Rotterdam , Kunstinstituut Melly presents exhibition program for winter / spring 2023.
The Kunstinstituut Melly in Rotterdam will open exhibitions comprising pieces by Dutch artist Jennifer Tee, German artist Anna Witt, and Indonesian artist ensemble Tromarama on Friday, January 20. Jennifer Tee’s solo exhibition is the first time the artist’s whole Tampan Tulip collage work has been shown in its entirety. Along with this exhibition, Dutch artist Sijben Rosa will begin a community driven project that will be displayed in December 2023. Two new artworks will be featured in the multi year activity based exhibition 84 STEPS: a large-scale light installation by Tromarama and a site-specific setting for live ASMR performances by Anna Witt.
This major solo exhibition by Dutch artist Jennifer Tee features newly commissioned artworks such as a performance, ceramics, and textiles. Still Shifting, Mother Field gathers together for the first time the artist’s entire Tampan Tulip series. Twelve enormous collages made from crushed tulip petals. The compositions depict abstract patterns and design motifs borrowed from Tampan weavings (ceremonial textiles) found in southern Sumatra’s Lampung region. Tee’s collages, like many of her original fabrics, frequently incorporate shipping imagery, alluding to maritime trade as well as ancestral and celestial entities. Tampan designs also inform the exhibition’s collection of shrouds. The shrouds will be worn by dancers during gallery performances for the duration of the exhibition.
Tromarama is an artist collective headquartered in Bandung that was created in 2006 by Febie Babyrose, Herbert Hans, and Ruddy Hatumena. Tromarama proposes a site-specific version of their installation Soliloquy at 84 STEPS (2018-2022). The piece includes a variety of used lamps that light up when the word ‘kinship’ is put into the now-famous social media platform, Twitter. The blinking bulbs represent layers of human desire as well as distinct stories that manifest users’ connections built across physical and digital realms.
Anna Witt, a German artist, is concerned in the formation of cultural stereotypes and the individual’s place within societal structures. Witt presents a new site specific iteration of her work Soft Destructions at 84 STEPS, which will serve as a stage for live ASMR performances. ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) is a physical reaction characterized by a pleasant tingling feeling that many people find relaxing. The acoustic and sensory impacts of gentle, damaging actions toward the artifacts scattered throughout the gallery will be the subject of the live sound performances.
Sijben Rosa, a Dutch artist, will begin a new community-oriented commission in January, expanding on a number of recent work, including Zelf (2017-2018) and Zelf in een doosje (2020-2021). The artist presents a series of sculptural performances in partnership with elder populations they have come to know or live beside in this body of work. Sijben is interested in examining how objects acquire significance in the context of individuals’ daily experiences and environs by entrusting each with a particularly crafted hand-held sculpture. Because each sculpture is inseparable from its guardian, social interaction is required to fully appreciate the art.
About
The institution formerly known as Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art has been renamed Kunstinstituut Melly. Our objective as a Rotterdam art house is to display and discuss the work of local and international visual artists.
Kunstinstituut Melly is supported by the city of Rotterdam and the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science. Additional support is provided by the Hartwig Art Foundation and Stichting Droom en Daad. The solo exhibition of Jennifer Tee and new commission by Sijben Rosa are supported by Ammodo. Tee’s exhibition, co-presented with Vienna Secession, is additionally supported by the Henry Moore Foundation, Mondriaan Fund, and Stichting Jaap Harten Fonds. In 2022, 84 STEPS was supported by Frame Finland, ifa — Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, Mondriaan Fund, IASPIS, and Goethe Institut Rotterdam. Special thanks to Kadist for Tromarama’s installation in 84 STEPS.