"The Future Will Last Longer Than The Past"

A whole year of performances, projects, informances, lectures and publications

The rumours have been circulating for a long time, but in March 2009 it really happened: De Appel is leaving the present premises that it has occupied since 1993 and is now exploring new horizons. Housed first on Brouwersgracht, then Prinseneiland and finally Nieuwe Spiegelstraat, de Appel has undergone several metamorphoses in the period from 1975 to 2008, growing on the way into an internationally renowned centre for contemporary art. De Appel is now readying itself for a fourth phase of life. We are leaving the former bank on Nieuwe Spiegelstraat, although the place of de Appel’s next reincarnation is provisionally a secret. All will be revealed in the course of 2009.

The upcoming year will however not be a period of hibernation or of furtive preparation for the transition. While awaiting completion of our new home base, de Appel is celebrating its temporary disembodiment with a special programme under the title “The Future Will Last Longer Than The Past”. This ongoing series of activities signifies a scene change, with the background becoming foreground. The emphasis will temporarily shift from objects and images, to texts, the (spoken) word and gesture. Our regular auxiliary programme, known as “de Appel on the side”, will become our main programme. The means that de Appel will remain visible to its public in 2009, if in a different guise, with performances, projects, lectures, informances and publications.

The above will be accompanied by a second change of scene: the white cube turns into a black box. Now that we have taken leave of our old premises on Nieuw Spiegelstraat, celebrating it with a splendid Bal Masqué on New Year’s Eve, most of our public activities will take place in theatrical surroundings, in connection with our institutional alliances with Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam and Theatre Frascati.

Here is a selection of impending activities: Starting in January, as part of the monthly interdisciplinary lecture series “The Old Brand New”, international speakers will examine the concept of the ‘new’ in the light of ‘old’ subjects such as virtuosity, beauty and knowledge. The intervention by the Finnish artist Otto Karvonen (FI) presently visible on the facade of de Appel, in which he has assigned an alternative function to the Nieuwe Spiegelstraat premises, will have a sequel.

De Appel has breathed new life into its historic role as a centre for performance art in recent years, by regularly presenting performances by a range of creative actors, ranging from visual artists to choreographers and authors, who investigate the notion of the ‘live moment’. We will continue on this successful course in 2009 with performances by among others Orla Barry (IE) and Elaine Sturtevant (US). De Appel has provided the venue for recent presentations of the Prix de Rome in collaboration with Witte de With and the Rijksakademie. This year we will once again host the award, the Netherlands’ oldest ‘state’ prize for artists up to 35 years, but in an alternative format.

For updates of our planned activities, including the launch of several long-awaited publications, please check out our website reguraly.