16 Sep –
11 Oct 2015
Exhibition: Ancestral Blues - Return to the State of L3
Open September 16 – October 11, 2015 Locatie Framer Framed in the Tolhuistuin IJpromenade 2 Amsterdam Route Framer Framed in the Tolhuistuin is accessible from Amsterdam Centraal Station with the ferry to ‘Buiksloterweg’. The entrance to the building is located directly on the cycle-path adjacent to the river IJ. The exhibition space is then accesible through the restaurant THT.
The exhibition Ancestral Blues – The Return to the State of L3 (2015) is curated by Vincent van Velsen, drawing on the work of international art collective The State of L3.
Participating artists
Raul Balai,
Femi Dawkins,
Raquel van Haver,
Antonio Jose Guzman,
Amanda Koelman,
Fleur Ouwerkerk.
Exchange, change, and DNA are central themes within the international artist collective The State of L3. The diversity within the collective cannot be reduced to a particular historical location, event or background, but is taken as a present multi-faceted reality. Although The State of L3 is an international collective spanning three continents, this particular exhibition is made up of its Amsterdam-based members. The role of DNA provides an important analogy for the collective, and comes to stand for the complicated ways in which various influences over time converge in a new coherent whole. In the same way, the individual members of the collective can no longer be traced back to their origins. From within this hybrid body, the collective contributes to building a new whole, a veritable contemporary collage.
Present reality, in this way, presents itself as the result of various historical processes. Changes in geographical location have occurred both voluntarily and involuntarily over the past centuries; historically often across waters, today also by air. Both these elements are blue. The colour blue and its transcendental connotations and associations, combined with the personal and cultural-historical backgrounds of the individual artists, form the point of departure for the exhibition Ancestral Blues. The exhibition centers on exchange, transformation and migration, but also incorporates the concepts of networks, connections, W.E.B. Dubois’ double consciousness, Paul Gilroys Black Atlantic, tricksters, afro-futurism and Créolité – all within the Amsterdam context.
At the request of Framer Framed, Shaheen Merali led a master class for the participating State of L3 artists.
Ancestral Blues – The Return to the State of L3 has been made possible through the support of the Mondriaan Fund and the Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst (AFK). Below a video with a guided tour through the exhibition by Antonio Jose Guzman. Photography: Marlise Steeman, video: Eshan Fardjadniya.
- Amsterdam FM - Radio interview about Ancestral Blues
- The State of L3 - Contemporary Arts and Film Collective
Links
- Ancestral Blues - Hand out (2015)
- The State of L3 at Smart Project Space, Amsterdam
- The State of L3 - Catalogue (2011)
Attachments
Migration / Caribbean / Diaspora /
Exhibitions
Exhibition: Common Ground
Featuring work by Charl Landvreugd and Antonio Jose Guzman
Agenda
Diasporic self: sound as lingua franca
The closing event to the exhibition 'Ancestral Blues'.
Network
Vincent van Velsen
Art critic and curator
Antonio Jose Guzman
Artist
Raul Balai
Artist
Amanda Koelman
Artist
Fleur Ouwerkerk
Artist
Femi Dawkins
Artist
Raquel van Haver
Artist
