Making Use, Dutch Art Institute
22 June–15 September 2013
Van Abbemuseum
Bilderdijklaan 10
Eindhoven, The Netherlands
T +31 (0) 40 238 1000
info [at] vanabbemuseum.nl
Making Use, Dutch Art Institute at the Van Abbemuseum
This summer the exhibition Making Use opened in the Van Abbemuseum. The exhibition is comprised of ten new projects by artists from the Dutch Art Institute (DAI / MFA ArtEZ). The show includes works by Mercedes Azpilicueta and Ohad Ben Shimon, Anna Dasovic, Yoeri Guepin, Fotini Gouseti, Rei Kakiuchi, Eden Mitsenmacher, Pendar Nabipour, Fraser Stewart, Katja van Driel and Susan van Hengstum. The exhibition forms part of a pair of projects on the first floor of the museum that offers a new approach to thinking through the museum as a site for pedagogy.
For the past three years the Van Abbemuseum has been teaching at the Dutch Art Institute (DAI / MFA ArtEZ) in Arnhem. Together with the students, the museum looks at the role or art, artists and institutions in society. For the first time the course ends with an exhibition in the museum. The theme for 2013 is “The uses of art,” with an emphasis on the different ways in which artists working today actively respond to social developments, aligning the course with many of the long-term research interests of the Van Abbe. Furthermore, throughout the year students have been engaged with a range of departments in the museum, resulting in a conversation and final project that spans curatorial, technical and mediation issues.
For Making Use the museum reversed the roles and asked the students to “use” the museum, drawing on elements of the institution to inform their practice. The group tackled this challenge in different and surprising ways. Some saw the building and the function of the museum as an institution for collecting. Some responded directly to particular works in the collection whilst others decided to use the people and space of the museum to explore different possibilities. The result is an intriguing, varied presentation that explores history, the tension between public and private, and the rules and limitations of the institution. All of these have been done with a sense of experimentalism that suggests exciting ways for the different components of the museum to be re-thought as pedagogical tools.
About DAI
The Dutch Art Institute (DAI / MFA ArtEZ) offers a space for artistic research and experiment that exceeds the limits of conventional art education. Through affiliations with cutting-edge curatorial platforms and research institutes, the DAI seeks to create fleeting collectivities that operate as ‘interfaces’ between art, education and the world. dutchartinstitute.eu.
Curator
The Van Abbemuseum
Van Abbe / DAI Faculty members:
Nick Aikens, Annie Fletcher, Steven ten Thije
With tutorials by Charles Esche, Christiane Berndes, Diana Franssen, Daniel Neugebauer and guest lecturers Tanja Bruguera, Stephen Wright and Bik van der Pol
For more information on the exhibitions, you can visit www.vanabbemuseum.nl or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
