Sipping Dirty Feminist Martinis
May 13, 2022, 9pm–2am
On location: Het Hem

When our speakeasy bar, Bob’s Your Uncle, opened in the back of our exhibition space back in 2015, the first drink we served in it was a Dirty Feminist Martini – a recipe by the virtue of Melissa Gordon served in conjunction with the launch of PERSONA, an artist-led magazine which she co-edits. Since the drink still very much echoes in our activities, we invite you to come taste a serving of this resurrected beauty on May 13 during Amsterdam Art Weekend’s party at Het Hem. While you sip your drink, our director Yana Foque and our former colleague Reinier Klok will browse through their collection of MP3s between 11pm and 2am.

Tickets for the event cost €7,50 and can be purchased here. Members of Kunstverein can come for free. RSVP if you would like to attend.

Also, since part of the initiative at Het Hem is to highlight ​​Amsterdam’s project spaces, Kunstverein will be selling some of its editions and March Merch. What will we have in store? A bag by Rudy Guedj, an ashtray by Sarah Crowner and a keychain by Sabo Day.

In 2022 our members-exclusive Backing Vocals program continues. Over the past year we were thrilled to hear that some of these one-on-one conversations brought about new friendships, new collaborations or a nudge in the right direction. Such an outcome was beyond our biggest hopes for what this thing could be and do, so, onwards!

Image 1: Peggy Ahwesh, Tears of Eros, a lexicon in the style of Georges Bataille, video still.
Image 2: Peggy Ahwesh, The Color of Love, 1994, video still.

First Drafts—Open Call
Deadline: October 30, 2021

A first draft is usually something a writer hopes never sees the light of day. It is often too rough and more likely to land on the bottom of a desk drawer rather than in the hands of a publisher. However, inspired by the freedom Anne Turyn gave the authors she worked with for Top Stories and in awe of the writers she managed to give their first publishing opportunity to, we concluded: this is a risk worth taking! With this new series we aim to focus on publishing the work of young writers whose work is simply too weird or experimental for commercial publishers.

Mind you though, when we say young we don’t mean young in age necessarily—we mean young in the form of writing you are taking up. Maybe the draft you submit is the first attempt you’ve made to ever write a narrative-based manuscript, but you’ve written more standard art criticism your whole life. Or maybe it’s the first time you’ve written at all, instead usually working in another medium altogether. This is fine by us!

For this inaugural Open Call are welcoming the submission of complete but not-yet finalised or published manuscripts of any kind. They can be written in any language, but must be accompanied by an English translation (to assist with the editorial process). Artists and writers based in the Netherlands will receive preferential treatment, however we also welcome anyone who truly feels addressed by this open call, the Netherlands aside. If all this sounds good then please submit to this open call by filling in this form before October 30.

The candidate we will go forward with will receive a fee of €2000 as well as ongoing editorial, production and promotional support from the team at Kunstverein. Your book will be printed in an edition of 200 copies and distributed worldwide with the help of our distributor Idea Books.

Salon Hang 24/7
June 19–28
On location: Hortusbrug—Dr. D.M. Sluyspad 6, 1018 DH Amsterdam
Open daily between 1–5pm, AND at night between 7pm–11am

Opening: Friday 18 June, 6–8pm. Exclusively for members of Kunstverein and professional guests of Amsterdam Art.

Overnight stays: Available from Saturday June 19 till June 29. Overnight stays, including breakfast, come at the rate of € 190, €130 for members, or free for gold members! Check availability.

For the fourth time in our twelve-year history we are happy to host our biennial Salon Hang, an exuberant, sensory-overloading group exhibition showcasing the abundance of local and international talent we’re happy to call our members.

For this edition we’ll take up residence in a former bridge house-turned-hotel suite adjoining the Botanical Garden in Amsterdam. Fancy! Because it’s special! It’s time to rekindle! Don’t you think? For ten days and ten nights we will highlight the practices of the individuals who back us—a multi-voiced community of thinkers and makers. Expect the lofty and the low, the known and the obscure all sharing a figurative bed.

With work by, among others: 

In parallel to the exhibition Bronze Icebergs, Cauleen Smith and Kunstverein bring you The Distance Between Slits and Screen. This two-part, online only film program expands on Smith’s own interests and filmic oeuvre, touching upon topics and methodologies used by kindred-spirited filmmakers and finding itself in latent friction with archival material from the collection of the EYE Filmmuseum.

Running on an endless loop on Kunstverein’s website from today onwards, this first part takes up the suggestion Smith proposes in her new series of drawings currently on display at Kunstverein and rhetorically wonders: What if we collectively redirected our focus and put the revenant energy applied to the monumentalisation of small and foolish men towards the truly monumental, the features of this planet both grand and mundane, from microbes to crystals and volcanic outbursts. It features works by, in order of appearance: J.C. Mol, Cauleen Smith, H. Bekker, Basim Magdy, Huzel and Deimantas Narkevičius.