‘Any Space is the Place’
Show 2013
3 – 7 July 2013 NASA
Let’s start with a positive negation in order to be clear: Any space is the place doesn’t imagine itself as an exhibition at new art space amsterdam . The project makes use of the situation and so does the dirty art department project. The show, which is not specifically an exhibition, becomes a space of possible activations.
From the stagecraft object to the lecture performance, from the keynote to the fitness program, the graduation show is a project on its own and propose a range of different approaches, all with their own lives clustered within the cultural institution walls. The show could be in a pizzeria or a conference hall, by the beach or at the central station.
Any space is the place.
Sun Ra’s music and spirit has inspired the dirty art department from the beginning, when the project was still called nuclear bannana, from the song Nuclear War, by developing the feeling that the production of a work is not dependnt on its specific field, but it lies within the understanding and manipulation of possible contexts in order to reach a reality.
The title of the show at NASA, inspired directly from the jazzman’s 1974 movie brings together the present proposals as a way of organising the project.
Any space is the place reveals that the approach of the department is more about constructing a general practice that could fit any surrounding, than dedicating itself to a fit frame. This behaviour is driven by a principle of intention more than a concept with a strict understanding of the field you are interacting with. You can compare this principle of intention to the designer’s methodology who has to bring his own singularity to a context without being medium specific, only formalist or fully conceptual.
Any space becomes the fertile place for projects to happen. When it is set, this is a bit like with Nike. . . . “just do it” !
Text: Stephane Barbier Bouvet