TV NL EN

TANK TINK / ONE

Kunstenaars over de relatie tussen oorlog en klimaatverandering

Programmamaker
In samenwerking met
Voertaal/language
Engels/English

Een voorstelling van Enkidu Khaled en Joachim Robbrecht waarbij een panel van kunstenaars en sprekers de impact van oorlog op het klimaat proberen te counteren. Door inhoud, op een artistieke of theatrale manier, voor te dragen. Storytelling, visuele kunst, muziek en dans passeren de revue. Hoe grijpt oorlog in op het milieu en wat kunnen ze daar tegenover stellen?

Theatermakers Enkidu Khaled en Joachim Robbrecht kapen het concept van de ’think tank’. Geïnspireerd door de Koude Oorlog, toen beleidsmakers, industriëlen, militairen én kunstenaars samenkwamen om na te denken over de toekomst van oorlog, creëren ze een interdisciplinair, experimenteel forum met activistische en artistieke vrienden. Ze verkennen in ‘Tank Tink’ de verwoestende impact van oorlog op het milieu en brainstormen over mogelijke tegenmaatregelen.

Militaire operaties kosten bergen geld en energie. Om de planeet te verwoesten, niet om haar te redden. Ze vervuilen en vernietigen bossen en zeeën door de productie van verbijsterende hoeveelheden puin. Allemaal ellende met als cynisch doel: toegang tot grondstoffen als olie, water en mineralen verkrijgen. Op steeds meer plekken ter wereld raakt de natuur zo vervuilt dat de mens haar maar ‘teruggeeft’. Een vergiftigd geschenk. 

Khaled en Robbrecht counteren deze horror met beelden van satire, wanhoop en verzet, samen met performers Ogutu Muraya & Caroline Ngorobi, schrijver Chris Keulemans en kunstenaars Samah Hijawi, Anika Schwarzlose en Brian McKenna.

Achtergrondinformatie over het stuk

Ogutu Muraya en Caroline Ngorobi plaatsen twee oorlogen in Kenia naast elkaar. Het verhaal van de onafhankelijkheidsstrijders die in de jaren 50 uit het Aberade bos werden gerookt. En de voortdurende oorlog in Boni Forest dat de Keniaanse regering in brand steekt op zoek naar ‘terroristen’.

Schrijver Chris Keulemans laat de zandstormen zien die steeds vaker over Irak razen. Roze wolkenvelden vol dodelijk, niet af te breken uranium, een erfenis van de Amerikanen.

De hypnotiserende beelden en muziek van Anika Schwarzlose en Brian D. McKenna nemen ons mee tot waar achtergelaten oorlogsinfrastructuur is vergroeid met de aarde.

Samah Hijawi presenteert een lecture performance die het werk van Palestijnse kunstenaars combineert met reflecties over het sociale contract van kunst. 

Enkidu Khaled, die theater leerde maken tijdens de oorlog in Bagdad, kan zich ook vanavond niet losmaken van de destructie die hij wilde ontvluchten. 

Joachim Robbrecht, schrijver van de The Great Warmachine, vraagt zich af of we tekenen zien dat de planeet wraak begint te nemen op die obstinate oorlogsvoerders, op ons.


Text in EN

Enkidu Khaled and Joachim Robbrecht see how man’s wars are mutilating our planet and making it uninhabitable. That’s why they hijack the term think tank. During the Cold War, policymakers brought in industrialists, military personnel and artists behind closed doors to brainstorm about the future of war. Interdisciplinary, experimental, disastrous. Now the two theater makers bring artistic and activist friends together in a Tank Tink. To talk about how war affects the environment. And to consider what we can do in return.

Military operations cost mountains of money and energy. To destroy the planet, not to save it. They pollute and destroy forests and seas. They produce mind-boggling amounts of debris. And top cynicism: they often revolve around access to resources such as oil, water and minerals. In more and more places around the world, nature is becoming so polluted that humans are just ‘giving it back’. A poisoned gift.

Khaled and Robbrecht counter this horror with images of satire, despair and resistance, together with Ogutu Muraya and Caroline Ngorobi, two storytellers from Kenya, with writer Chris Keulemans, artists Anika Schwarzlose and Brian McKenna and the Palestinian artist Samah Hijawi. 

Ogutu Muraya and Caroline Ngorobi, two storytellers, performers and writers from Kenya, juxtaposition two wars – the story of the independence fighters smoked out of the Aberdare Forest in the 1950s, and an on-going war in Boni Forest, that the government is now burning in search of today’s terrorists. 

Chris Keulemans shows us the sandstorms that increasingly sweep across Iraq, red cloud fields full of deadly, unbreakable depleted uranium, a legacy of the Americans. 

The hypnotic images and music of Anika Schwarzlose and Brian D. McKenna take us to where war infrastructure left behind has fused with the earth.

Samah Hijawi presents a lecture performance that combines the works of Palestinian artists, with reflections on the social contract of art. 

Enkidu Khaled, who learned to make theater during the war in Baghdad, again tonight cannot detach himself from the destruction he wanted to escape. 

Joachim Robbrecht, author of The Great Warmachine, wonders if we are seeing signs that the planet is beginning to take revenge on those obstinate warriors, on us.

Line-up

Enkidu KhaledTheatermaker, performer
Ogutu MurayaPerformer
Samah HijawiKunstenaar
Anika SchwarzloseBeeldend kunstenaar
Brian McKenna

Concept
Enkidu Khaled en Joachim Robbrecht
Met: Sara Dziri, Samah Hijawi, Anika Schwarzlose, Ogutu Muraya, Caroline Ngorobi, Chris Keulemans, Brian McKenna, Joachim Robbrecht, Enkidu Khaled, 

Productie
Platform 0090, VZW Kunstenwerkplaats -KW, Kaaitheater, Theater Rotterdam, Monty. 

Subsidient – VGC.

Ook in De Balie

do 18 jan / 20:00
Politiek & Democratie

Waar is Sarah?

Naar de gelijknamige podcast – i.s.m. Prospektor & VPRO

Hoe zorgen we ervoor dat er niemand meer verdrinkt in de Middellandse Zee? Op welke manier gaat de verkiezingsuitslag van invloed zijn op het Europese migratiebeleid?

Meer Info Tickets
ma 22 jan / 20:00
Politiek & Democratie

Amsterdam van het gas af

Journalistiek theater, Live Journalism

Deze avond sluit Live Journalism het onderzoek af met een journalistieke eindvoorstelling, waarin de resultaten van het onderzoek ten tonele worden gebracht.

Meer Info Tickets
Live Journalism
vr 26 jan / 18:00
Idee & Verbeelding

Beri Shalmashi

Plein Publiek – een serie diepte-interviews

In veel van het werk van Shalmashi staat de filosofie van jin, jiyan, azadî centraal. Hoe maak je kunst vanuit deze filosofie?

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Waar is Sarah?

Hoe zorgen we ervoor dat er niemand meer verdrinkt in de Middellandse Zee?

Programmamaker
in samenwerking met
in samenwerking met
Jaarlijks verdrinken er duizenden migranten en vluchtelingen op zee. Als ze de oversteek overleven is nog maar de vraag hoe hun leven in Europa uitpakt. Welke realistische veranderingen kunnen doorgevoerd worden, om het aantal verdrinkingsdoden te verminderen? Hoe ziet een humane, effectieve oplossing eruit? Op welke manier gaat de verkiezingsuitslag van invloed zijn op het Europese migratiebeleid?

In de VPRO-Prospektor podcast Waar is Sarah? gaan Rob Timmerman – reddingswerker op zee – en radiomaker Laura Stek op zoek naar Sarah, een pasgeboren meisje dat Rob zeven jaar geleden van de verdrinkingsnood redde en afzette op Sicilië. Robs kijk op het migratiebeleid is duidelijk: ‘Van welk perspectief je het ook bekijkt: dit werkt niet.’

Vanavond praten we door: wat werkt dan wel? Welke realistische veranderingen kunnen doorgevoerd worden, om het aantal verdrinkingsdoden te verminderen? Hoe ziet een humane, effectieve oplossing eruit? Op welke manier gaat de verkiezingsuitslag van invloed zijn op het Europese migratiebeleid?

Lees ook: Podcast ‘Waar is Sarah?’ speurt naar Sarah, maar vooral naar de beweegredenen van de man die haar zoekt – Volkskrant.

Sprekers

Laura StekRadiomaker
Hein de HaasHoogleraar migratie
Derk WaltersRedacteur Zuid-Europa NRC
Kai SmitsOnderzoeker mensensmokkel
Een podcast van de NPO.

Ook in De Balie

zo 21 jan / 14:00
Politiek & Democratie

De vrouwen achter de Wagner Group

Première documentaire theaterstuk ‘Wachten valt zwaarder dan begraven’

Een eerlijk en genuanceerd documentair theaterstuk over de Wagner vrouwen. Beleef hoe ze niet alleen de oorlog verwerken, maar ook, soms onbewust, bijdragen aan de cyclus van geweld.

Meer Info Tickets
wo 24 jan / 20:00
Politiek & Democratie

Wat is het geluid van het klimaatprotest?

Een analyse van en een vooruitblik op protestmuziek voor het klimaat

Een nieuwe generatie artiesten en bands zoals Hang Youth, Froukje en Sophie Straat kaarten het klimaatprobleem aan. Een analyse van en een vooruitblik op protestmuziek.

Meer Info Tickets
za 2 mrt / 20:00
Politiek & Democratie

FOR REAL

On what it means to matter

A theatrical radio-show on what it means to matter. The starting point is the intellectual undermining of women: the sexism on the mind and the soul and lack of interest in what they think, say, make or try to achieve in life.

Meer Info Tickets

Nationaal Gesprek over Vrijheid: Esmah Lahlah

Wat is vrijheid voor jou, wat betekent dit voor de vrijheid van anderen, en hoe draag jij bij aan vrijheid?

programmamaker
Moderator
Gefinancierd door
Tweede Kamerlid Esmah Lahlah (GroenLinks/PvdA) gaat met de studenten van ROC Tilburg in gesprek over vrijheid, democratie en actief burgerschap.

Vrijheid is van levensbelang. Hoe vrij zijn we in een land dat te maken heeft met een toeslagenschandaal, een woningcrisis en een oorlog op Europees grondgebied? Vrijheden beschermen vereist gedeelde waarden en gezamenlijk vertrouwen in de democratie. Tegelijkertijd gedijt vrijheid ook bij meningsverschillen, bij frictie tussen de ideeën van de één en de ander. En dus bij het voeren van goede gesprekken.


Nationaal Gesprek over Vrijheid

Het Nationaal Gesprek over Vrijheid (NGOV) is een gesprek tussen studenten van het middelbaar beroepsonderwijs en bestuurlijk Nederland over burgerschap en democratie. In wat voor maatschappij willen we leven en hoe werken we hier samen naartoe? Kijk op de pagina van Nationaal Gesprek over Vrijheid voor meer informatie en komende editie.

Sprekers

Esmah LahlahTweede Kamerlid GroenLinks/PvdA
Studenten van ROC Tilburg

Boeren met bacteriën

Programmamaker
Een gezond en duurzaam dieet begint bij een gezonde voedingsbodem. Tijd voor een beter begrip van microscopisch leven, de stille regisseurs van de duurzame transitie. Wat is het effect van een plantaardig dieet op ons eigen darmmicrobioom en het bodemleven? En is microscopisch leven de ideale alternatieve bron van eiwitten?

Micro-organismen zijn niet alleen belangrijk voor gezond voedsel uit een gezonde bodem, maar zijn zelf ook een belangrijke bron van eiwitten. Hoe kunnen microben de transitie naar een duurzaam dieet versnellen? Hoe zorgen we dat de transitie niet alleen bijdraagt aan een beter milieu, maar ook aan een gezonder dieet.


De Koplopers over de eiwittransitie

In een tweeluik van De Koplopers onderzoeken we de eiwittransitie grondig. Deze eerste aflevering richt zich op de psychologische en politieke hindernissen die we tegenkomen op de weg naar een dieet rijk aan plantaardige eiwitten.

Vergroenen, verduurzamen, innoveren. De ambities voor Nederland zijn groot, maar de realiteit is weerbarstig. In de serie De Koplopers ontmoet Teun van de Keuken mensen die oplossingen van de toekomst nu al in de praktijk brengen. Wat kunnen we van de koplopers leren?

De Koplopers is een samenwerking met Regieorgaan SIA. SIA bevordert de kwaliteit en de impact van het praktijkgericht onderzoek van hogescholen.

Sprekers

Martina Sura-De JongLector Eiwittransitie, Hogeschool Van Hall Larenstein
Adnan OnerNatuurkundige, Oprichter Farmless
Ivana MikFermantatiewetenschapper
Boy GriffioenBiologisch melkveehouder op Boerderij de Groene Griffioen

Altijd als eerste op de hoogte van onze programmering

Ook in De Balie

vr 16 feb / 17:30
Idee & Verbeelding

Steef de Jong

Plein Publiek – een serie diepte-interviews

Theatermaker Steef de Jong staat bekend als de grootste pleitbezorger van de operette in Nederland. Hoe zit het met zijn passie voor muziek en karton?

Meer Info Tickets
do 29 feb / 20:00
Politiek & Democratie

Fast Fashion

Techdenkers: wat voor invloed heeft technologie op mode?

Gaan we dankzij technologie juist meer naar een duurzame toekomst of wordt fast fashion alleen maar faster?

Meer Info Tickets
za 2 mrt / 16:00
Politiek & Democratie

FOR REAL

On what it means to matter

A theatrical radio-show on what it means to matter. The starting point is the intellectual undermining of women: the sexism on the mind and the soul and lack of interest in what they think, say, make or try to achieve in life.

Meer Info Tickets

Exposition: Landscapes of Extraction

Monira Al Qadiri

Free entrance
Exposition dates
21 Dec – 7 Jan
Opening hours
10am – 5pm
Tickets
Free entrance
Fossil fuels, oil – and our reliance on it – are at the forefront of the climate crisis. The Kuwaiti visual artist Monira Al Qadiri researches how entire cultures and landscapes are exploited by the addictive but destructive substance of oil. The exposition Landscapes of Extraction – spanning sculptures and videos  shows how oil-soaked our culture is today and invites viewers to imagine a future without it.

Uncanny landscapes, golden drill bits, speaking murex seashells and pearl diving songs. In the world that Al Qadiri creates, she plays with the paradoxical beauty of the destructive oil industry. She pre-empts the end of oil by creating monuments and mythologies around it, as if to eulogise it, like a long lost history from ancient peoples.

Al Qadiri’s work draws upon the transformation of her home country, Kuwait and the broader Gulf region. A landscape that was, before the discovery and extraction of oil, characterized by the culture of pearl diving. Al Qadiri’s ongoing search for historical ties between the pre- and post-oil Kuwait show how our mindset of extraction today is entangled with the colonial histories of crude oil.

The connection of her work to the Netherlands is hard to miss: colonial larceny, the looting of raw materials and shipping them away overseas. Is oil the very stuff that connects the scarred landscapes across the world, from of the Gulf, to the Nigerdelta and the North Sea?

The exhibition at De Balie has been curated in close consultation with Monira Al Qadiri, its presentation is as partner project of the Hartwig Art Foundation. 

About Monira Al Qadiri

Monira Al Qadiri, born in 1983, is a Kuwaiti artist raised in Senegal and educated in Japan. Her diverse artistic work includes sculpture, installations, film, and performance. She interprets the Gulf’s “petro-culture” through hypothesized scenarios, drawing inspiration from science fiction, autobiography, traditional practices, and pop culture.

Al Qadiri has exhibited in numerous international venues such as UCCA Dune, China; Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria; Haus der Kunst, Munich; Gasworks, London; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; MoMA PS1, New York and the Sharjah Art Biennial. Her work is present in the collections of the Jameel Arts Center, Dubai, and the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, among others. Al Qadiri was a resident at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam in 2016/2017.

Hartwig Art Foundation & Monira Al Qadiri

In advance of this presentation, Monira Al Qadiri was selected in 2022 by the Foundation’s Commissioning Committee to produce a work for the collection. The work Future Past 3 (2023) wasacquired through the Hartwig Art Production | Collection Fund and presented at UCCA Dune as part of the exhibition Monira Al Qadiri: Haunted Water. The work will be donated to the Dutch state, becoming an integral part of the national art collection (‘Rijkscollectie’), available for institutions in the Netherlands and abroad.

Gastromancer, 2023
Crude Eye, 2022
Travel Prayer, 2014

Exposition: Landscapes of Extraction

Monira Al Qadiri

Free entrance
Exposition dates
21 Dec – 7 Jan
Opening hours
10am – 5pm
Tickets
Free entrance
Fossil fuels, oil – and our reliance on it – are at the forefront of the climate crisis. The Kuwaiti visual artist Monira Al Qadiri researches how entire cultures and landscapes are exploited by the addictive but destructive substance of oil. The exposition Landscapes of Extraction – spanning sculptures and videos  shows how oil-soaked our culture is today and invites viewers to imagine a future without it.

Uncanny landscapes, golden drill bits, speaking murex seashells and pearl diving songs. In the world that Al Qadiri creates, she plays with the paradoxical beauty of the destructive oil industry. She pre-empts the end of oil by creating monuments and mythologies around it, as if to eulogise it, like a long lost history from ancient peoples.

Al Qadiri’s work draws upon the transformation of her home country, Kuwait and the broader Gulf region. A landscape that was, before the discovery and extraction of oil, characterized by the culture of pearl diving. Al Qadiri’s ongoing search for historical ties between the pre- and post-oil Kuwait show how our mindset of extraction today is entangled with the colonial histories of crude oil.

The connection of her work to the Netherlands is hard to miss: colonial larceny, the looting of raw materials and shipping them away overseas. Is oil the very stuff that connects the scarred landscapes across the world, from of the Gulf, to the Nigerdelta and the North Sea?

The exhibition at De Balie has been curated in close consultation with Monira Al Qadiri, its presentation is as partner project of the Hartwig Art Foundation. 

About Monira Al Qadiri

Monira Al Qadiri, born in 1983, is a Kuwaiti artist raised in Senegal and educated in Japan. Her diverse artistic work includes sculpture, installations, film, and performance. She interprets the Gulf’s “petro-culture” through hypothesized scenarios, drawing inspiration from science fiction, autobiography, traditional practices, and pop culture.

Al Qadiri has exhibited in numerous international venues such as UCCA Dune, China; Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria; Haus der Kunst, Munich; Gasworks, London; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; MoMA PS1, New York and the Sharjah Art Biennial. Her work is present in the collections of the Jameel Arts Center, Dubai, and the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, among others. Al Qadiri was a resident at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam in 2016/2017.

Hartwig Art Foundation & Monira Al Qadiri

In advance of this presentation, Monira Al Qadiri was selected in 2022 by the Foundation’s Commissioning Committee to produce a work for the collection. The work Future Past 3 (2023) wasacquired through the Hartwig Art Production | Collection Fund and presented at UCCA Dune as part of the exhibition Monira Al Qadiri: Haunted Water. The work will be donated to the Dutch state, becoming an integral part of the national art collection (‘Rijkscollectie’), available for institutions in the Netherlands and abroad.

Gastromancer, 2023
Crude Eye, 2022
Travel Prayer, 2014

Exposition: Landscapes of Extraction

Monira Al Qadiri

Free entrance
Exposition dates
21 Dec – 7 Jan
Opening hours
10am – 5pm
Tickets
Free entrance
Fossil fuels, oil – and our reliance on it – are at the forefront of the climate crisis. The Kuwaiti visual artist Monira Al Qadiri researches how entire cultures and landscapes are exploited by the addictive but destructive substance of oil. The exposition Landscapes of Extraction – spanning sculptures and videos  shows how oil-soaked our culture is today and invites viewers to imagine a future without it.

Uncanny landscapes, golden drill bits, speaking murex seashells and pearl diving songs. In the world that Al Qadiri creates, she plays with the paradoxical beauty of the destructive oil industry. She pre-empts the end of oil by creating monuments and mythologies around it, as if to eulogise it, like a long lost history from ancient peoples.

Al Qadiri’s work draws upon the transformation of her home country, Kuwait and the broader Gulf region. A landscape that was, before the discovery and extraction of oil, characterized by the culture of pearl diving. Al Qadiri’s ongoing search for historical ties between the pre- and post-oil Kuwait show how our mindset of extraction today is entangled with the colonial histories of crude oil.

The connection of her work to the Netherlands is hard to miss: colonial larceny, the looting of raw materials and shipping them away overseas. Is oil the very stuff that connects the scarred landscapes across the world, from of the Gulf, to the Nigerdelta and the North Sea?

The exhibition at De Balie has been curated in close consultation with Monira Al Qadiri, its presentation is as partner project of the Hartwig Art Foundation. 

About Monira Al Qadiri

Monira Al Qadiri, born in 1983, is a Kuwaiti artist raised in Senegal and educated in Japan. Her diverse artistic work includes sculpture, installations, film, and performance. She interprets the Gulf’s “petro-culture” through hypothesized scenarios, drawing inspiration from science fiction, autobiography, traditional practices, and pop culture.

Al Qadiri has exhibited in numerous international venues such as UCCA Dune, China; Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria; Haus der Kunst, Munich; Gasworks, London; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; MoMA PS1, New York and the Sharjah Art Biennial. Her work is present in the collections of the Jameel Arts Center, Dubai, and the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, among others. Al Qadiri was a resident at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam in 2016/2017.

Hartwig Art Foundation & Monira Al Qadiri

In advance of this presentation, Monira Al Qadiri was selected in 2022 by the Foundation’s Commissioning Committee to produce a work for the collection. The work Future Past 3 (2023) wasacquired through the Hartwig Art Production | Collection Fund and presented at UCCA Dune as part of the exhibition Monira Al Qadiri: Haunted Water. The work will be donated to the Dutch state, becoming an integral part of the national art collection (‘Rijkscollectie’), available for institutions in the Netherlands and abroad.

Gastromancer, 2023
Crude Eye, 2022
Travel Prayer, 2014

Exposition: Landscapes of Extraction

Monira Al Qadiri

Free entrance
Exposition dates
21 Dec – 7 Jan
Opening hours
10am – 5pm
Tickets
Free entrance
Fossil fuels, oil – and our reliance on it – are at the forefront of the climate crisis. The Kuwaiti visual artist Monira Al Qadiri researches how entire cultures and landscapes are exploited by the addictive but destructive substance of oil. The exposition Landscapes of Extraction – spanning sculptures and videos  shows how oil-soaked our culture is today and invites viewers to imagine a future without it.

Uncanny landscapes, golden drill bits, speaking murex seashells and pearl diving songs. In the world that Al Qadiri creates, she plays with the paradoxical beauty of the destructive oil industry. She pre-empts the end of oil by creating monuments and mythologies around it, as if to eulogise it, like a long lost history from ancient peoples.

Al Qadiri’s work draws upon the transformation of her home country, Kuwait and the broader Gulf region. A landscape that was, before the discovery and extraction of oil, characterized by the culture of pearl diving. Al Qadiri’s ongoing search for historical ties between the pre- and post-oil Kuwait show how our mindset of extraction today is entangled with the colonial histories of crude oil.

The connection of her work to the Netherlands is hard to miss: colonial larceny, the looting of raw materials and shipping them away overseas. Is oil the very stuff that connects the scarred landscapes across the world, from of the Gulf, to the Nigerdelta and the North Sea?

The exhibition at De Balie has been curated in close consultation with Monira Al Qadiri, its presentation is as partner project of the Hartwig Art Foundation. 

About Monira Al Qadiri

Monira Al Qadiri, born in 1983, is a Kuwaiti artist raised in Senegal and educated in Japan. Her diverse artistic work includes sculpture, installations, film, and performance. She interprets the Gulf’s “petro-culture” through hypothesized scenarios, drawing inspiration from science fiction, autobiography, traditional practices, and pop culture.

Al Qadiri has exhibited in numerous international venues such as UCCA Dune, China; Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria; Haus der Kunst, Munich; Gasworks, London; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; MoMA PS1, New York and the Sharjah Art Biennial. Her work is present in the collections of the Jameel Arts Center, Dubai, and the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, among others. Al Qadiri was a resident at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam in 2016/2017.

Hartwig Art Foundation & Monira Al Qadiri

In advance of this presentation, Monira Al Qadiri was selected in 2022 by the Foundation’s Commissioning Committee to produce a work for the collection. The work Future Past 3 (2023) wasacquired through the Hartwig Art Production | Collection Fund and presented at UCCA Dune as part of the exhibition Monira Al Qadiri: Haunted Water. The work will be donated to the Dutch state, becoming an integral part of the national art collection (‘Rijkscollectie’), available for institutions in the Netherlands and abroad.

Gastromancer, 2023
Crude Eye, 2022
Travel Prayer, 2014

Exposition: Landscapes of Extraction

Monira Al Qadiri

Free entrance
Exposition dates
21 Dec – 7 Jan
Opening hours
10am – 5pm
Tickets
Free entrance
Fossil fuels, oil – and our reliance on it – are at the forefront of the climate crisis. The Kuwaiti visual artist Monira Al Qadiri researches how entire cultures and landscapes are exploited by the addictive but destructive substance of oil. The exposition Landscapes of Extraction – spanning sculptures and videos  shows how oil-soaked our culture is today and invites viewers to imagine a future without it.

Uncanny landscapes, golden drill bits, speaking murex seashells and pearl diving songs. In the world that Al Qadiri creates, she plays with the paradoxical beauty of the destructive oil industry. She pre-empts the end of oil by creating monuments and mythologies around it, as if to eulogise it, like a long lost history from ancient peoples.

Al Qadiri’s work draws upon the transformation of her home country, Kuwait and the broader Gulf region. A landscape that was, before the discovery and extraction of oil, characterized by the culture of pearl diving. Al Qadiri’s ongoing search for historical ties between the pre- and post-oil Kuwait show how our mindset of extraction today is entangled with the colonial histories of crude oil.

The connection of her work to the Netherlands is hard to miss: colonial larceny, the looting of raw materials and shipping them away overseas. Is oil the very stuff that connects the scarred landscapes across the world, from of the Gulf, to the Nigerdelta and the North Sea?

The exhibition at De Balie has been curated in close consultation with Monira Al Qadiri, its presentation is as partner project of the Hartwig Art Foundation. 

About Monira Al Qadiri

Monira Al Qadiri, born in 1983, is a Kuwaiti artist raised in Senegal and educated in Japan. Her diverse artistic work includes sculpture, installations, film, and performance. She interprets the Gulf’s “petro-culture” through hypothesized scenarios, drawing inspiration from science fiction, autobiography, traditional practices, and pop culture.

Al Qadiri has exhibited in numerous international venues such as UCCA Dune, China; Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria; Haus der Kunst, Munich; Gasworks, London; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; MoMA PS1, New York and the Sharjah Art Biennial. Her work is present in the collections of the Jameel Arts Center, Dubai, and the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, among others. Al Qadiri was a resident at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam in 2016/2017.

Hartwig Art Foundation & Monira Al Qadiri

In advance of this presentation, Monira Al Qadiri was selected in 2022 by the Foundation’s Commissioning Committee to produce a work for the collection. The work Future Past 3 (2023) wasacquired through the Hartwig Art Production | Collection Fund and presented at UCCA Dune as part of the exhibition Monira Al Qadiri: Haunted Water. The work will be donated to the Dutch state, becoming an integral part of the national art collection (‘Rijkscollectie’), available for institutions in the Netherlands and abroad.

Gastromancer, 2023
Crude Eye, 2022
Travel Prayer, 2014

Exposition: Landscapes of Extraction

Monira Al Qadiri

Free entrance
Exposition dates
21 Dec – 7 Jan
Opening hours
10am – 5pm
Tickets
Free entrance
Fossil fuels, oil – and our reliance on it – are at the forefront of the climate crisis. The Kuwaiti visual artist Monira Al Qadiri researches how entire cultures and landscapes are exploited by the addictive but destructive substance of oil. The exposition Landscapes of Extraction – spanning sculptures and videos  shows how oil-soaked our culture is today and invites viewers to imagine a future without it.

Uncanny landscapes, golden drill bits, speaking murex seashells and pearl diving songs. In the world that Al Qadiri creates, she plays with the paradoxical beauty of the destructive oil industry. She pre-empts the end of oil by creating monuments and mythologies around it, as if to eulogise it, like a long lost history from ancient peoples.

Al Qadiri’s work draws upon the transformation of her home country, Kuwait and the broader Gulf region. A landscape that was, before the discovery and extraction of oil, characterized by the culture of pearl diving. Al Qadiri’s ongoing search for historical ties between the pre- and post-oil Kuwait show how our mindset of extraction today is entangled with the colonial histories of crude oil.

The connection of her work to the Netherlands is hard to miss: colonial larceny, the looting of raw materials and shipping them away overseas. Is oil the very stuff that connects the scarred landscapes across the world, from of the Gulf, to the Nigerdelta and the North Sea?

The exhibition at De Balie has been curated in close consultation with Monira Al Qadiri, its presentation is as partner project of the Hartwig Art Foundation. 

About Monira Al Qadiri

Monira Al Qadiri, born in 1983, is a Kuwaiti artist raised in Senegal and educated in Japan. Her diverse artistic work includes sculpture, installations, film, and performance. She interprets the Gulf’s “petro-culture” through hypothesized scenarios, drawing inspiration from science fiction, autobiography, traditional practices, and pop culture.

Al Qadiri has exhibited in numerous international venues such as UCCA Dune, China; Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria; Haus der Kunst, Munich; Gasworks, London; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; MoMA PS1, New York and the Sharjah Art Biennial. Her work is present in the collections of the Jameel Arts Center, Dubai, and the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, among others. Al Qadiri was a resident at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam in 2016/2017.

Hartwig Art Foundation & Monira Al Qadiri

In advance of this presentation, Monira Al Qadiri was selected in 2022 by the Foundation’s Commissioning Committee to produce a work for the collection. The work Future Past 3 (2023) wasacquired through the Hartwig Art Production | Collection Fund and presented at UCCA Dune as part of the exhibition Monira Al Qadiri: Haunted Water. The work will be donated to the Dutch state, becoming an integral part of the national art collection (‘Rijkscollectie’), available for institutions in the Netherlands and abroad.

Gastromancer, 2023
Crude Eye, 2022
Travel Prayer, 2014