GUESTROOM WENT PUBLIC/BRINGING SOME SUN, FOR THE LAST TIME. THANK YOU!

With an unplanned public intervention of Ghislain Amar, his concrete steps sculpture, I want to announce the very last post on this blog. I decided to keep the site, so please feel free to comment or contact me in any case. I will be happy to answer questions and listen to your opinions. I am also looking forward to any new discoverers. 

I want to thank to all - the visitors, contributors, friends, and (non)believers and especially my family - that helped me to realize my project. I am still planning to share with you a final outcome that would be my contribution for the Guestroom, though this is a process that needs some time. 

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Ghislain's Amar piece, stands in front of the building of the former Guestroom space, it reminds us of an amazing time as well as it shows new possibilities... 

SEE YOU ALL SOMEWHERE IN ROTTERDAM THEN!!! 

Weronika Zielinska

Rotterdam, June 2011

ABOUT HOW ORDINARY OBJECTS BECOME AN EXTRAORDINARY PIECES, AND HOW SPECIAL EVENTS BECOME A SUNDAY AFTERNOONS ROUTINE.

I guess it might be strange to realize that Guestroom project just had his very last opening.

Past Sunday afternoon Ghislain Amar had the honor to exhibit his work as the closing artist of a half-year project that took place in our house. As for the limited space, as well the message that has always been spread through a grapevine – the event was visited by a great numbers of visitors.

Amar showed a spatial installation that consisted of plaster sculpture, concrete sculpture, analogue photographs, slide projection, sound and a book. Presented objects made us wonder about those moments when we let our thoughts simply to flow. While sitting  on the pavement outside in front of the house, we give up the time to just be. And without trying to catch it, we accidently get absorbed by those objects/happenings that normally we do not pay much attention to.  

Exactly ‘some representations‘,  as the artist put it, of such carefree forgetfulness were viewed in the Guestroom space.

This installation was an invitation, a gesture made towards the viewer, a motivation to discover something new, to end up in a place you never planned to visit, and finally to allow yourself to reflect on such discovery. If art does not exist without its receiver, if an exhibition does not happens when there is no public, if according to Ghislain Amar: a gallery space is able to produce a (new) work, then what she/he is confronted with, has definitely a potential to be found (again), to be experienced truthfully as it is there. Standing in the corner not pretending to be something, which it is not, just a simple plastic bag…

installation view / slide projection of a google earth image 

 detail / photo diptych

 installation view / 93,4 FM

 installation view / concrete flight of steps

detail / plaster sculptures

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When leaving the space some people were telling me: see you next time… :) My good friend Ania admitted, that for her the Sunday visits at our place where something what she was looking very much to, at the same time they marked their own place in her weekly agenda. She even compared them with The Thursday Dinners…[1]

P.S. It was lovely, again. To all that came - a great thank you!!

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[1] The Thursday Dinners were meetings of artists, intellectuals, and statesmen held by the last King of Poland, Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski in the era of Enlightenment in Poland.

The dinners were held first in the Royal Castle in Warsaw and later in the Water Palace between 1770 and 1784. During the dinners, which typically lasted three hours and resembled French salons, the King dined with his guests and discussed literature, art and politics.

DAYS OF WAVERING/SOME REPRESENTATIONS

On Sunday the 8th of May at 4 PM Guestroom temporary project space at Aelbrechtskade 128, Rotterdam, will open its door to the public for the last time. Please feel welcome to join for this very special event.

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DAYS OF WAVERING/SOME REPRESENTATIONS

The exhibition is made out of forms that have been put together during the two weeks spent at the Guestroom which is located in Delfshaven, Rotterdam, in an area of the neighborhood where i don't usually go to. 

I have been thinking a lot about the idea of spending time floating around as of walking in the neighborhood, eating in snack bars, looking at the waiters working, looking at the people passing by the window, sitting on the stoop and smelling the tires from the garage next door, as well as going to the photo lab to process some films, or to the hardware store to find some plaster, concrete and other confusing words and materials. 

I have been thinking about the conditions needed for exploration to appear and how representation enters that process and shape it. I would ideally like the photographs, sculptures and objects I show, to be encountered like a punctured balloon found on the rooftop of an abandoned school.

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wave/wavering/ocean/oceanic

a hundred and twenty eight/128

the boomboxes and the hot concrete      

I think if life exists/it's probably like this

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Big thanks to Weronika Zielinska, Anna Maria Łuczak, Mehdi Belhaj Kacem and Jeffrey Lewis

Ghislain.

GHISLAIN AMAR - WORKING AMONG BLUE

Through this post I want to introduce you to the very last artist that is working now at the Guestroom project space. Ghislain Amar (1984), is a French artist currently doing a residency at Foundation B.a.d.

"THIS PLACE WOULD BE PERFECT IF ONLY IT HAD AN OCEAN VIEW"

"There is a slight pressure to perform, to talk interesting talk. This is not my intention as a maker but how does one escape it? 

During our last Sunday' gathering at the Guestroom, Esmé Valk reflected on her ongoing project Zicht op Zalmhaven. At the same time, her aim was also to create a new situation in which a few different registers would pick up on the notions like audience, guest, participation, collaboration, each on its own way.

After the guests arrived they bagan introduce to each other and then took place at the table. The event began with the artist talking about her method of working, the ideas coming forth in her practice. She talked about how through the Zicht op Zalmhaven project her guests share their knowledge with her. How she transcribes their conversations and make books out of it. Finally, how she likes to observe the entire event, and distracts her guests by joining in in their conversations while actually preparing the dinner for them. 

In her talk she included two important quotes that derive from two different conversations. Together with Marc we were asked to read them. One piece was about art either being able to solve the problems or not, the distinction between art and daily life...is there any? The other was speaking about performativity of life and people constantly playing their roles. After that Valk came to the point where she spoke about the place of the now - the Guestroom, its particular location and the domestic environment. She talked about it as "the ideal Zicht op Zalmhaven location" while also almost being a white cube.

What did we, the audience, encounter last Sunday afternoon? What have we seen? Were we a part of something that was unspoken?  

Although the artist did not wanted to use a camera or even a voice recorder to capture the event, as if the people would start to act and react differently. Yet she sometimes took a leading role in the event and used her time to present the ideas that confussed the spectator and provoked him to doubt whether she is acting or not.

Esmé Valk preparing the meal on the evening before

Just before the opening, Esmé making the dough for easter bread rolls

First guests already at the table

Jay Tan (turned back) in loose conversation with our guests

ARTIST PRACTICE/HER TALK/THE PERFORMANCE

"There is a moment where a conversation over a meal takes place between two to four invited guests that don’t know each other but who share an interest in a topic which is also shared by myself."

Moment when me and Marc joined the performance through reading the pieces from Zicht op Zalmhaven books

MAKING OF

"I no longer practice these game-like challenges but this approach to using the things around me became an integral part of living my life. It’s a way of doing things that uses the self-thought and the how-to; aspects that are also inherent in recipe transmission." 

Making the easter bread rolls  

Ania very proud of her chicken(?) bread roll

...while the rest of the guests still strugling

IN THE MEAN TIME WHEN THE DOUGH WAS IN THE OVEN

Esmé Valk invited Jay Tan to talk about her working method. In her presentation the artist explained what does mean for her to be ON or OFF.

A RECIPE 

"A recipe is a set of instructions which often allows for free interpretation by the executor. Usually one doesn’t have to follow it exactly, it’s a suggestion and method for sharing ideas that can bridge cultures and generations." 

THE BREAD

...exactly which bread creature is who's?

THE MEAL

“(...)This place would be so much better if only it had an ocean view”. We thought of this as a very useful sentence that can be used in pretty much any situation. For example, to break an unwanted silence in conversation.*The sentence expresses a wish and allows for dreaming, you can imagine that by just running  over those dunes, you’ll be splashing around in the ocean waves.But saying it draws the conversation back to the situation one finds oneself in, together with the other person. I want to share this how-to for any occasion with you today."

A creamy vegetables soup, I guess Valk would call it a tasty reward

Everyone at the table

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*speaking about herself and her partner

All quotes in this post come from the text written by Esmé Valk on the occasion of "This place would be perfect if only it had an ocean view", and they were used under the permission of the artist.

INVITATION FOR THE FIFTH GUESTROOM OPENING

On Sunday the 24th of April at 4 PM, GUEST ROOM* temporary project space at Aelbrechtskade 128, Rotterdam, will open its doors to the public for the fifth time.

In the frame of the Guestroom project artist Esmé Valk (NL 1977) will give a presentation that oscillates between the notions of the artist talk, the performance and the concept of the ‘how to‘. In a shared moment around the dinner table Valk will reflect on the relation between domestic and artistic life. She will discuss the long-term project Zicht op Zalmhaven and simultaneously touch upon the 'lived-in' nature of the domestic environment, being comfortable and the relation between things. As part of the presentation Valk has invited the British artist Jay Tan (UK 1982), to share her views on ‘pottering about’ and on doing various things in an almost aimless manner. 

A simple meal will be prepared and served as part of the presentation This place would be perfect if only it had an ocean view. 

We are kindly requesting that you arrive at Guestroom between 4 and 4:30 PM. The presentation will start at 4.30 PM sharp. Due to the nature of this work we are obligated to keep to the schedule and can’t allow access to people arriving later. 

GREAT WEATHER HELPS TO DEVELOP THE BEST IDEAS

I really have not much to say. This is why, the title of this post may perfectly speaks for itself. 

btw. Esmé is working on the concept for a very promising event that will take place during the afternoon on the Eastern Sunday. She enjoys the atmosphere of the Guestroom and the lovely spring breeze.

WHAT AN ARTIST DOES IN HIS/HER (TEMPORARY) STUDIO?

Esmé Valk started this week her residency in the Guestroom. She asked me for a chair and a table. To find some extra chairs in our house is never a big problem, but unfortunately the only available table in the house is a drawing/playing table of our son. Esmé accepted this table and....began to read...

AFTER THE OPENING...

Paula Salas 2011

Confinement Room: a story about following intructions

 installation view

 installation view

detail

detail   

detail

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Last Sunday artist Paula Salas, showed at the Guestroom the results of her two weeks residency - the final work titled Confinement Room: a story about following instructions. The narrative build up of many sequences, as if in the movie, guided the viewer among different characters and the emotions they were representing. 

The series of (15x21) images was presented on the wall and hang on the eye level. The spatial installation of Salas photographs formed at the same time an interesting image and a surrounding for our public. By including on her photographs all the corners of the physical room and inviting people who did took part in her project as the performers, the outside visitor could not figure out who was still locked in the room, and who supposes to free them.