ENCOUNTERS
FROM AUGUST 24 TROUGH NOVEMBER 11, 2007
Visitors to the opening on Saturday can take part in the ‘Human Library’; a project that aims to take away prejudices by stimulating encounters between different cultural communities. In the ‘Human Library’ you can borrow people; the short and casual meetings lead to unexpected combinations, in which people unashamedly try to discover each other’s ins and outs.
This autumn, the Stadsgalerij Heerlen will present the exhibition ENCOUNTERS. ENCOUNTERS examines the tension between the dominant visual culture, often confirmed by the ‘official’ media, and possible alternative visions. ENCOUNTERS exhibits a variety of projects that are intended to break through the ‘stereotype’ images in order to tell a different personal story. The exhibition can be interpreted as an open space in which visitors become conscious of their own ‘preconceived’ images and the choices underlying acceptance or rejection of (possibly uncomfortable) encounters. The participating artists each show how fertile it can be if one chooses to do so. The works function as an ‘Archimedean point’, as a starting point for people to ask questions about themes such as democratisation, emancipation, and globalisation. Surprising and uncomfortable encounters in - among others - Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Russia, North Korea, China, Israel, the former GDR as well as the Worldwide web!The exhibition includes works by Reza Abedini (IR) & Hans Wolbers (NL), Azra Ak‰amija (AT), Luis Berríos-Negrón (PR), Nele Decock (B), Erik Franssen (NL), Pieter Geenen (B), Mariam Ghani (AF/US), Maximilian Goldfarb (US), G.R.A.M. (AT), Eytan Heller (IL), Rob Hornstra (NL), Stani Michiels (B), Anoek Steketee (NL), Niels Stomps (NL), The Institute for Infinitely Small Things (US), Prospektor (NL) & Partizan Publik (NL)
The exhibition is organised in co-operation with the Glaspaleis and the multidisciplinary summer festival Cultura Nova. It can be seen at various locations in the Glaspaleis: in the Stadsgalerij Heerlen, the display case and the first floor (level +1).
ABOUT STADSGALERIJ HEERLENThe Stadsgalerij Heerlen is the municipal museum for modern and contemporary art. Since 2003, the museum has been housed in the Glaspaleis, a visionary glass-fronted edifice dating back to the 1930s and acclaimed as one of the thirteen most important architectural monuments in the Netherlands. In addition to accommodating the museum, this ‘glass palace’, which promotes itself as a ‘window on culture’, is also home to the Municipal Library, the Heerlen Music School, the Filmhuis (a cinema for contemporary film) and the architectural centre, Vitruvianum.
more information: www.stadsgalerijheerlen.nl
