editorial room

curatorial text

force times distance: on labour and its sonic ecologies

A glimpse into the web of reflections and associations that gave way to sonsbeek20→24, by artistic director Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung.

playlist

the rhythm of labor

Inspired by sonsbeek’s investigation of ‘the ways history of labour and the working class reflects and is framed by issues such as race, gender, class structure, geographical distance, and politics,’ DJ Lynnée Denise created 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑅𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑚 𝑜𝑓 𝐿𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑟, a sonic blend drawn from a preexisting multi-media essay.

introduction

introduction

It is impossible not to relate the curatorial framework of sonsbeek20→24 to the present moment, as much as it is impossible to not connect the present moment to our entangled histories, to a multitude of voices, sounds, and ripples.

introduction

glaring at the world through rear view

A fundamental question is: who is in charge and establishes the conditions of access and presence; and thereby determines the outcomes of what eventually ends up in an archive?

mixtape

it’s a question of power, isn’t it? (full mixtape)

A cacophony of voices, silences, whispers, thoughts, laughter and cries that question how gendered and racialised capitalism shape our understanding of contemporary labour conditions

soundscape

schipbreukeling

A sonic epilogue that touches on the nightmares haunting the afterlives of slavery and colonialism. In his poem, Mathieu Charles responds to these known -isms that keep tormenting him, us, the ones before us: racism, sexism, capitalism.

film programme

film programme

In this edition of our monthly bulletin, we have selected four films that deal with the archive and archival practices in different ways.

talking heads

a conversation with ruangrupa

Another freewheelin' conversation, this time about ruangrupa’s curatorial practice – a practice that is rooted in experiment, collectivity, trust, while also discussing the limits and possibilities of archives.

home office stories

home office story by olave nduwanje

In this episode of Home Office Stories Olave Nduwanje offers insight into her home office and how labour and the domestic are informed through colonialism and reshaped through our contemporary use of technology.

sound performance

here, present

Shenece Oretha’s reworked iteration of the live performance ‘Here, Present’ is an exercise in remembrance for sonsbeek.

home office stories

home office story by flavia dzodan

Flavia Dzodan offers insight into her home office and how labour and the domestic are informed through colonialism and reshaped through our contemporary use of technology.

sound performance

THEY THE THEM ARE WE presents alvaro's fields

Nástio Mosquito, in a newly commissioned piece for the occasion, takes the listeners on a rumination around the self and the many “I’s” that are woven in its texture...

film programme

film programme

Our film programme introduces you features glimpses into the work of artists and filmmakers who will be part of the exhibition and our public programme in 2021.

longread

Archiving Queer of Colour Politics in the Netherlands

This roundtable stages a conversation amongst activists and cultural producers involved in feminist and queer of colour politics in the Netherlands from the 1980s to the present.

playlist

a playlist by antonio jose guzman

This playlist represents the Electric Dub Station Transcultural Black Atlantic diasporic research and the Latin American socialist DNA of many Afro- Latin American artists such as myself who grew up in the 70s.

introduction

grinding slow // grinding still

On the occasion of 157 years of the Abolishment of Slavery

conversation

the rhythms and silences of ruptures

"Film is: a quest for some kind of meaning, some purpose, for signs of beauty and life" A conversation between curator Aude Mgba and Hira Nabi, director of El Retorno (2016), about the return to the not-so-normal.

playlist

a playlist is a curatorial narrative

This playlist is a sonic quilt, an invitation to listen together. We firmly believe that there isn’t any better way to introduce sonsbeek than to start sharing mixtapes with you.

conversation

talking heads

A freewheelin’ talk on the relation between music, poetics, and labour between Amal Alhaag, Kodwo Eshun, and Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung took place online...

home office stories

marcue at home by immy mali

Mali writes to tell her younger self, Marcue, about the turbulence the world is witnessing at the moment and how she continues to work during times of hibernation, loneliness, and longing.

article

why Anton de Kom's 'We slaves of Suriname' never ceases to inspire

Anton de Kom's ‘We slaves of Suriname' (orig. 'Wij slaven van Suriname’) continues to be an inspiration from generation to generation. In this introduction to its reissue, activist and The Black Archives' Mitchell Esajas explains to us why.

performance

8:46 big floyd dub indigo remix /// a tribute to george floyd by antonio jose guzman

In this new contribution, artist Antonio Jose Guzman created a memorial for the recent murder of George Floyd in Minnesota; embedded in the sonic and visual structure of his ongoing project The Electric Dub Station.

podcast

sonsbeek memories #1

This is the first episode of our new podcast series: Sonsbeek Memories, part of the Open Call of the Sonsbeek Archive: an invitation to everyone to share all kinds of materials related to Sonsbeek exhibitions, including memories.

sound performance

otion by otion

OTION blends elements of hip hop, storytelling, spirituality, and soul, within the DIY setting of his home in Amsterdam, to create a personal musical narrative of entangled Dutch colonial histories embodied by generations that continue to be present and affect the future, asking for some kind of personal reckoning.

film programme

su solo i playanan

A documentary film in which the various beaches of Curacao are of main interest.