Tonsils, Appendix and Thymus, among others, have been working in the arts for a long time. But they start to feel more and more disregarded. Some have started to speak up to show how important they are for the body, while others have remained silent, wondering if perhaps they can be missed as well.
Nuummi is an exceptional artist. Preparations for an exhibition are in full swing when suddenly, she feels a little under the weather. She opens her mouth and looks at her tonsils in the mirror. But then all the organs of her immune system start speaking up, asking for recognition for their hard work.
The Practice of assembles multiple first-person experiences taken from the Dutch art field. Based on true stories, these experiences expose various dilemmas and dogmas that exist in the production and presentation of art. Shaped around a collective first person ‘I’, this publication aims to offer insight in the interests at play in the predominantly hierarchical closed-circuit of the Dutch art field, and extends an invitation to third parties to become involved. Through the figure of the ‘I’, the question is raised of whether artists and art institutions have presumptuously assumed their position, and explores opportunities to vacate these positions in favour of new attitudes and models. The Practice of voices its stake in matters of fair pay and remuneration structures, exclusion and inclusion, homogeneity and heterogeneity, authorship and individuality versus the possibilities of democratized and collective practices.
The exhibition ‘UX, User Experience, U and X’ at A Tale of A Tub in Rotterdam, by The Practice of Brenda Tempelaar, was open from November 14th 2020 to January 24th 2021, and consisted of a coworking space, various screenings, a newsroom and the distribution of a newspaper.
Niekolaas J. Lekkerkerk’s essay on the primary function of art as a means of finding one’s inscription into contemporaneity, seeks to connect geopolitical turmoil, the Corona pandemic, ecological breakdown, the Black Lives Matter movement, uprising against dictatorships and the enduring migrant crises to the activistic inadequacy of the art workers brigade.