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Chapter 3: How Heavy is Time?
June 2020

A new performance by Kanitha Tith marks the beginning of Chapter three, How Heavy is Time? This chapter engages more actively in tools and resources for considering the future use of our building as a site for commoning. As many ask what the structures of art institutions can provide during the pandemic, we take Casco as a case study to focus on the kinds of stories, tools, and proposals that can help us imagine the future of this place of cohabitation and co-management. On our are.na platform, different groups from our ecosystem shares ideas and experiences which we can learn from.

Current resident at Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam and part of the Anti-Archive film collective in Cambodia, Kanitha Tith’s artistic practice consists of everyday handmade works. She coils and weaves bundles of thin metal wire until they are shaped into a sculpture, following no predetermined design. In a newly conceived performance, Kanitha interweaves this daily artistic practice with the breathing scale of the old tree, another mark of the time, offering a space of sensing and reflecting on the exceptional period of time under the global pandemic. The filming of the performance, in collaboration with filmmaker Davy Chou, is part of the work itself as it will capture the moment, not only through its documentation of reality but by suggesting a narrative and therefore a mise-en-scène.

In solidarity with Black Lives Matter, the current stream of information and resource sharing, and the protest that happened on Friday, 5 June in Utrecht, we did not livestream Kanitha Tith's performance How heavy is time? that was scheduled on Friday, 5 June, 17:00. The performance filmed by Davy Chou instead will be available on our accounts. In place of the livestream and with support from Tith, we dedicated our account to sharing resources and information with regards to the protest in Utrecht (on Friday, 5 June, 18:30 - 20:30 at Jaarbeursplein) the Black Lives Matter movement internationally and specifically in the context of the Netherlands, as well as amplify voices of Black artists and makers.

The performance still took place in the Abraham Dolehof courtyard, as Kanitha’s practice and this performance offers up a space to sense and reflect on the heaviness of time.

Introduction

Chapter 2: The irresistible shade of the vine
April 2020

The second chapter of Common Grounds: Story / Heritage explores storytelling as a way to develop a connection to a place. There are memories that are not legible in the architecture or archive but can be remembered, shared, and imagined together in the present. Folklore, mythology, and gossip shape the identity of Abraham Dolehof too. The city archives document a detailed history of the site as a convent from 1412 and a school until the 1970s, but what has happened since then? Artist Jumana Emil Abboud presents an audio performance and remedy-making workshop in her work The irresistible shade of the vine, which draws upon the connection between the protection of land with the preservation of folktales and communal bonds. On are.na, we’re creating our own kind of “oral history” in which previous and current inhabitants and past visitors to Casco’s building at Lange Nieuwstraat 7 and the Abraham Dolehof share memories about their experiences.

Should you want to contribute a story related to the location, be it a PDF of a book, website link, a video, an audio clip, or an image, write to Staci Bu Shea at [email protected].

Het tweede hoofdstuk van Common Grounds: Story / Heritage onderzoekt het vertellen van verhalen om je zo te verbinden aan een plaats. Er zijn herinneringen die niet leesbaar zijn in de architectuur of het archief, maar wel gezamenlijk herinnert, gedeeld en gedacht worden in het heden. Folklore, mythologie en roddels vormen de identiteit van het Abraham Dolehof ook. Het stadsarchief heeft een rijke documentatie over deze plek als klooster vanaf 1412 en als school vanaf de jaren zeventig, maar wat is er sindsdien gebeurd? Kunstenaar Jumana Emil Abboud presenteert een audio performance en talisman workshop in haar werk The irresistible shade of the vine, gebaseerd op de relatie tussen het beschermen van land en de overlevering van volksverhalen en gemeenschappelijke banden. Op are.na maken we onze eigen “orale geschiedenis” door verschillende voormalige en huidige bewoners en bezoekers aan het woord te laten over het gebouw waar Casco gevestigd is aan de Lange Nieuwstraat 7 aan het Abraham Dolehof. Zij delen hun herinneringen over hun ervaringen op deze plek.

Wil je een verhaal over deze locatie met ons delen, zij het een PDF van een boek, een website link, een video, een audioclip of een afbeelding, schrijf dan naar Staci Bu Shea via [email protected].

Introduction

Chapter 1: This Creaking Floor and All the Ceilings Below
March 2020

Since 2014, Casco and FOTODOK have shared a building on Lange Nieuwstraat that overlooks the Abraham Dolehof courtyard. For Chapter 1: This Creaking Floor and All the Ceilings Below, Casco and FOTODOK join forces to reflect and collect stories on the building's past and histories we inherit.

Chapter 1 opened on 6 March in our location at Lange Nieuwstraat 7 and includes This Creaking Floor and All the Ceilings Below by artist Bart Lunenburg. His multimedia, site-specific works fill the four rooms of our exhibition space. Lunenburg draws attention to the historical details of the building of Lange Nieuwstraat 7, which was once a monastery, a school, and now shared and multi-purpose. From the remaining medieval foundations of the building to the top floor that was removed during the latest reconstruction in the seventies, extensive archival research of and speculative fascination with the architecture are realized through photography, installation, and moving-image works. Additional characters enter the scene to tell stories of this place.

Here you will find installation views and exhibition documentation of Lunenburg's work, as well as contributions in the forms of characters, scenes, and conversations by David Bennewith, Lieke Hettinga, Kooperative für Darstellungspolitik, Christian Nyampeta, Falke Pisano & Riet Wijnen, Deborah Sielert, Siobhan Wall, and Merel Zwarts.

Sinds 2014 delen Casco en FOTODOK een gebouw aan de Lange Nieuwstraat dat uitkijkt over de Abraham Dolehof. Voor hoofdstuk 1: This Creaking Floor and All the Ceilings Below, hebben Casco en FOTODOK hun krachten gebundeld om te reflecteren op, en verhalen te verzamelen over het verleden van het gebouw.

Hoofdstuk 1 opende op 6 maart in onze locatie aan de Lange Nieuwstraat 7 en bestaat onder andere uit This Creaking Floor and All the Ceilings Below van kunstenaar Bart Lunenburg. Zijn multimedia en site-specifieke werken vullen de vier tentoonstellingsruimtes. Hier vind je installatie aanzichten en tentoonstellings documentatie van Lunenburg’s werk, evenals bijdragen in de vorm van karakters, scènes en gesprekken door David Bennewith, Lieke Hettinga, Kooperative für Darstellungspolitik, Christian Nyampeta, Falke Pisano & Riet Wijnen, Deborah Sielert, Siobhan Wall en Merel Zwarts.

Introduction
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