Sonsbeek 20-24. HISK Participation: Agora, July 2 > August 29, 2021, Sonsbeek Park, Arnhem.

AGORA, a contribution by HISK in the form of a pavilion, is founded upon a sculpture-agora created by Dries Boutsen, which simultaneously embraces and is built on by site-specific interventions by Nelleke Cloosterman, Nokukhanya Langa, Gaëlle Leenhardt, Štefan Papčo, Elisa Pinto and Luca Vanello. Making use of the logic of collage, the base-sculpture is composed by fragments from exhibitions’ remainders and Boutsen’s previous works. Each of the six other contributions creates sections with particular concepts, forms and aesthetics that nevertheless maintain a sense of integration and unity and respond to sonsbeek 20>24’s conceptual framework. All the same, works of ephemeral nature or made for public distribution are hosted by the sculpture-as-a-site at the same time that they activate the latter’s character of agora: video-projections by Katya Ev, Helen Anna Flanagan, Aziz Hazara, Che-Yu Hsu, Karel Koplimets, Diego Lama, and Paulius Šliaupa, a sound piece with caption by Sandrine Morgante, performances and actions by Hanane El Farissi, Nikolay Karabinovych, Hadassa Ngamba and Shirley Villavicencio Pizango, board game sessions by Olivia Hernaïz, and a hand-out limited edition poster by Dani Ghercă. The curatorial proposal by Daniella Géo (HISK curator 2019 & 2020) explores an unconventional, rather experimental modality of exhibiting collectively. While it sheds light on the individual contributions, the collaborative nature of this project symbolically echoes a call for a more sustainable way of living, which considers both the world in terms of collectivity and working together as a premise and a necessity. Moreover, Agora enthusiastically responds to sonsbeek 20>24’s Conjunctions stance to generate intersections, and becomes a place of gathering and debate where the general public programme also takes place.
 

Artists: Dries Boutsen, Nelleke Cloosterman, Hanane El Farissi, Katya Ev, Helen Anna Flanagan, Dani Ghercă, Aziz Hazara, Olivia Hernaïz, Che-Yu Hsu, Nikolay Karabinovych, Karel Koplimets, Diego Lama, Nokukhanya Langa, Gaëlle Leenhardt, Sandrine Morgante, Hadassa Ngamba, Štefan Papčo, Elisa Pinto, Paulius Šliaupa, Luca Vanello, Shirley Villavicencio Pizango
Curator: Daniella Géo (HISK curator 2019 & 2020)

Production & technical team: Gert Aertsen (coordinator), Wannes Goetschalckx, Werner Musenbrock, Gauthier Oushoorn  

Location: Sonsbeek Park, Arnhem, The Netherlands (close by the park’s main entrance and De Palatijn café)

For more information about the program : sonsbeek 20<24