A project by the Master of Fine Art programme of the Piet Zwart Institute – Willem de Kooning Academy.

From Saturday April 3 – Sunday April 18, 2010

Opening: Thursday April 1, 19h

As a group, the upcoming graduates of the Piet Zwart Institute represent a diverse approach to visual art. We are a group grappling, like a village, with our collective and individual practices and ideologies. We bicker and we become lovers, we share and we steal. We are made up of priests, butchers, bankers, carpenters, and painters. Each of us, in other words, contributes a distinct identity and function to our community, housed under one roof.

In exhibiting for the first time as group, we are interested in placing our wares in a space outside of the one we are bound to, to move our practices together outside our village walls. What will occur from this transplantation? Carnival or Lent? Anarchy or order? Our show is an experiment in the haphazard, organic formation of a tight-knit group whose work, in its difference, allows one to experiment with the unforeseen cohesion of our Bruegel’s Village.

Ghislain Amar, Derek Brunen, Diana Duta, Priscila Fernandes, Bitsy Knox, Tom Kok, Sjoerd van Leeuwen, Bat Sheva Ross, Marnie Slater, Jay Tan, Selina Taylor, and Annie Wu.

A project by the Master of Fine Art programme of the Piet Zwart Institute – Willem de Kooning Academy.

Curated by Alexis Vaillant.

Drawing from the idea of unpredictability within creative processes, we are transforming the BLAAK10 gallery into an Office for the Unknown. The idea is to research and generate as yet undetermined matter. The temporary creation of a working  space, open to the public, serves as an exploratory ground that encompasses studio, office, theatre and exhibition venue. This space will host lectures, screenings and other participatory community events. The material generated here will be framed by this performative umbrella and will ultimately appear as a publication that will be launched in late Spring 2010.

Efficiency and predictability are conventions of the workplace; our office explores notions of productivity, accountability and public engagement in art and research practices. The office is conceived of as modular configurations, wherein we will constantly re-arrange the furnishings, equipment, their functions and ourselves. Destabilising the space will engender unpredictable environments and refreshing production platforms; we will thus be generating content from the space itself.

From Friday March 19 – Friday March 26, 2010

Opening: Thursday March 18, 19h

Lecture by Nathaniel Mellors: Thursday March 18, 19.30h

For opening hours, please check our website:

www.officefortheunknown.com