| Don Quijote |
| 28 April – 6 August 2006 |
| Curators: Nicolaus Schafhausen and Sophie
von Olfers
|
| |
Witte de With opened its first season under
the direction of Nicolaus Schafhausen with two exhibitions: the first
solo exhibition in the Netherlands of Mathias Poledna and the thematic
group exhibition Don Quijote. Featuring twenty-two international artists,
the exhibition presented artworks across a range of media, all of which
put idealism and irrationality to the test.
Four hundred years after it was written, Miguel de Cervantes’ masterpiece
Don Quijote de la Mancha continues to exert a strong influence on our
imagination, whether we have read the book or not. Its wandering ‘knight’
and his faithful servant Sancho Panza are ingrained in our collective
cultural memory, and their idealistic quest has been used as a metaphor
for many journeys since, both physical and imaginary.
Just like the story that inspired it, this exhibition contains a vast
array of intense human relationships, passionate anecdotes, personal struggles,
tragicomic failures, and devastating self-destruction. The exhibition
takes a renewed look at Cervantes’ tale, retelling it in a contemporary
voice. The figure of Don Quijote reminds us that idealism will eventually
be grounded by practicality, and that the realisation of insane visions
will always be restricted by the pragmatic world in which we live.
Don Quijote presented works ranging from surreal musical performances
to humble wooden sculptures, from contemporary figurative painting to
the mapping of vanished routes through Rotterdam, from mini manufactured
bio-systems to life-size puppets. Michael Beutler constructed a topography
in the gallery space that acts as a stage set for the exhibition, emphasising
its theatricality and bringing together the many works in a weird and
wonderful landscape.
A prelude to future group shows, Don Quijote refers on a deeper level
to Witte de With’s current phase of self-assessment and the re-examination
of the institution’s role. For, if we see Don Quijote’s idealistic
battles as an analogy for the struggles faced by contemporary art institutions,
we may spot a new set of windmills on today’s cultural horizon. |
| |
| Artists: |
| Michael Beutler, Johanna Billing, Manon
de Boer, Gerard Byrne, Ryan Gander, Tue Greenfort, William Hunt, Sven
Johne, Jesper Just, Annette Kelm, David Lieske, Damian Moppett, Chris
Moukarbel, Ivan Navarro, Christopher Orr, Pablo Pijnappel, Mark Raidpere,
Hannah Rickards, Markus Schinwald, Anj Smith, Kostis Velonis and Richard
T. Walker. |
