until 5 May 2019
The People Are the City
With great pride, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht presents a two-part exhibition The People Are the City, which takes place in the public areas of the Utrecht City Office and at The Utrecht Archives.
Sicinius: What is the city but the people?
Citizens: True. The people are the city.
—Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Coriolanus, 1605–1608
The exhibition is dedicated to the collective resilience of the people of Utrecht in the face of contemporary global challenges, including the recent tragic tram shooting incident in the city.
Citizens: True. The people are the city.
—Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Coriolanus, 1605–1608
The exhibition is dedicated to the collective resilience of the people of Utrecht in the face of contemporary global challenges, including the recent tragic tram shooting incident in the city.
Dates and locations
1 April-2 May 2019 (Utrecht City Office)
30 March-5 May 2019 (The Utrecht Archives)
The presentation at the Utrecht City Office reflects on the extraordinary coming together of the people of Utrecht in the collective performance What Is the City but the People? on Jaarbeursplein on 15 September of last year. It features portraits and stories of contributors to the project together with a complete video recording of the performance. Following the suggestion of one of the contributors, Mustapha Seray Bah, the exhibition also includes a series of postcards with portrait photos of the contributors, offered to the public to take away or use for posting.
The second part of the show, on display at The Utrecht Archives, presents the new work Seven Addresses (2019) by artist duo Sander Breure & Witte van Hulzen. The video installation offers unexpected, poetic insights into the lives and homes of seven Utrecht residents. This work has been commissioned by BAK and Centraal Museum Utrecht. A special viewing of the work in the presence of the artists takes place on the evening of 18 April 2019, following the opening of the exhibition Stuff Matters by Jessica Stockholder at Centraal Museum Utrecht.
30 March-5 May 2019 (The Utrecht Archives)
The presentation at the Utrecht City Office reflects on the extraordinary coming together of the people of Utrecht in the collective performance What Is the City but the People? on Jaarbeursplein on 15 September of last year. It features portraits and stories of contributors to the project together with a complete video recording of the performance. Following the suggestion of one of the contributors, Mustapha Seray Bah, the exhibition also includes a series of postcards with portrait photos of the contributors, offered to the public to take away or use for posting.
The second part of the show, on display at The Utrecht Archives, presents the new work Seven Addresses (2019) by artist duo Sander Breure & Witte van Hulzen. The video installation offers unexpected, poetic insights into the lives and homes of seven Utrecht residents. This work has been commissioned by BAK and Centraal Museum Utrecht. A special viewing of the work in the presence of the artists takes place on the evening of 18 April 2019, following the opening of the exhibition Stuff Matters by Jessica Stockholder at Centraal Museum Utrecht.
Performance and exhibition
What Is the City but the People?
In the performance What Is the City but the People?, nearly 300 people of Utrecht gathered together to create a collective, dynamic self-portrait of the city. The contributors presented themselves on a gigantic outdoor runway on the Jaarbeursplein in Utrecht. Click here for more information on the project.
Civic Practice
The exhibition takes place as BAK resumes the renovation of its premises on Pauwstraat 13a in Utrecht. Meanwhile, BAK continues to develop active relations with the ever-expanding community around the performance What Is the City but the People? The forthcoming project by Dutch artist Jeanne van Heeswijk engages this community in a collective project at BAK from September-December 2019. Consistent with its mission and aims, BAK continues to intensify its civic, solidarity-driven practice as a public cultural institute working at the intersection of art, theory, and social action.
In the performance What Is the City but the People?, nearly 300 people of Utrecht gathered together to create a collective, dynamic self-portrait of the city. The contributors presented themselves on a gigantic outdoor runway on the Jaarbeursplein in Utrecht. Click here for more information on the project.
Civic Practice
The exhibition takes place as BAK resumes the renovation of its premises on Pauwstraat 13a in Utrecht. Meanwhile, BAK continues to develop active relations with the ever-expanding community around the performance What Is the City but the People? The forthcoming project by Dutch artist Jeanne van Heeswijk engages this community in a collective project at BAK from September-December 2019. Consistent with its mission and aims, BAK continues to intensify its civic, solidarity-driven practice as a public cultural institute working at the intersection of art, theory, and social action.
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