Keep the Best of Your Life (for the Rest of Your Life) is part Making Oneself ‘a twofold exhibition of both historical investigations and contemporary showcases of photo studio practises in South and Southeast Asia and Uganda.’ ‘Making Oneself’ was one exhibitions of the Noorderlicht Photo festival 2015.The South and Southeast Asia part of the show on the ground floor was curated by Alexander Supartono, while the Ugandan bit in the basement was put together by me and includes historical photographs by Musa Katuramu, Elly Rwakoma, William Kayamba and Mzee Edward Lule. And contemporary images by Rumanzi Canon, Papa Shabani, Arthur Kisitu and photographic documentation that I made of 6 photo studio’s in northern Ugandan town Kitgum in 2011.What I tried to do with the exhibition is to show the power of the photographic portrait as a way to present yourself and to control in which you will remember former selves and be remembered by others.
LINK
This interactive virtual museum provides insights into LGBTIQ+ issues by presenting the history and utilization of pride flags and different legal situations worldwide and by pointing out the meaning of identity markers and their interconnectedness. This is complemented with an intimate engagement through photography, personal narratives from members of the LGBTIQ+ community and a fully immersive pride parade, allowing users to engage and learn with various stylistic, factual and fun exhibitions.
Philanthropy is on the rise in the Dutch visual arts. Fat cash prizes, big-name exhibitions, large-scale renovations, spectacular public artworks, and big scandals are changing the public display of art and undermining the democratic governance of art institutions. While some have critiqued the patron's rise to power, the majority of the art world remains silent, muted by a combination of ignorance and self-censorship. How can we overcome this deadlock and start cultivating a healthy public debate?
LINK
Under the umbrella of artistic sustenance, I question the life of materials, subjective value structures, and working conditions underlying exhibition making through three interconnected areas of inquiry: Material Life and Ecological Impact — how to avoid the accumulation of physical materials/storage after exhibitions? I aim to highlight the provenance and afterlife of exhibition materials in my practice, seeking economic and ecological alternatives to traditional practices through sustainable solutions like borrowing, reselling, and alternative storage methods that could transform exhibition material handling and thoughts on material storage and circulation. Value Systems and Economic Conditions —what do we mean when we talk about 'value' in relation to art? By examining the flow of financial value in contemporary art and addressing the subjectivity of worth in art-making and artists' livelihoods, I question traditional notions of sculptural skill while advocating for recognition of conceptual labour. The research considers how artists might be compensated for the elegance of thought rather than just material output. Text as Archive and Speculation— how can text can store, speculate, and circulate the invisible labour and layers of exhibition making? Through titles, material lists, and exhibition texts, I explore writing's potential to uncover latent structures and document invisible labor, considering text both as an archiving method and a tool for speculating about future exhibitions. Using personal practice as a case study, ‘Conditions for Raw Materials’ seeks to question notions of value in contemporary art, develop alternative economic models, and make visible the material, financial, and relational flows within exhibitions. The research will manifest through international exhibitions, a book combining poetic auto-theoretical reflection with exhibition speculation, new teaching formats, and long-term investigations. Following “sticky relations," of intimacy, economy and conditions, each exhibition serves as a case study exploring exhibition making from emotional, ecological, and economic perspectives.
A series of elective courses and exhibitions in which students at Minerva Art and Uganda Christian University are in dialogue about and through portraits they make
