A B.A.D SOCIAL CLUB - Sunday Group Critique

The third and final day of the B.A.D Social Club was Sunday, for which we had only planned one big public group critique. We were unsure about how many people would come to the exhibition just to see this, since the word "critique" is steeped in art language and since almost no one had turned up on Saturday. By 3 o'clock it was the 18 artists, and a group of mostly second-year Willem de Kooning fine arts students, and Juan, our teacher who leads group critique every Monday.

Beatrice and I had not talked extensively about how we would organize the group critique, but as we put our heads together just before it started, we agreed that we did not want it to be the same as every other group critique we had had that semester with Juan. We wanted it to be clear that this was our space, a space distinct from the school and from our teachers and to make that obvious to all the artists and students present by doing something very different from our usual critiques. On the spot I remembered Philip mentioning a way to critique that involved pretending to be someone else and talking about their work as if it were your own. Beatrice agreed this would be an interesting process to explore, and so we explained it to the group. We would talk about all of the work one at a time, and each time everyone who is not the artist may speak as the artist. It was a bit unclear at the outset but eventually everyone got it- we would approach a piece and say "Who made this?" and someone besides the artist would say "I did!" and begin speaking as though they made the piece, responding to everyone's questions and comments about it. Sometimes this was easy if someone was close to the artist and knew their intentions, but other time people would speak up as an artist that they had nothing in common with, which added a fascinating element of improvisation as people responded to questions they really had no idea how to answer. Then at a certain point we would turn the discussion to the real artist who would tell us how accurate we had been and what they thought of the points made, and some of their actual intentions.

Otto pretended to be Sean as we critiqued his mannequin painter up high on the ladder and his paper mache model of an ancient hand axe. This worked out quite well as Otto had a good idea of how Sean thinks and works as they had worked and talked together the whole semester.

Jen pretending to be Alex, presenting her Google search boxes:

At a certain point Beatrice thought that it might be more interesting if we assigned certain people to speak for certain pieces to make the conversations more interesting, which I was unsure about at first. We asked Mair to pretend to be Otto, and as soon as she began we both knew it was a brilliant idea. Mair's working style and thought processes are so incredibly dissimilar from Otto's that it made for the most hilarious critique all afternoon. Otto is very serious with his work, very deliberate and cerebral in his process, and quite self-critical once he finishes something. Mair is the opposite- she makes things on a whim with no rhyme or reason needed to justify it, and she never overthinks anything she makes or does. Mair didn't bat an eye as she made up the silliest answers to talk about her process of making a series of four questioning, ponderous drawings set to Sinead O'Connor's wailing voice, in a bathroom. We were all in hysterics, particularly Otto himself. I think the humor was the most important part of that particular critique, since Mair pinpointed the heaviest aspects of Otto's work and made them seem ludicrous, showing a very different way to look at the work without all the seriousness that Otto himself may bring to it, and suggesting to him a different way of working.

Later into the evening, it was Philip who critiqued my work- an interesting pairing again because of our very different working styles, but in the end I was very pleased with how he presented the work. Without hesitation he sat down on the wooly chair at the desk and started playing with the two handmade books and wooly mug, and began talking about how much he loves the tactility of all these objects. "I just like to, you know, knit all the time..." which as silly as that sounds, I couldn't deny. Philip, like Mair, reduced the work to something simpler, more immediate, and less cerebral than it was to me, which could be more truthful than if I tried to make up some reason for the knitting beyond just wanting to knit all the time, which I'm not so sure I could. He mentioned earthiness and femininity in relation to the hand-spun, hand-knitted raw wool which still smelled of sheep, and though these weren't my intentions I also could not deny them. Then he began talking about how the desk and chair were placed in the space- integrated with the living room space, not explicitly an art piece, not distinct from life. He mentioned how the book "Fun, Games & Radical Intentions" ties in with the social nature of the desk's placement and with the whole exhibition and how it is written in a friendly and welcoming way, as if someone could start playing one of the games from the book right now. He said, pretending to be me, that he wanted the piece to not necessarily be art but it could also be touched and used like everyday objects as the whole piece does not try to assume some higher artistic status. Listening to all of these points, coming from someone else, was so satisfying to me because they were so spot on. I installed my work at the last second without any idea of what I wanted from it or what it meant in the space, and to have Philip tell me, as myself, was more helpful than any critique I could have led myself.

We talked long into the evening, realizing halfway through that we weren't budgeting time very well, but we still wanted to give everyone their chance and we ended at almost 9 o'clock, six hours later. It was a more successful group critique than I could have imagined and I was almost as pleased and giddy as I had been on opening night. I was incredibly glad that the idea of a switched-personality group crit worked with our group and grateful that everyone had jumped on board and taken off with it. The other Willem de Kooning students were so great about participating as part of our larger group, adding new ideas and questions to the mix. I think Beatrice and I really did manage to create a distinct discussion space that belonged to the students present and was welcoming of voices who don't normally speak up, and by asking some people to speak for others' work we brought up new questions and new ways of thinking for different people. The process of this particular critique was so interesting to me because it required a sort of artistic empathy on the part of both the speaker and the real artist, as the speaker had to get inside that person's head and imagine their reasons for certain decisions, and vice-versa the artist had to understand how someone else must experience their work, regardless of their own intentions. Everyone who participated did this one hundredfold, and it was so excited for me to see how our group took the idea and used it in fascinating, hilarious, and poignant ways.

We finished the critique exhausted and tipsy, realizing that the exhibition we had been working toward for so long was finally over. It ended quietly as we did not have the energy to celebrate into the night like we thought we would, and we all helped to de-install the work and clean up the space before having a final beer in our little living room- aptly the only evidence left of our being there.

A B.A.D. SOCIAL CLUB - Saturday

It seemed as soon as we'd fallen into our beds late Friday night we were getting up again to go back to B.a.d. for the second day of our exhibition. For Saturday afternoon we had planned to hold a discussion about city planning with the public, since we were exhibiting in a neighborhood that has historically been marginalized by governmental powers and urban planners. We thought it would be interesting to ask participating visitors what their various neighborhoods are like, in order to think about the ways city planning influences where and how we live- in the south of Rotterdam for example, it is blantantly obvious that Dutch urban planners have neglected to build up cultural institutions and public amenities, or given it nearly the same attention and funding as in the north. Then we figured conversation would take whatever turns it wanted to, and we could use the Question Bowl as a source of conversation starters if needed, centered around the living room area.

Unfortunately it seemed that all of the visitors that had planned to come to the exhibition had come on Friday night, understandably for food and drink and partying, and we only had two or three people wander in off the street for the four hours we were there on Saturday. Nonetheless we still had most of our group of 18 hanging around the space, so it didn't feel too disappointing. Instead of following our schedule we enjoyed each other's company and took the time to relax after a crazy week, and we were still enlivening the space we'd created as we doodled in sketchbooks, chatted in the living room, and shared lunch in the garden.

Jess continuing her installation outside on the sidewalk:

Marina, Nateish, Alex, and Beatrice, doodling...

Once we decided we probably wouldn't have many visitors, we decided to all go for a walk through Otto's art route. Inside the exhibition he had left a little sign hanging just inside the door indicating that there were things to be seen outside the exhibition space, with a pedestal with maps visitors could take to guide them around a short walk through the neighborhood of Charlois. The route wound in between houses and through little pedestrian paths and tiny parks, showing people bits of Charlois that most people wouldn't otherwise see if they don't live there. Most of the work was in the form of plywood boards with text or imagery pasted to them and attached to buildings, poles, or stuck in the ground, and the content of the works usually pertaining to the neighborhood, the context of the space, and the ideas of city planning, public space, and public art. Many of the texts and images were by Otto's friends and family, and in addition to Otto's distinctive stylized drawings.

These first pieces were hanging from a replica of the facade of B.a.d., which was built just next to B.a.d. in order to relocate the local students who used to hang in front of B.a.d.'s doors- it gave them another place to loiter and smoke, which they would do anyway, but now in their own space instead of B.a.d.'s.

Further down the street:

Clare trying out what appeared to be a birdhouse...

...which attracted curious stares from neighbors.

Otto gets feedback from the locals:

We were delighted to see that a group of small children playing in the park found the pieces very interesting. Though they were quite shy they nevertheless took some of our maps and went on the hunt for the pieces themselves.

A football-related piece in a football field:

A piece showing someone DJing, on a public pretend DJ table in a park:

I found the work on the walk really interesting and strong and I was glad to see other people besides our artist group becoming interested in it, particularly six-year-olds. A lot of the ideas it was talking about and a lot of what Otto tries to do with his work- reach audiences outside the art world, being aware of context and social issues- are things I get really excited about and that I also try to achieve with my work.

For the rest of the day we hung around together and ate lunch outside, "being in the space..." as Beatrice and I liked to joke. A lazy Saturday was exactly what we needed after a crazy week and long Friday night, and we felt ready for our next and last day of the exhibition on Sunday.

A B.A.D SOCIAL CLUB - Opening Friday

The exhibition opened at 5 on Friday evening, with a great sigh of relief from all 18 of us having reached the end of many weeks of preparation and we were finally able to enjoy the fruits of our labor as people started to trickle into B.a.d. Beforehand I had been thinking that the time during the exhibition itself would be as stressful and active as the planning prior, but instead I was able to have as much fun as the visitors and everything went exceptionally smoothly. We had far more visitors than we'd expected, partially due to a group of 40 German art students visiting B.a.d. to listen to Kamiel give a lecture, and afterwards they joined the exhibition. In all we estimated that at least 100 people came over the course of four or five hours, which was incredible considering we had been worried we hadn't publicized enough, fearing no one would come but our classmates. A large portion of the crowd were from Willem de Kooning- fine arts students, students from other majors, and teachers, and there was also a sizable crowd of people who live at B.a.d., their friends, and people who come to B.a.d. events regularly.

I bounced around talking to fellow students and exchange friends, feeling a bit like a typical art scene socialite, thanking people for coming but also genuinely glad that so many people I knew had come to see the show. It felt a bit like a big reunion of everyone I had ever met in Rotterdam, and that on top of the feeling of great accomplishment and relief and giddy surprise at how well everything had turned out, I felt happier than I had the whole semester. I spent the entire night with a perpetual grin on my face, more acceptable as I had more beer. We had a wonderfully receptive and enthusiastic crowd of people in the space, and it was so satisfying to watch everyone interacting and engaging with the works being shown- people rearranging Jess's installation, writing questions for Alex's Google box and in the Question Bowl, listening intently to the audio with Maria's painting, sitting at the desk to read my books. People seemed really curious about the art and the artists were really open to conversation, which was precisely what we'd hoped for with the way we'd structured the exhibition.

Mair's work was a performance in which she dressed in a whimsical costume to assume a character of a crazed housewife-type and painted a couple of potted plants with various colors of pastel housepaint, staying in character for most of the night.

Here Beatrice is listening to the audio which accompanied Maria's piece, a sculptural oil painting which was meant to evoke "memory marks" and looked suspiciously like a vagina. The audio was a recording of Otto speaking about a memory of a childhood friend he used to play football with, who later died very young of exposure after a party, and how the chanting of the boy's name has stuck in his head years later.

Milos left his sketchbook out next to his drawings for other to read, he's in the middle talking to a couple students about his work.

Otto looking at Nateish's installation, a reassembled version of her desk at home, meant to give viewers an inside look to the highly personal nature of her 2D work as a printmaker. Much of the content is related to identity and how a person can construct their identity through clothing, objects, and accessories in order to tell the world who they are- in this case, feminist, queer, and hyper-feminine. She was also giving out stickers she'd printed that said "Feminist As Fuck", "Kittens Against Catcalls", and "Be Body Pawsitive", which a great many visitors were wearing by the end of the night.

Jess and our fabulous bartenders, Marina and Alex.

A couple of visitors checking out Alex's piece, in which you can ask "Google" a question and get an answer back.

Jen and Otto in the blacked-out closet where her piece is installed- it looks like some weird furry alien object, but really it's live grass growing out of a block of soil suspended from a structure and lit by UV lights so that it can grow in the dark. Cool.

Loe reading my book "A House For Love" and sitting on the wooly chair I knitted.

Jess's installation included various found objects and materials of a specific vibrant color scheme which she then moved very precisely into harmonious arrangements according to her intuition. During the exhibition people started to arrange the pieces themselves according to their own unique intuition and aesthetic, which Jess expected would happen, and resulted in many great conversations and showed different ways of working and thinking with simple components.

We were delighted to find a child inside the installation.

Around 8 o'clock everyone sat down outside in the garden to eat a huge meal, a joint effort between Clare and Tea making a delicious curry and Kamiel preparing a BBQ. Beatrice and I had prepared long tables covered with paper with pencils and crayons and they were soon covered with drawings and little notes and bits of food over the course of the whole weekend. The food disappeared quickly with so many people, and by that point in the night everyone was full and tipsy and happy. It came time that Beatrice and I realized we should say a few words with everyone sitting down in one place, and we were nervous but I was adamant that we at least thank all who helped to make the exhibition happen. We introduced ourselves as the curators of the show and thanked Kamiel for being so welcoming and helpful, and then I told everyone that it was not just a two-person effort that made the show happen, but an 18-person effort, and thanked our whole group for being so wonderful to work with. Then I gave a shout out to Sean and Maria for initiating the planning of the exhibition, Otto for making the posters, and Jen as treasurer. I wholeheartedly thanked everyone for coming and for being such a warm, engaged, and enthusiastic crowd who reciprocated in making the artwork come alive in a two-way dialogue. By the end of our little speech we were both very emotional, I was shaking with adrenaline in the best way and felt like I could have spoken for hours about how grateful, happy and proud I was. The rest of the night I was walking on air.

Beatrice and I made the Question Bowl as part of building a welcoming space for discussion within the exhibition. It was a big bowl full of pieces of paper on which we wrote questions of various degrees of seriousness, some silly like "cats or dogs?" and some heavy like "what is a teacher?" We left blank papers for others to write their own questions or to write answers, and we were pleasantly surprised with how many people reciprocated.

The night went on a lot longer than anticipated, as the exhibition was supposed to close at 9 on Friday but many people stayed until almost 11. We had music playing out in the garden and so naturally people were dancing at some points in the night. At one point a Celtic song came on with the iPod on shuffle and some people were trying to dance in an Irish sort of way, so I began stepdancing the few steps I remember from a decade ago. Somehow, to my delight, we'd started an impromptu Irish dance party!

As people trickled home the party ended with most of our exhibition group and some friends left, having a last dance out in the dark and a last round of beers before cleaning up and going home, sleepy and content. The whole night was the definition of the Dutch word gezellig.