De Aanshouw Takeover
12月7日至12月28日，鮑大宸（中國）、Alaa Abu Asad（巴勒斯坦）和張致中（台灣）三位藝術家將分別於De Aanschouw進行為期一週的個展。鮑大宸透過檔案研究、動態影像和文本，探索鹿特丹及重慶當地現實的複雜性，以及與技術、地緣政治、歷史和表象之間不斷變化又緊密相連的結構關係。出生於以色列境內拿薩勒市的巴勒斯坦藝術家Alaa Abu Asad也進行翻譯和研究，其創作大量關注植物和語言的生成，近期以日本虎杖（Japanese Knotweed）為創作主題，梳理虎杖在西歐作為外來入侵種所引發各種對異國生物的偏見、污名和頑強抵抗。在港口城市成長的張致中則以水文作為建構世界觀的介質，試圖找出高雄和鹿特丹這兩座港口城市的時空接口。
De Aanschouw原位於鹿特丹最熱鬧的Witte de Withstraat街上，寄生在1940年即開業的酒吧De Schouw。Witte de Withstraat是以鹿特丹艦隊船長Witte Cornelisz. De With (1599-1658)命名，街上有咖啡館、餐廳、酒吧、藝術空間和各種商店。就我對鹿特丹粗淺的理解，在70年代時，這條街因為非法賭博和毒品用藥問題而聲名狼藉。當地政府在90年代進行都市規劃，想將連接海事博物館（Ｍaritiem Ｍuseum）和博物館公園（museumpark）的Witte de Withstraat打造成藝廊／美術館一條街。2021年更名為Melly的當代藝術中心（前身為Witte de With Centrum）即成立於1990年；台灣藝術圈較為熟悉（而沒有融入當地藝術社群）的V2_媒體藝術中心亦是在1994年從南邊的Den Bosch搬到現址。這條街上還有提供展演場域給鹿特丹藝術家的TENT（即將搬走）、Showroom Mama、實驗音樂和影像空間WORM、Boijmans van Beuningen美術館、關注建築、設計和數位文化的Het Nieuwe Instituut（前身為Nai，Nederlands Architectuurinstituut）以及使用開放典藏庫之名，包裝其避稅天堂自由港身分的Depot Boijmans van Beuningen。
同樣在70年代，這條街也是當地七家報社的根據地，每天截稿時間一過，記者們就會信步過街到酒吧De Schouw小酌，除記者外，這家酒吧也吸引許多藝術家和各行各業的雅士前來。到了今年，店裡牆上仍貼有1975年第四屆鹿特丹國際影展的宣傳海報。2001年，時常在此聚會的鹿特丹藝術家突發奇想，提議在酒吧櫥窗中舉辦展覽，一週後由另一位藝術家接棒展出，遂發展成De Aanshouw這個展覽組織。每週換展的這項措舉不間斷地持續至今，也就代表每年有52檔展覽，而經過20多年，已經累積超過1100檔展覽。隨著De Schouw店主在今年夏日退休，酒吧內部整修後易主，De Aanshouw的展示櫥窗目前暫時安放酒吧Café Ari外。上週末De Aanshouw發表了20多年來的第一本展覽回顧專輯，集結在Witte de Withstraat原址時期展出的1138檔展覽。專輯序文是由Boijmans van Beuningen美術館前館長Sjarel Ex撰寫，他即寫道：「身為鹿特丹最大藝術機構的前館長，我認為De Aanschouw是全荷蘭最好的獨立藝術組織。」
From 7 December to 28 December, three artists, Dachen Bao (China), Alaa Abu Asad (Palestine) and Chih-Chung Chang (Taiwan), will each have a one-week solo exhibition at De Aanschouw. Through archival research, moving image and text, Dachen Bao explores the complexity of local realities in Rotterdam and Chongqing, and the ever-changing and intimately connected structures of technology, geopolitics, history and representation. Palestinian artist Alaa Abu Asad, who was born in Nazareth, Israel, also translates and researches, and his work is strongly concerned with the production of plants and language. His recent works focus on Japanese Knotweed, exploring the prejudices, stigmas, and resistance to exotic organisms caused by the invasive species of the knotweed in Western Europe. Chih-chung Chang, who grew up in a port city, uses hydrology as a medium to construct his worldview, trying to find out the temporal and spatial interface between Kaohsiung and Rotterdam, two port cities.
De Aanschouw was originally located on Rotterdam's busiest street, Witte de Withstraat, and was born out of the bar De Schouw, which opened in 1940. The street is named after Rotterdam's fleet captain Witte Cornelisz. From my limited knowledge of Rotterdam, the street was notorious for illegal gambling and drug use in the 1970s. In the 1990s, the government undertook an urban plan to turn the Witte de Withstraat, which connects the Maritiem Museum to the museumpark, into an art gallery street. The Centre for Contemporary Art (formerly Witte de With), renamed Melly in 2021, was established in 1990, and the V2_ Lab for the Unstable Media, moved from Den Bosch to its current location in 1994. The street is also home to TENT (soon to be relocated), a venue for Rotterdam artists, Showroom Mama, the experimental music and video space WORM, the Boijmans van Beuningen Museum, the Het Nieuwe Instituut and Depot Boijmans van Beuningen.
Dachen Bao “Float Down the Stream“
In the 1970s, the street was home to seven local newspapers, and after the deadline, journalists would stroll across the street to De Schouw for a drink, attracting many artists and people from all walks of life as well as journalists. The walls were still covered with posters from the 4th Rotterdam International Film Festival in 1975. In 2001, a Rotterdam artist who frequented the bar had the idea of organising an exhibition in the bar's window, which was taken over by another artist a week later , and developed into the exhibition organisation De Aanshouw. This weekly change of exhibitions has continued until today, which means that there are 52 exhibitions a year, and over the past 20 years more than 1,100 exhibitions have been organised. Following the retirement of De Schouw's owner this summer and the renovation of the bar's interior, De Aanshouw's showcase is now temporarily housed outside the bar's Café Ari. Last weekend De Aanshouw published its first exhibition retrospective in more than 20 years, a collection of 1,138 exhibitions from the original location on Witte de Withstraat site. The foreword to the catalogue was written by Sjarel Ex, former director of Boijmans van Beuningen, who wrote: "As a former director of Rotterdam's largest art institution, I consider De Aanschouw to be the best independent art organisation in the Netherlands".
Alaa Abu Asad
Coming soon
Exhibition Opening: 14th December, 2023
Chih-Chung Chang
Coming Soon
Exhibition Opening: 21st December, 2023