Residency | December 2024 – January 2025 | Nieuwe Vide (NL)

Towards the end of 2024, we were in residence in Haarlem, in preparation for the exhibition Re-Viewing Sites of Preservation at the Nieuwe Vide. During the residency, we worked on installing a combination of new and existing artworks, and also developed materials for a public programme – including workshops, a reading, tours, and a screening programme, amongst other activities. With the aim of making this exhibition accessible to broad audiences, we developed an audio tour as well as an extensive handout.

The residency period was a moment of intense reflection for us, given that our conversations are often mediated through digital means due to our different geographic locations. Conversing in person brought us to contemplate the crucial role that communication plays in collaborating with one another – and how such communication is not merely a matter of verbal exchange, but also loaded with many implications with respect to our different cultural vocabularies, socio-economic backgrounds, affordances and vantage points. This line of thought in turn catalysed a critical analysis and a wider conversation (namely, with the Nieuwe Vide) about what kinds of conditions are needed in order for collaborations to effectively and sustainably function. This conversation drew on our trajectory of development as a collective – a process that has necessarily required us to confront turbulence, different sensibilities and expectations. We also engaged with Pauline van Heuven of Stichting Drempelloos, a foundation that dialogues with cultural venues and other public initiatives to raise awareness about accessibility and inclusivity.

During the residency, the short-form prose essay A Love Letter to Collectives was written. It can be read here.