If I Can’t Dance, I Don’t Want To Be Part Of Your Revolution

Introducing ‘Tidal Gatherings’ ~ Meet curator Chandra Frank

We are happy to introduce Chandra Frank, curator of ‘Tidal Gatherings’, a three-day symposium on the intersections between water, ecology, and Dutch colonialism taking place at If I Can’t Dance and CBK Zuidoost on 4, 5, and 6 October. Frank is an Assistant Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Cincinnati. She is the 2024–2027 Taft Professor of the Public Humanities and will be working on collaborative and multi-modal methodologies related to art, ecology, and public histories. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on feminist and q***r of colour movement work, possibilities of dissent, and the ways in which race and the environment work as terrains of power. She is completing her first monograph in progress, ‘Tidal Politics: Feminist Q***r Diaspora & Refusal in the Netherlands’, which charts the creative and strategic interruption of feminist q***r movement work in the 1980s alongside the literal and figurative sinking landscape and racial climate of the Netherlands. Over the last decade, she has been active as an independent curator working across continents and with various institutions such as the Bonnefanten Museum, Cincinnati Contemporary Art Center, 198 Contemporary Arts & Learning, and District Six Museum.

‘Tidal Gatherings’ is conceived as part of ‘Sound System Ecologies’, a broader collaborative project with DJ Lynnée Denise, an Amsterdam based writer and interdisciplinary artist. ‘Sound System Ecologies’ flows out of a mutual interest in the intersections between sound and sonic routes, the histories of slavery and Dutch colonialism, and the role of ecology and water. ‘Sound System Ecologies’ brings together a series of conversations, listening sessions, film screenings, study and reading circles, and a commitment to unpacking how sound, culture and artistic production interrupts the colonial grammar of space. DJ Lynnée Denise will be hosting a ‘Sound System Ecologies’ listening session and event on Sunday 29 September from 16-19hr at the West-Indisch Huis Herengracht.

For tickets and programme see: https://ificantdance.org

‘Tidal Gatherings’ is funded by the Mondriaan Fund Open Call Slavery Memorial Year Grant (2023–2024). The symposium is organized in tandem with Sharelly Emanuelson’s exhibition ‘Between a Dance and Sitting in a Chair’, a project by CBK Zuidoost taking place in SHEBANG from 3 October - 24 November 2024.

Image: Portrait Chandra Frank.

As you probably know by now, almost a year ago If I Can’t Dance moved to the WG-terrein, a complex of artist studios and houses realized in the early 80s on the premises of the former Wilhelmina Gasthuis hospital. In the upcoming weeks, Atelier WG celebrates its 40th anniversary with many different activities and an open studios weekend on 28 & 29 September.

After presenting Nicoline van Harskamp’s performance last week, If I Can’t Dance also joins the open studios on Saturday 28 September (12–17hr). Pass by to meet us and see our new studio space. We will welcome you with a surprise pick from our archive and with a 40% discount on all our publications!

Full programme Atelier WG 40th anniversary programme:

Performance (tryout)
Nicoline van Harskamp,
‘Seven Scenes for the Black Box’
20 September 2024, 19.30hr
If I Can’t Dance, WG Plein 881
Information: www.ificantdance.org

Filmfestival
‘Time’
24 & 25 September 2024
LAB111, Arie Biemondstraat 111
Information: www.lab111.nl/tijd-celebrating-40-jaar-wg-terrein/

Open Studios
More than sixty artists open their studios
28 & 29 September 2024, 12–17hr
Pavilions 1, 2, 18, 19
Information: www.atelierwg.nl/wg-premises-40th-anniversary-celebration-2024

40th Anniversary Celebration
Group Exhibition
Small scale works by more than 80 WG-artists
28 September – 6 October 2024,
daily from 12–17hr
Punt-WG, WG Plein t/o 80
Information: www.atelierwg.nl/wg-premises-40th-anniversary-celebration-2024

Workshops for neighbours
28 September 2024
near WG-Pavilion 1 & 2




Image: If I Can’t Dance’s space at Atelier WG: the former lecture hall of the Women’s Clinic on the Wilhelmina Gasthuis terrain. Photo made by Nicoline van Harskamp in preparation of the tryout of her performance ‘Seven Scenes for the Black Box’ on 20 September 2024.

We are thrilled to announce ‘Tidal Gatherings’, a three-day symposium on the intersections between water, ecology, and Dutch colonialism curated by Chandra Frank. Including talks, screenings, and a study group, the programme invites to think with water alongside ideas of belonging, race, gender, and sexuality, as well as artistic production.

Emerging from Frank’s research and video work, the programme tunes into inter-tidal zones and multi-species ecosystems to engage with q***r and diasporic forms of knowledge in a country known for its control and mastery of water, as well as for its violent hydro-colonial histories. Within this scope, ‘Tidal Gatherings’ draws connections between the landscapes of former Dutch colonies and indigenous water ecologies within the African diaspora.

After two days in our space with contributions by Paula Albuquerque, Sharelly Emanuelson, Desiree Mwalimu Banks, Toni Giselle Stuart, Lisandro Suriel, and Geo Wyex, the gathering moves to SHEBANG in Amsterdam Zuid-Oost for a special visit of Sharelly Emanuelson's exhibition ‘Between a Dance and Sitting in a Chair’, a solo show initiated and curated by CBK Zuidoost.

For more information about the programme and tickets, see https://ificantdance.org.

Friday 4 October 2024
14–17hr
Tidal Studies (study group)
If I Can’t Dance, WG-plein 881, Amsterdam
Free, RSVP (space is limited)

Saturday 5 October 2024
15–18hr
Introduction and lecture performance by Desiree Mwalimu Banks
If I Can’t Dance, WG-plein 881, Amsterdam

18–19.30hr
Communal dinner
WG Café, Marius van Bouwdijk Bastiaansestraat 52, Amsterdam

20-22hr
Film programme and panel discussion
With short films by Paula Albuquerque, Sharelly Emanuelson, Desiree Mwalimu Banks, Toni Giselle Stuart, Lisandro Suriel and Geo Wyex
If I Can’t Dance, WG-plein 881, Amsterdam

Day tickets (dinner voucher excluded) : €7,50 & €5 (students)
Dinner voucher: €15 (please purchase your voucher before September 30)

Sunday 6 October 2024
15.30–17hr
Visit to Sharelly Emanuelson’s exhibition ‘Between a Dance and Sitting in a Chair’, and conversation between the artist and Chandra Frank
CBK Zuidoost, location SHEBANG, Hettenheuvelweg 8, Amsterdam
Free entry









Accessibility information:
– If I Can’t Dance is on the second floor, with unfortunately no elevator
– SHEBANG is on the ground floor and is wheelchair accessible
– Seated events
– Gender neutral WC
– Language If I Can’t Dance: English
– Language SHEBANG: English / Dutch
Please get in touch with any accessibility questions so that we can accommodate your visit.

‘Tidal Gatherings’ is part of ‘Sound System Ecologies: Music and Visual Cultures in the Dutch Kingdom & South Africa’, a collaborative project between DJ Lynnée Denise and Chandra Frank, and is funded by the Mondriaan Fund Open Call Slavery Memorial Year Grant (2023–2024). The project is a continuation of If I Can’t Dance multi-year collaboration with CBK Zuidoost.

Image: Underwater recordings made by Chandra Frank during a mudflat hike on the island of Texel in July 2024 (screenshots)

De btw op cultuur, sport, media, boeken, evenementen en horeca is nu nog 9%. Het nieuwe kabinet wil dit verhogen naar 21%. Wij moeten straks meer betalen voor (school)boeken, de sportclub, festival- concert- en evenemententickets. De krant, de horeca, cultuur, alles wordt duurder. We roepen het kabinet op: behoud het btw-tarief van 9% zodat theaterstukken, concerten, festivals, boeken, kranten, hotels en evenementen voor iedereen toegankelijk blijven .

We are happy to invite you to the tryout of Nicoline van Harskamp’s ‘Seven Scenes for the Black Box’. In this performance, van Harskamp speculates on the ways in which the technology of synthetic speech is rooted in the technology of acting. She proposes a future form of ‘machine talk’, informed by the rhythmic, additive structures of human storytelling. The short scenes in this tryout are played by four humans and one neural network named Prosodia.

We invite audiences to attend the performance and give their feedback, supporting the artist in developing future editions of the work. You are very welcome to take part in the feedback session that starts shortly after the performance and will be moderated by If I Can’t Dance programme curator Sara Giannini.

The tryout by Nicoline van Harskamp, who is our housemate within the Wilhelmina Gasthuis studio complex, coincides with the 40th anniversary of Atelier WG (https://atelierwg.nl/wg-premises-40th-anniversary-celebration-2024). In the frame of the festivities, If I Can’t Dance will also take part in the Atelier WG Open Studios on Saturday 28 September, so please pass by, we look forward to welcoming you in our new space.

‘Seven Scenes for the Black Box’ is supported by the Creative Industries Fund NL and the Pauwhof Fund. If I Can’t Dance is structurally supported by the Mondriaan Fonds and AFK.

‘Seven Scenes for the Black Box’
Friday 20 September 2024
If I Can’t Dance, WG-plein 881, Amsterdam
Doors open: 19.00hr
Tryout: 19.30-20.30hr
Feedback session: 20.45-21.30hr
Tickets: €7,50 & €5 (students): https://ificantdance.stager.co/web/tickets/111447489

With:
Nicoline van Harskamp
Ebony Wilson
Cézanne Tegelman
Lidewij Mahler
Rosita Segers

Accessibility information:
– Our space is unfortunately not (yet) wheelchair accessible
– Second floor, no elevator
– Seated event
– Gender neutral WC
– Language: English
Please get in touch with any accessibility questions so that we can accommodate your visit.

Image: Nicoline van Harskamp, ‘Seven Scenes for the Black Box’ (2024). Synthetic speech streaming device (screen shot).

If I Can’t Dance’s study group, part of the COOP programme of the Dutch Art Institute, will present ‘And then I opened my mouth’, a performance that departs from the notion of preparation and builds on the question that was central to the group’s ‘thinking in assembly’ the last months: how can we have, and sustain, a practice? The title of the study group was “The Word and the Wound” and aimed to reflect on practice and its roots in everyday life. The “word” became synonymous with work; the “wound” denoted an environment. In this sense, the title opened to different questions about the relationship between artistic practice, context, and the process of symbolic creation that leads to repair.

If I Can’t Dance is one of five institutions leading a COOP study group for the Dutch Art Institute, including Archive (Berlin, Dakar, Milan), de Appel (Amsterdam), Bulegoa z/b (Bilbao), and Neringa Forest Architecture (Nida). For the 2023/24 curriculum, If I Can’t Dance’s study group programme has been composed by tutors Frederique Bergholtz and Snejanka Mihaylova, together with students Ania Yilmaz, Ariell Zéphyr, Cristina Ramos González, Elif Cadoux, Helena Estrela, Lisa Vlamings, Maria Miguel Pratas, Sam Mountford, Seán Bean, Stephen McEvoy, Tereza Darmovzalová, Valeria Moro, and Yi-Hong Wang. Angelo Custodio, Naomi Collier Broms, Anik Fournier, Sara Giannini, and Lisa Montan have contributed as guest tutors.

Please check the website of the Dutch Art Institute for the day-to-day programme of the COOP Summit and locations (https://dutchartinstitute.eu/page/22239/coop-summit-2024-in-essaouira-an-assemblage-of-happenings).

COOP Summit
Dutch Art Institute
5, 6, 7 September 2024
Dar Souiri (Association Essaouira-Mogador), Essaouira, Morocco
Free

Amsterdam is de culturele hoofdstad van Nederland. Maar voor hoe lang? Politici aan zet: zorg voor meer budget voor een sector in nood en hou de stad leefbaar en levendig.

MOKER / PO_i zet zich in voor de beeldende kunst en creatieve industrie in onze stad. Ontzet hebben we gezien hoe het advies Kunstenplan 2025–2028 van het Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst uitpakt. Te veel instellingen – uit alle disciplines en ook de onze – vallen buiten de boot.

Stichting Beautiful Distress, The Hmm, ISO AMSTERDAM, Treehouse NDSM, Heesterveld Creative Community, Nieuw Dakota, Stichting Landjuweel 2000 (Ruigoord), P/////AKT, AGA LAB, Stichting Open NDSM, If I Can't Dance, I Don't Want To Be Part Of Your Revolution, Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Stichting Art Projects Amsterdam en Stichting Beeldend Gesproken staan met lege handen. De Appel wordt meer dan fors bezuinigd. Terwijl alle instellingen een positief advies ontvingen, krijgen ze toch geen geld.

Het AFK zelf constateert hier over: ‘Voor veel (...) organisaties is ondanks een positief advies geen budget beschikbaar terwijl deze organisaties essentieel zijn voor de rijkdom en de ontwikkeling van de sector”. Daarnaast zijn er ook nog instellingen met een negatief advies voor wie we ons als belangenvereniging waar nodig blijvend zullen inzetten.

· Wil Amsterdam écht culturele hoofdstad blijven?
· Wil de stad mede door kunst & cultuur écht levendig en leefbaar blijven?
· Zorg dan voor structureel en substantieel meer geld voor de kunsten.

*

MOKER / PO_i – Verenigde Beeldende Kunstinstellingen Amsterdam is een samenwerkingsverband tussen instellingen voor beeldende kunst in Amsterdam. Samen zetten we ons in voor het belang van hedendaagse kunst in en voor de stad.

https://moker.amsterdam

A big thank you to all who joined and were generous with their feedback on Rebecca Lillich//Krüger’s performance ‘spit + scotch tape’ that took place on 13 July in If I Can’t Dance’s space in Amsterdam.

Here is a selection of the photo documentation. Also, you are still very welcome to visit our Online Studio for Rebecca’s contribution (https://ificantdance.studio/open-rehearsal/rebecca-lillich-krueger).

In her performance Rebecca unpacked her biography and engaged in a frantic conversation with her past self, as well as with the many inner voices and identities that the self keeps together. With its extremely well-crafted architecture of body movements, sound (and time) loops, spoken word, and a good dose of irony, Rebecca impressed everyone present, leading to a last, lively, generous, and deep feedback session with the audience.

Rebecca Lillich//Krüger’ performance was part of the third cycle of our Open Rehearsal programme, also including presentations by Artun Alaska Arasli and Yin Yin Wong. With Open Rehearsal we aim to support the development of performance practices across the diverse communities of artists based in Amsterdam and the Netherlands, aiming to create much-needed time and space for intimate dialogue on ideas and works-in-progress.

Open Rehearsal was made possible with a project subsidy of Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst.


alaska.arasli



Images: Rebecca Lillich//Krüger, ‘spit + scotch tape’, performance, 13 July 2024, If I Can’t Dance, Amsterdam. Photos Prins de Vos.

A big thank you to all who joined and were generous with their feedback on ‘Conveyor’, a performance by Artun Alaska Arasli with his mother Mahinur Songül Çenetoğlu that took place on 6 July in If I Can’t Dance’s space in Amsterdam.

Here is a selection of the photo documentation. Also, you are still very welcome to visit our Online Studio for Artun’s contribution (https://ificantdance.studio/open-rehearsal/artun-alaska-arasli).

Approaching family dynamics through the conventions of theatre, Artun staged a conceptual and yet highly affectual performance that intrigued, charmed, and challenged all those present. Framed as a rehearsal of a rehearsal of Mahinur’s come back to theatre after a long hiatus, Mahinur played the role of mother and aspiring actress, while Artun mixed the roles of son, director, stagehand, and ‘souffleur’. With a dressing room on stage, the performance stepped in and out of fiction, showing how love and care are inextricably connected to systems of representation and power.

Artun Alaska Arasli’s performance was part of the third cycle of our Open Rehearsal programme, also including presentations by Yin Yin Wong and Rebecca Lillich//Krüger. With Open Rehearsal we aim to support the development of performance practices across the diverse communities of artists based in Amsterdam and the Netherlands, aiming to create much-needed time and space for intimate dialogue on ideas and works-in-progress.

Open Rehearsal was made possible with a project subsidy of Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst.


alaska.arasli



Images: Artun Alaska Arasli in collaboration with Mahinur Songül Çenetoğlu, ‘Conveyor’, 6 July 2024, If I Can’t Dance, Amsterdam. Photos Prins de Vos.

A big thank you to all who contributed with their presence and generous feedback during Yin Yin Wong’s ‘Remembering Pinetrees’!

With their efficiency of means, humour, and powerful delivery, Yin Yin created a performance that moved all those present, unravelling the beautiful, complex, and heavy realities of the rise and fall of an immigrant family running a Chinese-Malaysian restaurant from 1994 to 2014 in Nijmegen.

Here is a selection of the photo documentation. Also, you are still very welcome to visit our Online Studio for Yin Yin’s contribution (https://ificantdance.studio/open-rehearsal/yin-yin-wong).

Yin Yin Wong’s performance was part of the third cycle of our Open Rehearsal programme, also including presentations by Artun Alaska Arasli and Rebecca Lillich//Krüger. With Open Rehearsal we aim to support the development of performance practices across the diverse communities of artists based in Amsterdam and the Netherlands, aiming to create much-needed time and space for intimate dialogue on ideas and works-in-progress.

Open Rehearsal was made possible with the financial support of AFK’s Risicovolle programmering.


alaska.arasli

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Images: Yin Yin Wong, ‘Remembering Pinetrees’, performance, 29 June 2024, If I Can’t Dance, Amsterdam. Dramaturgy and coaching by Raffia Li. Photos Prins de Vos.

Join us tomorrow for the open rehearsal of Rebecca Lillich//Krüger in our space at the Wilhelmina Gasthuis Terrain in Amsterdam.

In three consecutive weeks, the participants in this year’s Open Rehearsal programme - Artun Alaska Arasli, Rebecca Lillich//Krüger and Yin Yin Wong - will present their performances and invite audiences for feedback.

Rebecca Lillich//Krüger will present ‘spit + scotch tape’, an unraveling of given family myths and narratives. ‘spit + scotch tape’ began as Lillich//Krüger’s Master’s thesis in 2018, and now returns in a new light, offering identity as an echo, a collection of traces and references that accrue into an insistent yearning towards a blind future created by a never-ending past.

Open Rehearsal is If I Can’t Dance’s open call initiative to support the development of performance practices across the diverse communities of artists based in Amsterdam and the Netherlands, aiming to create much-needed time and space for intimate dialogue on ideas and works-in-process. The programme welcomes artists from various practices such as, and not limited to, architecture, poetry, dance, music, theatre, and visual arts.

Taking the familiar form of the open rehearsal as a starting point, Open Rehearsal unfolds across on-site and online spaces. You are very welcome to visit the rooms designed by Rebecca Lillich//Krüger, Yin Yin Wong, and Artun Alaska Arasli in If I Can’t Dance’s Online Studio. Dedicated to each of the Open Rehearsal participants’ performances, here you can acquaint yourself with their works.

Rebecca Lillich//Krüger
‘spit + scotch tape’
Saturday 13 July, 16-18hr
WG-Plein 881, Amsterdam
ificantdance.studio
Tickets: €7,50 & €5 (students)
https://ificantdance.stager.co/web/tickets/111424221


alaska.arasli

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Accessibility information:
– Our space is unfortunately not (yet) wheelchair accessible
– Second floor, no elevator
– Seated event
– Gender neutral WC
– Language: English
Please get in touch with any accessibility questions to accommodate your visit.

Video: Fragment of Rebecca Lillich//Krüger's, ‘spit + scotch tape’ (2024) in the If I Can’t Dance Online Studio.

You are warmly invited to join the open rehearsal of Rebecca Lillich//Krüger this Saturday in our space at the Wilhelmina Gasthuis Terrain in Amsterdam.

In three consecutive weeks, the participants in this year’s Open Rehearsal programme - Artun Alaska Arasli, Rebecca Lillich//Krüger and Yin Yin Wong - will present their performances and invite audiences for feedback.

Rebecca Lillich//Krüger will present ‘spit + scotch tape’, an unraveling of given family myths and narratives. ‘spit + scotch tape’ began as Lillich//Krüger’s Master’s thesis in 2018, and now returns in a new light, offering identity as an echo, a collection of traces and references that accrue into an insistent yearning towards a blind future created by a never-ending past.

Open Rehearsal is If I Can’t Dance’s open call initiative to support the development of performance practices across the diverse communities of artists based in Amsterdam and the Netherlands, aiming to create much-needed time and space for intimate dialogue on ideas and works-in-process. The programme welcomes artists from various practices such as, and not limited to, architecture, poetry, dance, music, theatre, and visual arts.

Taking the familiar form of the open rehearsal as a starting point, Open Rehearsal unfolds across on-site and online spaces. You are very welcome to visit the rooms designed by Rebecca Lillich//Krüger, Yin Yin Wong, and Artun Alaska Arasli in If I Can’t Dance’s Online Studio. Dedicated to each of the Open Rehearsal participants’ performances, here you can acquaint yourself with their works.

Rebecca Lillich//Krüger
‘spit + scotch tape’
Saturday 13 July, 16-18hr
WG-Plein 881, Amsterdam
ificantdance.studio
Tickets: €7,50 & €5 (students)
https://ificantdance.stager.co/web/tickets/111424221


alaska.arasli

/

Accessibility information:
– Our space is unfortunately not (yet) wheelchair accessible
– Second floor, no elevator
– Seated event
– Gender neutral WC
– Language: English
Please get in touch with any accessibility questions to accommodate your visit.

Images: Fragments of Rebecca Lillich//Krüger's, ‘spit + scotch tape’ (2024) in the If I Can’t Dance Online Studio. Art by Victoria Lillich. Design by I was about to tell you I love you.

Join us tomorrow for the open rehearsal of Artun Alaska Arasli in our space at the Wilhelmina Gasthuis Terrain in Amsterdam.

In three consecutive weeks, the participants in this year’s Open Rehearsal programme - Artun Alaska Arasli, Rebecca Lillich//Krüger and Yin Yin Wong - will present their performances and invite audiences for feedback.

Artun Alaska Arasli will present his performance ‘Conveyor’, in which he collaborates with his mother, Mahinur Songül Çenetoğlu, a self-taught (and recent) actress. In the performance Artun's mother will be staging a carousel of roles she would have wanted to play had she started acting as originally intended from age eighteen.

Open Rehearsal is If I Can’t Dance’s open call initiative to support the development of performance practices across the diverse communities of artists based in Amsterdam and the Netherlands, aiming to create much-needed time and space for intimate dialogue on ideas and works-in-process. The programme welcomes artists from various practices such as, and not limited to, architecture, poetry, dance, music, theatre, and visual arts.

Taking the familiar form of the open rehearsal as a starting point, Open Rehearsal unfolds across on-site and online spaces. You are very welcome to visit the rooms designed by Artun Alaska Arasli, Rebecca Lillich//Krüger, Yin Yin Wong in If I Can’t Dance’s Online Studio. Dedicated to each of the Open Rehearsal participants’ performances, here you can acquaint yourself with their works.

Artun Alaska Arasli with Mahinur Songül Çenetoğlu
‘Conveyor’
Saturday 6 July, 16-18hr
WG-Plein 881, Amsterdam
ificantdance.studio
Tickets: €7,50 & €5 (students)
https://ificantdance.stager.co/web/tickets/111424242


alaska.arasli

/

Accessibility information:
– Our space is unfortunately not (yet) wheelchair accessible
– Second floor, no elevator
– Seated event
– Gender neutral WC
– Language: English
Please get in touch with any accessibility questions to accommodate your visit.

Video: Fragment of Artun Alaska Arasli & Mahinur Songül Çenetoğlu's, ‘Conveyor’ (2024) in the If I Can’t Dance Online Studio.

We are incredibly happy to announce that we can continue developing our programme for another four years with the support of Mondriaan Fund's Kunstpodia subsidy!

We sincerely thank the artists, researchers, curators, coproduction- and education partners, support teams, and audiences who have shaped this programme in recent years. We look forward to continuing our exploration and work in the field of performance through collaborations, both (inter)nationally and within our local communities in the city and on the Wilhelmina Gasthuis terrain.

We hope to see you all at our events or visiting our performance library and archive in our new space.

Image: Solidarity sale during Learning Palestine, a 12h programme organised by Oo(y)ster mums at If I Can’t Dance on 2 December 2023.

On Saturday 22 June, If I Can’t Dance hosted an intergenerational iteration of the Book Bloc Workshop, convened by the together with the . Participants of different ages worked together to produce twenty fully finished shields in both adult and kids’ sizes to be sent to encampments throughout the Netherlands. The shields feature a selection of book covers from the walking bibliography, which for the occasion, also included children’s books about the Palestinian struggle. Alongside the sweatshop, the workshop had two outdoor tactical training sessions led by choreographer and performance artist

We look back at this first day of summer with a warm hearth, and want to thank all the participants and facilitators for their generous and creative contributions!

Some notes on the Book bloc
Book bloc began during student protests in Rome in 2010. The first prototypes were heavy-duty book covers painted on foam and plexiglass shields, which were used to protect protestors from police brutality.

To support the student encampments mushrooming all over the Netherlands, relaunched the book bloc and assembled in Amsterdam to re-construct humbly adapted shields, using covers of books that compose a necessary reading list about Palestine (and the times we live in.

Images: Intergenerational Book Bloc Sweatshop at If I Can't Dance, 22 June 2024. Photo & video: Selçuk Balamir.

You are warmly invited to join the open rehearsal of Artun Alaska Arasli this Saturday in our space at the Wilhelmina Gasthuis Terrain in Amsterdam.

In three consecutive weeks, the participants in this year’s Open Rehearsal programme - Artun Alaska Arasli, Rebecca Lillich//Krüger and Yin Yin Wong - will present their performances and invite audiences for feedback.

Artun Alaska Arasli will present his performance ‘Conveyor’, in which he collaborates with his mother, Mahinur Songül Çenetoğlu, a self-taught (and recent) actress. In the performance Artun's mother will be staging a carousel of roles she would have wanted to play had she started acting as originally intended from age eighteen.

Open Rehearsal is If I Can’t Dance’s open call initiative to support the development of performance practices across the diverse communities of artists based in Amsterdam and the Netherlands, aiming to create much-needed time and space for intimate dialogue on ideas and works-in-process. The programme welcomes artists from various practices such as, and not limited to, architecture, poetry, dance, music, theatre, and visual arts.

Taking the familiar form of the open rehearsal as a starting point, Open Rehearsal unfolds across on-site and online spaces. You are very welcome to visit the rooms designed by Artun Alaska Arasli, Rebecca Lillich//Krüger, and Yin Yin Wong in If I Can’t Dance’s Online Studio. Dedicated to each of the Open Rehearsal participants’ performances, here you can acquaint yourself with their works.

Artun Alaska Arasli with Mahinur Songül Çenetoğlu
‘Conveyor’
Saturday 6 July, 16-18hr
WG-Plein 881, Amsterdam
ificantdance.studio
Tickets: €7,50 & €5 (students)
https://ificantdance.stager.co/web/tickets/111424242


alaska.arasli

/

Accessibility information:
– Our space is unfortunately not (yet) wheelchair accessible
– Second floor, no elevator
– Seated event
– Gender neutral WC
– Language: English
Please get in touch with any accessibility questions to accommodate your visit.

Images: Fragments of Artun Alaska Arasli & Mahinur Songül Çenetoğlu's, ‘Conveyor’ (2024) in the If I Can’t Dance Online Studio.