During the third Bathtub Lecture, on 30 November at 15:00, artists Renzo Martens and Ced’art Tamasala, will outline a shared future for the Stedelijk in which the museum is by and for everyone.
At 10.30, before the Bathtub Lecture, Renzo Martens will dig deeper into one of the corners of the Stedelijk Museum. Martens draws inspiration from an iconic work by artist Jan Dibbets from the 1969 show Op losse schroeven, in which Dibbets questioned the role of the museum and the conventional experience of art. Dibbets dug trenches at each corner of the building to expose the museum’s foundations. Martens’ partial re-enactment of Jan Dibbets’ historic work aims to dig deeper into the museum’s foundations.
Communities of plantation workers were forcibly put to work on plantations during the colonial era. The museum was built on profits derived from forced labour and speculation on potential future earnings. The perspectives of these communities are not reflected in the workings of the museum. Martens argues that the cultural narrative has little meaning unless these communities are also included in the Stedelijk.
Ced’art Tamasala will talk about his recent visit to these plantations in Indonesia. As far as Tamasala was able to determine, no Stedelijk Museum curator in recent history has visited the communities on these plantations to see who they are and what they do. Tamasala will share his thoughts on the expectations that communities such as these, and his own, the CATPC, have for the museum’s future.
Start performance: 10:30 (outside of Stedelijk Museum, Van Baerlestraat side)
Start lecture: 15:00 (Auditorium Stedelijk Museum)
Get tickets to the Bathtub Lecture here
“I see it as my task to continue this digging work. Communities of plantation workers are the co-authors of the Stedelijk. They are the co-authors of every wall, of every light and of every line of sight. All exhibitions at the Stedelijk have been co-authored by plantation workers. This realization can be the starting point of a shared and positive future in which the museum once again belongs to and is for everyone.”
– Renzo Martens
