Smit via press@wdw.nl or call +31 10 411 01 44.