ECHO OF RESISTANCE #1 /
BLACK LIVES MATTER
On June 10 2020, the historic demonstration 'Black Lives Matter' took place in the Nelson Mandela Park in the Bijlmer Amsterdam with more than 10,000 demonstrators. The protest signs remained on the Bijlmerplein, as a collective echo of what had taken place.
The signs were photographed and translated directly on location into large screen slides. Through guerrilla large screen light projection we projected the echo of the resistance in the silence of the city. The story of the protest signs became visible at the Bijlmerplein, the Kraaiennest and finally on the Royal Palace Amsterdam in the city center. An art project in the context of ‘Performing Urban Memory’ by Pronorm BV (Remco Keepers) and artists Femke Kempkes and Machteld Aardse in collaboration with Levison Gijsbertha.
ECHO OF RESISTANCE #2 /
𝘊𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘞𝘦 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘎𝘦𝘵 𝘈𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨?
A protest group exhibition at Stevenson Gallery in Amsterdam 10 February - 16 March 2023
Stevenson: ‘The title of this exhibition is a paraphrase of Rodney King’s 𝘤𝘳𝘪 𝘥𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘦𝘶𝘳 at a press conference during the LA protests in the wake of the acquittal of the police officers who had brutally beaten him. His sentiment was not a dismissal of protest, but an expression of the despair and hopelessness one can feel in the face of violence and pain inflicted by one human being on another. The phrase became the name of a series of parties in Cape Town around the time of Stevenson gallery’s founding, which were a form of resistance through joy against the persistent divisions entrenched by apartheid.’
In the exhibition artists Machteld Aardse & Femke Kempkes continue the Echo of Resistance through spreading light.
Photo: Stevenson / Noëlle de Haan
CREDITS
Artists: Machteld Aardse & Femke Kempkes in coll. with Levison Gijsbertha
Technique: Pronorm B.V. / Remco Keepers
Photo’s #1: Remco Keepers, Kempkes & Aardse
Photo’s #2: Stevenson / Noëlle de Haan, Machteld Aardse
PUBLICATION
Anna Salhany, Protestborden Black Lives Matter krijgen nieuw leven op panden in Amsterdam, Parool 11-06-2020
TECHNIQUE
Guerilla Projection PANI BP4 / 12 slides 18x18cm
EXHIBITION
Gallery STEVENSON Amsterdam, Can’t We All Just Get Along?, 10 Feb - 16 March 2024
Guerilla Projection, Bijlmerplein, Kraaiennest, Royal Palace Amsterdam, 2020
Photo: Stevenson / Noëlle de Haan
