Museumnight 2015

Hmm. Well… So… What’s this?
Intriguing. Yes, it is, but what is it, really? Conceptual art – art in which the idea behind the object is key – can be quite difficult. A utensil, an action in the street, a text, or even just the idea: a conceptual artwork hidden in all kinds of unusual expressions by artists. It can be quite confusing or odd, but this is the kind of art that the Appel arts centre has embraced since her establishing in 1975. Exactly because not everything always has to be directly clear.

During the museumnight, the Appel will lead you through ideas, views and stories that contemporary artists hide in the most peculiar artworks. With the motto “everyone can look ánd think”, we challenge you to let your imagination go, to ask questions, and to philosophize a little longer on an artwork that doesn’t instantly suit you. Be critical, but not afraid of the unknown. Let yourself be surprised and abandon your regular constructs. Discover meaning in objects in the world around you or become a part an artwork yourself. During the museumnight at the Appel you can submerge yourself in fascinating figments of conceptual artists’ imaginations.

For tickets: http://museumnacht.amsterdam

Boom Chicago goes conceptual
9:30, 10:30 and 11:30 pm
Boom Chicago, the infamous Amsterdam stand-up comedian group, will come by the Appel and will give stand-up a conceptual twist. The audience will decide the subject matter… Boom Chicago finishes it. www.boomchicago.nl

gerlach en koop – choses tuées
7 pm – 2 am
Let’s provide an example. A mother buys her child two T-shirts. The child puts on one of the shirts and steps forward smiling, whereupon the mother says: ‘Don’t you like the other one?’
The child is taken aback.
A dilemma like this is called a Double Bind. And what a dilemma it is! Practically insoluble.
However, the child straightens itself out and puts on the other T-shirt as well, over the first one, but realises immediately the deadendedness of this solution because it also shows a preference. Not in the wearing admittedly, but still in the showing. Because which T-shirt goes on top?
Disillusioned the child shambles off, to return shortly with the second T-shirt pulled over the first, but inside out this time. Now the front sides of both shirts, that normally carry texts or images, face each other, invisible to us.
1. Did the child redeem itself?
2. Or is this a new piece by gerlach en koop?
3. If so, can it be fabricated?
4. If so, can it be shown?
Or is there no reason?

Become a sculpture for a minute
7 pm – 2 am
During museumnight you can turn yourself and your friends into a sculpture according to the concept of the Austrian artist Erwin Wurm: the one minute sculptures. With everyday objects we create a sculpture with your body. You become the sculpture. Quick, spontaneous, sometimes absurd and humoristic. You have to hold the pose for one minute: long enough to take a good picture. The poses aren’t always comfortable, even though a minute is short, for a one minute sculpture it can feel like forever.

The Jamming Session: Poetry reading in the Appel library
8 – 11 pm
Students of the Rietveld Academy (department Image and Language) present new work. Inspired by the exhibition of gerlach and koop at de Appel, they let themselves be guided by evocative interruptions and hindrances. Their poems, stories and spatial interferences allow perceiving on another frequency. With Met Freya van Assem, Sabine Beck, Lisa van der Breggen, Ilke van Deventer, Jorik Galama, Roos Hermsen, Elsemieke van der Heijden, Minne Kersten, Selin Kuscu, Marlies Rijneveld, Salome Roodenburg, Pim Oudheusden and Michelle de Vaan. Programma starts at 9, 10 and 11 pm


What am I looking at? Video programme
7 pm – 2 am
What am I looking at? Nothing is what it seems. During the whole evening you can enjoy conceptual video-art from then and now, from the rich collection of the Amsterdam based media-art organization LIMA. Showing works by Lernert & Sander, Jan Dibbets, eddie d, de Vasulkas, Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay, General Idea, Johan Rijpma and Wim Gijzen.

Lernert & Sander, Elektrotechnique, 2011, 3'08''
Jan Dibbets, Dutch Mountain, 1971, 0'58''
eddie d, Accumulate, 2014, 2'34''
Vasulkas, 1-2-3-4, 1974, 4'11''
Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay, Colin is my real name, 2013, 6'04''
General Idea, Double Mirror Video: A Borderline Case, 1971, 5'50''
Johan Rijpma, Tape Generations, 2011, 2'39''
Wim Gijzen, Verwisseling van de namen van de steden Rotterdam en Den Haag, 1971, 2'

Rradio
9 – 11 pm
Rradio will be there for part of the night to cover the event. www.rradio.nl

MOES, bar and restaurant
7 pm – 2 am
Food and drinks at MOES in the souterrain of the Appel. www.moes.nl