With the closure of the Rotterdam branch of the Goethe Institute, the exhibition series also comes to an end Passages in passing. On Thursday, March 14, 2024, a final event in the building on the Westersingel looked back: the curators, the artists and the interviewers entered into dialogue for the last time.
From 2021 to 2023, the corridor fulfilled a special function at the Goethe Institute in Rotterdam. The corridor not only became a space to walk through, to walk from the entrance to the canteen, but turned into an exhibition space six times. Per edition of Passages in passing two different artists showed their work and entered into dialogue with each other. A small publication was published with each edition, in which the artists showed more of themselves and their work in an interview. With the disappearance of the branch of the Goethe Institute in Rotterdam, this young tradition comes to an end.
Not just any hallway
The corridor of the Goethe Institute is not just any corridor. The floor slopes downwards, in a gentle curve, and the hallway has some strange corners and bends. This corridor required a special interpretation, according to program manager Claudia Curio. Together with curators Kathrin Wolkowicz and Marco Douma, they came up with the idea of using the corridor as a backdrop for a new exhibition series. "It is a difficult space for an exhibition," says Douma. 'What would happen if two artists exhibited work at the same time and entered into dialogue with the space as well as with each other?'
Wolkowicz and Douma then had to choose artists to form duos. 'Making the combinations of artists was the most difficult,' says Douma. 'They shouldn't be too similar, there should be some friction between the two. And it had to be interesting not only for the artists themselves, but also for the visitors.'
There were visitors anyway: everyone who is taking a course at the Goethe Institute, for example, passes through the corridor. “We chose artists whose work we found interesting, but who had not yet had much of a chance to show their work,” says Wolkowicz. 'We wanted to offer local talent a stage. Not only could they exhibit their work in the hallway, but a work could also be installed in front of the window facing the street. From the busy Westersingel there must have been thousands of passers-by who saw the works.'
New job
Some artists wanted to create new work for such a special space. 'It is simply a very special place,' says artist Lucie Havel. 'The limitations of space actually make you creative. I found the space so difficult that I wanted to create something to improve it.' Havel's 'discussion partners' were the artist duo Dico Kruijsse and Carolin Lange. 'Our work is always about light,' says Lange, 'but we found the slope of the corridor and the fact that there were corners everywhere difficult. By not hanging everything straight and filling in all the small spaces, we entered into a dialogue with Lucie's work.'
Interaction with visitors
Dialogue was created not only between the artists, but also with the audience. Due to the location, the works were seen by all kinds of different people. Artist Hieke Pars opted for an unorthodox approach: she placed one of her works on the ground. “I wanted to interact with the visitors walking through the hallway,” she says, “so that they would wonder if it was a work of art. You could stand on it, but many people walked around it. For me, the functionality of the hallway was the exciting thing about the space: you have to go through it. Although there were plenty of students who came for German lessons and did not even recognize it as a work of art.'
Not only students saw the works of art, but also passers-by who saw work through the window. "I took up the challenge to install a work in front of the window on the street side," says Heleen Schröder. 'I made a watercolor painting with a large light shining on it. It received a lot of attention, especially in the evening, when it was clearly visible from the street. During the installation of the work I made some adjustments. I received very special reactions from passers-by, they thought it was beautiful. The nice thing was that these people react very differently to your work than visitors to a gallery.'
Context
To provide context for the works of the twelve artists, a small booklet has been published for each of the six exhibitions. This included a duo interview with the two artists: not only their work entered into dialogue, the artists themselves also entered into dialogue with each other. "I am a curious person by nature," says Eva Visser, who wrote the interviews for the first two Passages. 'As an interviewer you can ask very direct questions: about their choices, about how they think, about their interactions and their passions. The answers add depth to the works of art.'
Interviewer Heyer Thurnheer enjoyed the challenge of writing for an audience that had probably not yet seen the works of art. 'You know in advance that readers do not yet know which works of art it is about,' he explains, 'but the text still has to work. As a writer you actually want to make the work of art accessible in a new way, in a way that hopefully arouses interest in viewing the work of art.'
Learning process
Not only was the corridor a challenging exhibition space, it also turned out to be a place from which artists learned. “The curators have motivated me to do more with my works in which text plays the leading role,” says artist Rachel Carey. 'I had never shown these works publicly before, but Kathrin and Marco motivated me to make them extra large. The lyrics became loud voices, they were given extra personality. I am grateful that the curators saw the potential of something I was blind to.'
Artist and modern dancer Daniela de Paulis has also moved in a new direction thanks to Passages en passant. 'My work consisted of sound systems that were placed throughout the corridor, so that you walked along with the sound,' she says. 'It was my idea to also organize workshops in which I wanted to invite participants to imagine that they had turned into a cockroach. Unfortunately the workshops could not take place, but the idea did inspire me to do more with movement.'
Read more?
All interviews with artists Fatima Barznge & Mirjam Somers, Rachel Carey & Barbara Helmer, Laurien Dumbar & Heleen Schröder, Hieke Pars & Gert Rietveld, Lucie Havel & Dico Kruijsse/Carolin Lange, Benjamin Earl & Daniela de Paulis and interviewers Eva Visser, Patrícia Pinheiro de Sousa, Dagmar Baumann, Marie Dicker and Heyer Thurnheer can be read at www.passages-en-passant.nl
Text: Wilke Martens
Photos: top: Jacqueline Fuijkschot (Passage en passant #5: Lucie Havel & Dico Kruijsse / Carolin Lange)
In text: Marco Douma