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Be[com]ing Dutch was announced by the Mondriaan Stichting as winner of the 'Development Prize for Cultural Diversity'

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With support of Stichting DOEN

Culture Programme of the European Union
With support of the Culture Programme of the European Union.

Introduction

Be[com]ing Dutch is a two-year project developed both inside and outside the Van Abbemuseum, which consists of debates, reading groups, artist's projects, exhibitions, residencies, and forms of collective participation and production.

As questions of cultural identity and normative 'national' values become ever more of an issue in political and cultural debate, Be[com]ing Dutch asks whether art can offer alternative examples of thinking about how we can live together today. Be[com]ing Dutch seeks to put our ideas of cultural identity under pressure and examine the process of inclusion and exclusion in the world today.

At the end of January 2007 we have launched the project Be[com]ing Dutch at the Van Abbemuseum with The Gatherings a weekend of talks, debates and art projects and presentations (this will be archived on the website over the summer). Several collaborative projects will run through November 2008 with our partners (see timeline). During the past months we presented and debated the Be[com]ing Dutch to a wide variety of interdisciplinary audiences including academics, artists and social actors locally, nationally and internationally. This open conversation will continue.

It leads up to an intensive three week international Caucus from 9th November until 2nd December 2007. The final phase will be a large-scale exhibition of newly commissioned works in the Van Abbemuseum in May 2008 and a publication due November 2008.

This autumn our project will become part of the series of the museum documentary exhibitions as an extension of the Living Archive. This Be[com]ing Dutch display in the tower of the museum will be the place where visitors can follow all of the projects that have happened so far and track our ongoing developments. This website is the space where we welcome you to contribute your ideas and opinions.

Be[com]ing Dutch - Partners

  • BAK basis voor actuele kunst [Utrecht] - As an 'extension' of the Dutch Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, BAK organises a series of lectures, seminars and discussions entitled Citizens and Subjects: Practices and Debates, which further connects with Becoming Dutch and National (Re)presentation, a series of gatherings organized by Witte de With in connection to the German Pavilion project. www.bak-utrecht.nl
  • WdW - As part of a collaborative project with BAK, basis voor actuele kunst (Utrecht) and the Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven) - and as a critical follow-up to the Venice Biennale - Witte de With presents four evening discussions (every Thursday in October) on the topic of the ‘national’ and how it relates to contemporary cultural production and theory today. www.wdw.nl
  • Gate Archive [Eindhoven] - The resources of the Gate Collection will be catalogued and integrated in to the Van Abbemuseum library and will form the basis of a series of ongoing critical projects.www.gatefoundation.nl
  • Kosmose [Eindhoven] - Centre of expertise for Cultural Diversity.www.kosmose.nl
  • The New Museum of Contemporary Art [New York] - organizes a long-term long investigation into notions of the neighborhood called The Museum as Hub with partners Townhouse Gallery [Cairo], Insa Art Space[Seoul], Museum Tamayo Arte Contemporaneo [Mexico City], and the Van Abbemuseum [Eindhoven].www.newmuseum.org
  • Stichting InterArt [Arnhem] - will organize a long-term collaborative project called Creative Citizens which address the culturally diverse citizens of Eindhoven.www.stichtinginterart.nl
  • KKH [Stockholm] - www.kkh.se
  • NSF [Cork] - www.nationalsculpturefactory.com
  • Public Preparation [Tallinn]


In 2006 the Van Abbe museum was announced as winner of the Development Prize for Cultural Diversity by the Mondriaan Foundation for their plan Be[com]ing Dutch. A total of nine plans were submitted by thirteen institutions. The Van Abbemuseum project will concentrate on Eindhoven and the region as a place where multiculturalism is practiced on an everyday basis.

Be[com]ing Dutch - Creative team

Be[com]ing Dutch is led by Charles Esche and Annie Fletcher and is developed with an extensive curatorial team in- and outside the Van Abbemuseum.
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