Artwork by Uma and Sanne
by Collective z o m e r e n
Collectief z o m e r e n engages with relational forms of making and doing in a layered range of ways. Each of them has an independent artistic practice, working with textiles, clothing, sound, visual (grammar), systems, the weather, ecotones, economies, somatics, pedagogy, and forms of collectivity. Through collectief z o m e r e n, they circle together as support sisters through the ups and downs of the cultural field and beyond. It all started with a letter from one of them in 2019; an invitation to go to summer camp together. Through the years, exploring curiously together, zomeren (summering/to summer) emerged as a verb.
By landing together in one place, they create an in-between; a space where the familiar and the unknown meet. It bridges the moments when life becomes work and work becomes life. Zomeren is what they do together, how they are present for and with one another, and how they invite others to participate in doing so.
with Zonuren, calling upon solar time, collectief z o m e r e n explores what zomeren means as context for creating an exhibition. What does it mean ‘to summer’ as a movement of care and gentleness, in times of geopolitical tension? The exhibition as a place forms an invitation from these seasoned summerers to visitors and collectives to make space and to slow down in times of exhaustion, time pressure, social and ecological burn-out. To make and hold space to connect with our respective inner sources of curiosity, joy, and to flourish in collectivity.
The exhibition presents realisations and materialisations arising from our inquiries into and experiences of zonuren; solar time. Through hammocks, temperature branches, rustling curtains, shadow and time assemblages, collective sit-ins, conserving apples and composing soundscapes, we highlight the importance of seasonality and slowing down. It is an exhibition as residence, a camp set up on site reflecting upon past summers and where solar time can be experienced in a changed climate. Various layers of processes of summering through the seasons are presented and continued at Clublokaal.
