"Passanten '10 PODS"
2010-09-03 until 2010-11-01
Fundament Foundation
Tilburg, , NL Netherlands

In addition to annual international exhibitions in public space (including Lustwarande), Fundament started Passanten in 2006, an ongoing series of individual commissions for short-term contemporary works of art in the public space of Tilburg, The Netherlands. Inspired by the Romantic notion of the flâneur and the related concept of the dérive, or drift, as put forward in the 1950s by Guy Debord and the Situationists, and going against the flow of contemporary processes of urban transformation, these artists from different parts of the world enter into the urban space. Through investigation and intervention, employing a variety of forms and strategies, they present proposals for temporary interventions that offer opposition to the prevailing canons and spatial limitations, thereby initiating new models of action and experimenting with new transdisciplinary forms of collaboration for the public space.

The duration of the individual Passanten projects is not fixed, but related to the nature of the work; interventions can vary in length from a few hours to several years.

Since 2007, six temporary artworks have been created within the context of Passanten, the most recent of which was the pavilion Grotto (2009), designed by Australian artist Callum Morton for the Baroque woodland park De Oude Warande. While the works by Marc Bijl (Netherlands, 2008), Cees Krijnen (Netherlands, 2007), Jean-Baptiste Sauvage (France, 2008) and Markus Vater (Germany/Great Britain, 2008) have now disappeared, Grotto will remain in situ until at least 2014. By popular request, the work Miracle by Krištof Kintera (Czech Republic, 2008) will remain in place for the foreseeable future. For further information, see www.fundamentfoundation.nl : Passanten.

In 2010, Passanten will continue in the form of a group exhibition: Passanten ’10 – Pods.

Pods focuses on relatively young artists, most of whom operate on the dividing line between visual art and architecture. Their oeuvres consist of works that carry the notion of the pod, not only in the sense of seedpods and germination, but also in an extended, architectural sense. These pods are not cosy and snug, but are all about expansion, growth and vigour. Yet, at the same time, the artists are creating works that contain an erosive force, like tumbleweeds blown along by the wind, natural ploughshares capable of cutting into the top layer of soil, and breaking open the urban space for pioneers and new ways of thinking, designing and acting.

As a metaphor, the title has been inspired by the American SF movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Don Siegel, 1956), in which mysterious pods, which seem to appear from nowhere, produce a new species of human being, devoid of any emotion. However, the forces contained by the artworks in Pods are not evil, but instead innovative and vitalising; they will create emotion, rather than suppressing it, and invite commentary rather than breaking the viewer’s spirit.

Pods is a procession of transdisciplinary arts, a temporary invasion of artistic projects focused on and for the public collective, yet is at the same time anarchic and subversive, parasitical, obstructive and critical, disturbing, fascinating and provocative, disappearing before public excitement has abated or has simply been incorporated into the everyday public faith and belief in a changing, better future, where creative production remains an essential driving force.

During their orientation visits, all the artists, independently and with limited guidance from Fundament, focused on Koningsplein, Stadhuisplein and Willemsplein, three neighbouring areas in the heart of the city, and existing artworks and other structures in these areas served in most cases as starting points for interventions. In other words, the artists have explicitly employed processes of appropriation, recycling and expansion.

Passanten '10 – Pods will ultimately assume the form of a compact exhibition, a cluster of six closely related works, uniting the adjoining public spaces in a new way and throwing a spotlight on this part of the city in a most unorthodox fashion.

Participating artists:

Franck Bragigand (F/NL) & Simon Artignan (F)
The Chapuisat Brothers (CH)
Graham Hudson (GB)
Marijn van Kreij (NL)
Alexa Kreissl (D)
OSA (Office for Subversive Architecture) (A/D/GB)

Curator: Chris Driessen
General manager: Heidi van Mierlo

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for Netherlands

Other Important Exhibitions in Netherlands