Exhibition Open: 16–18 May and on request on 23 and 24 May

Part of the Open Call series

By hard experience they had learnt that isolated efforts were doomed to failure,
— C.L.R. James, The Black Jacobins

senakirfa A. & S*an D. Henry-Smith present new works in collaboration grounded in the poetics of hands and the logics of their phonic exchange. What precedes their collaboration is a shared collection of resonances kept in and held by poetry, field recordings, objects, and photographs.

senakirfa A. is an interdisciplinary artist and poet whose work is grounded and explores the poetics of African Diasporic world-making in Amsterdam. A.’s work across sculpture, screenprinting, zine-making, and writing is an extension of A.’s poetry practice, through which A. explores and centers poetic in(ter)ventions. A. is currently awarded the 3Package Deal Fellowship by the Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst.

S*an D. Henry-Smith (b. 1992, New York) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Amsterdam, working across poetry, photography, sound, and performance. They earned an MFA from the Sandberg Instituut and have exhibited at ROZENSTRAAT (2023) and White Columns (2021). Their book "Wild Peach" (2020) was shortlisted for the PEN Open Book Award. Henry-Smith has received numerous fellowships, including from Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunst and the Fulbright Program. Their work, rooted in Black and queer creative legacies, explores themes of witness, improvisation, and resistance against systems of exploitation. Engaging with histories of Black migrations, Henry-Smith rejects traditional representations of suffering or excellence, instead embracing slowness, memory, and nonlinear narratives. Their practice unfolds through photography, writing, sound, and installation, creating layered, multisensory experiences.

Opening Times: 30 March, 5 & 6 April, 12 & 13 April, 19 & 20 April. 13:00-18:00.

Part of the Open Call series

Each week in April, Maria Zandvliet, Lyckle de Jong, Kim David Bots and G.C. Heemskerk will create and perform a new musical theater piece. Which will be filmed by DOP Sjuul Joosen. Each piece consists of music, text, costumes, lighting, scenery and props, which are made on site. The remains of the performances — sets, costumes, props and (video) documentation — form a weekly, changing exhibition.

Each performance has its own storyline, inspired by the history of the WG site, market forces in healthcare and the aesthetics of healthcare environments. The pieces are episodic and connected, but can also be experienced separately. We work sequentially from the themes: Healthy, Sick, Death and The Afterlife. After the exhibition we will make a film, enriched with sound design, drawings and music, seen as a powerful tool for knowledge transfer.

Performances:

1. Gezond (30 March 16:00)
2. Ziek (6 April 16:00)
3. Dood (13 April 16:00)
4. Het Hiernamaals (20 April 16:00)

In our society today, there is a strong emphasis on health. Buildings are designed for healthy, human bodies, with limited consideration for individuals who are supposedly 'deviant'. This is also true in everyday life, where strict standards determine what is considered deviant or healthy, what is considered natural and what is not. These images influence not only the design of our buildings and public spaces, but also how we are allowed to behave, what gender we are assigned, how we feel, and whether we are excluded or given more opportunities. By playing with the idea of health and illness, we challenge these normative frameworks and create an absurdist narrative that opens up new possibilities. We ask questions such as: Why is health seen as the responsibility of an individual? Isn't it eminently a social thing? This is a core part of our method: we constantly take on different roles, trying to be something we are not ourselves, thus empathically putting ourselves in the shoes of a “sick” or “healthy” Other. Perhaps fiction is the best way to really feel what it is like to be in a different situation. Fiction can thus even be seen as a powerful tool for knowledge transfer.

The artists are supported by the Mondriaan Funds and Stroom Den Haag.

Photos by Studio Plancius (www.studioplancius.com).

Exhibition Opening Times:
Thu-Sun: 14:00 - 18:00
Mon-Wed: by Appointment* 

Lecture: 22 March, 14:00 - 18:00

Part of the airWG series

Mapping Belonging presents an in-depth reflection on the spatial conditions for belonging as experienced by Mayrah Udvardi, atelierWG Artist in Residence. During her three-month residency, Udvardi examined the diverse places she has called home—defined as any location where she lived for three months or more with access to a kitchen—to consider how architecture, geography, and cultural context informed her sense of place.

How does your built environment contribute to your sense of belonging — or displacement?

In her role as Design Director with MASS Design Group — a global nonprofit that partners with communities to design, build, and advocate for architecture that promotes justice and human dignity — Udvardi habitually poses this question to others. Yet her creative practice is deeply personal, shaped by repeated experiences of placemaking and uprooting that began in childhood.

By the time she came of age, Udvardi had learned two profound lessons. First, political access does not equate to social acceptance. Although citizenship in three countries eased border crossings for her family, it held no sway on the playground. Belonging, she observed, arises from shared history, a connection to place, and a sense of steadfastness — all of which eluded her.

Second, the construction of homes and territories perpetuates transnational “slow violence” — the gradual harm inflicted by privileged communities on marginalized peoples and ecosystems. She witnessed this in the suburbanization of her birthplace in Ngunnawal country (Australian Capital Territory), which rendered thousands of acres vulnerable to fire; in the influx of migrants to post-wall Berlin fleeing war and economic hardship; and in the precarious farmworker housing underpinning Oregon’s agricultural empire. While she eventually accepted that belonging might remain elusive, the reality of slow violence became a galvanizing force in her professional practice.

Udvardi’s retrospective is organized as an interactive catalogue of cartographies that trace the emotional and historical significance of each past home at domestic, community, and regional scales. Visitors are invited to engage tactilely with the catalogue, drawing their own conclusions about each home’s capacity to foster belonging. Ultimately, Mapping Belonging urges contemplation of how origins, migrations, and memories converge to form a sense of home and challenges viewers to question the complex forces shaping our relationships with place.

Photography by Studio Plancius

Exhibition Open: 4 - 9 March, 13:00 – 18:00

Part of the atelierWG series

Alexandra Verkerk & Joop Haring invite you to their show in puntWG, Amsterdam.

It’s our reflection to ‘Nature’,  all around us. And it’s Springtime!

We're showing: Paintings, sculptures, drawings and wall hangings in puntWG

Slideshow: Friday, March 7 at 17:00 in puntWG

Spring-party / Finissage: Sunday, March 9 at 14:00 – 18:00

See our website: www.haringverkerk-art.nl

Photography by Studio Plancius