The
Rotterdam neighborhood of Spangen holds a small treasure in its midst, located
in the remarkable Justus van Effen-complex you will find A Tale of a Tub*. In a
modest exhibition space this organization ‘explores alternative modes for the
development and presentation of contemporary art’, as is explained on their
website. Accordingly their space functions as a platform for research and
discussion.
The location
presents an interesting challenge because of its size and the architectural
elements of the building. The capacity of the exhibition space is not very
large; it could only accommodate a few artworks. Let it be clear this is not
necessarily a negative quality; in fact the current exhibition proves the
opposite. It houses at least six video installations and since video is a time
based medium, less is more when considering quantity. Curator Nathanja van Dijk
has arranged everything in such a way that every video installation has its own
area, without causing the viewer to get distracted by the others.
The
exhibition, The Migrant (Moving) Image,
engages the recent refugee crisis and displacement in general. The show has
been divided into chapters representing different aspects of migration. The
advantage of this partitioning is the ability to show more art and more perspectives
on the subject throughout the exhibition. Presently the program is onto its
third chapter called Arrival: Heimweh,
Fernweh.
Walking
into the exhibition space a big screen featuring People from far away (2014) by the Zimbabwean artist Gerald Machona attracts
attention. The video informs its audience on the viewpoint of the ‘other’,
someone who ends up in a society far from his own, being excluded because of
being different and the relief of finding someone like himself. Spectators with
various backgrounds might identify with feeling different and therefore
understand this facet of migration.
Gerald Machona, People from far away, 2014
Measures of distance (1998) by
Mona Hatoum features the exchange of letters between two women, one of whom has
fled the country of origin and the other is still experiencing the war there.
On the one hand these letters are warm, sharing memories, but fragments of the
impact of the war seep through increasingly affecting the women and their
passage of letters.
The only
still work is one by Isaac Julien. It is a photograph of a stack of old boats
under the sun. While it does not show any tragic imagery of drowned refugees,
known from newspapers and social media, it becomes poignant by the suggestion
these boats carried large numbers of refugees once. These washed up boats make
one wonder if the exiles suffered the same faith or landed safely. Who were
they? And where are they now?
Isaac Julien, Western Union nr 8 (sculpture for the New Millenium), 2007
Other
videos include an examination of the alias author Salman Rushdie chose when he
was in hiding, the learning of new languages and urban life determined by
change and migration among others. Overall this exhibition offers different
perspectives on a present-day issue, not widely represented in mainstream
media.
Knut Åsdam, Abyss, 2010
* The name
refers to the former bathhouse which houses the organization and to the novel
by Jonathan Swift, translated by Justus van Effen, which ties A Tale of a Tub
firmly to its location.