Commissioned by: Wendelien van Oldenborgh & Lucy Cotter for Cinema Olanda Platform at (Witte de With now) Melly.

Costume design by: Marga Weimans.

Full performance video available upon request.

17/07 – 23/07/2017

Interview: C&, Dutch Afro Subjectivities: In a State of Becoming “Black”

(Witte de With now) Melly transformed into an adaptable platform for groups and individuals who have informed Cinema Olanda, artist Wendelien van Oldenborgh and curator Lucy Cotter’s presentation in the Dutch pavilion of the 57th Venice Biennale 2017.

As part of Charl Landvreugd’s program Holland Mijn Mars (17th – 23rd July 2017) the artist worked throughout the week in the exhibition spaces of Cinema Olanda: Platform to develop an installation based on four filmic stories from Suriname, Haïti, Quebec and the Netherlands.

This culminated into a new performance by Landvreugd that views migration across the axis of sexuality.

The first story that makes up the basis for this installation and performance is Kon Hesi Baka (1976) by Henk Barnard, which deals with migration from the perspective of a young girl in Suriname around the time of the country’s independence. The second is Koewatra Djodjo (1979) by Edgar Cairo, which gives an insight into a young man’s arrival in the city. How to make love to a negro without getting tired (1987) by Dany Laferrière speaks about trying to settle in the metropolis. Wan Pipel (1976) by Pim de la Parra delves into disillusionment, loyalty and belonging. The combined texts create a narrative of migration, and show the timelessness of the subject.

Wearing a costume by Marga Weimans, Charl Landvreugd enters the space in which he has created an installation composed of several TV screens, a projection, and movable walls. As he moves through the space, he occasionally walks over to a record player and amplifier to adjust the music. Familiar songs are played, but they are always layered with a kind of interference, a noise. At times the music dominates; at other moments the noise prevails—sometimes consisting of dialogues taken from a film or documentary.

Slowly, Landvreugd pushes the coloured walls out of the space toward the projection on the wall, causing the image to fragment across the different panels. The projection shows a man standing on the bow of a ship, wearing a cape and a black mask. Throughout the performance, Landvreugd changes costumes, his face never fully visible. He ends in a long robe, wearing the same mask as the man on the bow of the ship. Then he leaves the space. (source Mondriaanfonds 2017)

all images Aad Hoogendoorn