“The more I travelled the world and worked with people from many different cultures, the more I became interested in what ‘being different’ actually means. Identity is an elusive thing, yet many people feel called upon to safeguard it. Just look at the Netherlands, with its tradition of being tolerant and open to the outside world, though in recent years suddenly fearful and closed off. In our daily lives, too, we are continually drawing boundaries between who belongs to us and who doesn’t; boundaries that can often shift again from one minute to the next. Mensch is about human behaviour; about exposing yourself and adapting, and about feeling small in big surroundings and making yourself big in your own small world. The production Mensch is a quest for what makes us who we are, and for what connects us, divides us and makes us unique.”
Anouk van Dijk
Mensch, Choreography by Anouk Van Dijk.
Picture taken at Over Het Ij Festival, NDSM, Amsterdam.
More photos here.
I don’t think that would be relevant to share or describe bits of Omer Fast’s film installations. The disconcerting and powerful experience of his work comes from the journey from one space to another, from one video to another, from one story to another. He blurs the frontier between fiction and reality and plays with anachronism but he always trusts the visitors’ intelligence, our ability to question the production and the reception of images or information. Everyone has a story to tell in Omer Fast’s movies, even the visitor. I’ve often been annoyed and surprised by bad layouts in famous museums in Amsterdam. I was so pleased that NIMk’s building and space were interacting so well with the installations and added a compelling layer of dramaturgy. No video, just a picture of a splendid scene.

Nostalgia, The Casting, De Grote Boodschap by Omer Fast, at NIMk, Amsterdam, until 23 July.
Waikato River in central New Zealand, shot over the course of one single day by Derek Henderson.
Via The Anthropologist.
Photographs by Ryan McGinley. Breathtaking. Cinematic. Massive. Wild.
Picture taken at : Somewhere place, Galerie Gabriel Rolt, Amsterdam.
- Allan Sekula, ‘Waiting for Tear Gas’, 1999"
