Kunsthal Rotterdam

Exhibitions of do it have taken place at over fifty different locations, from the Manchester Art Gallery to the Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum of Art in Adelaide and the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow.

Just like pieces of music that can be played simultaneously by musicians all over the world, no two versions of do it are ever identical when carried out. Instructions for the artworks are reinterpreted with every new presentation. These individuals may be artists, colleagues or museum attendants. The Kunsthal Rotterdam do itis an innovative Kunsthal project along the lines of MaakMee (2013) and Museum Minutes (2012), projects that include public participation and other takes on experiencing and presenting art.

Do it with the kunsthal

This summer, both young and old alike can join in and contribute towards the Kunsthal Rotterdam do it exhibition. The title is self-explanatory: this is DIY! This is unadulterated public participation because the active role played by visitors is extremely important to the creation of some of the many artworks. The Kunsthal is inviting everyone, with as much spirit and enthusiasm as they can muster, to help realise do it.

For the first time in the history of the Kunsthal, no artworks will have to be transported from A to B for an exhibition. In collaboration with guest curator Jeroen Everaert, director of Mothership, over fifty do it instructions have been selected to be realised at the Kunsthal. Well-known Rotterdam-based artists including Chris Versteeg, Arno Coenen&Iris Roskam&Abner Preis and Luuk Bode have been invited to follow instructions by Trisha Donnelly, Jay Chung and Sol LeWitt respectively. Cultural initiatives such as Wake up in It, Baschz Leeft & Janjoost Jullens, creative minds such as Natasa Heydra, and entrepreneurs have been invited to take part in do it. Opperclaes, a platform for young contemporary art, will select contemporary calligraphers and muralists ─ including Guido de Boer, Thomas Trum & Koen Taselaar, ATTAK, The Phoney Club, Bijdevleet en Joseph Hughes ─ to visualise do it instructions by Stephen Kaltenbach, Marjetica Potrč and Louise Bourgeois.

Local and major partners and sponsors, including Schaap ironmongers, Van Beek Art Supplies and lingerie brand Sapph, have been invited to contribute to the exhibition by following a particular do itinstruction. Felix Kops and Konkel & Kraan have been invited to realise the ‘Shoot it' instruction by Cao Fei (2004), which is to ‘film yourself as if you were a world leader', and is described in 13 meticulous steps. Furthermore, quality confectionery manufacturer Jamin4You Rotterdam, originally based in Rotterdam, will be working with the instruction ‘Get 80 kg of pre-packaged local confectionery and place it in a corner somewhere', as part of the do it instruction ‘Untitled' by Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1994). Other do itinstructions invite visitors to actively participate, with instructions like ‘When you are walking, stop and smile at a stranger' by Louise Bourgeois (2002), ‘WISH PEACE' by Yoko Ono (1996), ‘Instruction' by Joan Jonas (2002) and ‘A Black not Straight Line' by Sol LeWitt (2001).

The history of do it

The do it project started out in 1993 in Paris as a conversation between curator Hans Ulrich Obrist and the artists Christian Boltanski and Bertrand Lavier. They wanted to make an exhibition that would continually generate new versions of itself in a similar fashion to the conceptual, minimalist and Fluxus practices of the 1960s and 1970s. In order to test this idea, they invited twelve artists to write instructions for art that could be interpreted over and again for each new presentation. Even after twenty years, this open ‘exhibition model' is as topical as ever and gives new meaning to the concept of ‘an exhibition in progress'. Every do itexhibition is realised in consultation with the local community, and at the same time develops internationally with each new version of itself. The first do it took place in 1994 at the Ritter Kunsthalle in Klagenfurt, Austria.

In collaboration with:

Bijdevleet • Studio Spass • Gino Hoiting • Joseph Hughes • The Phoney Club • Koen Taselaar & Thomas Trum • Johan Moorman • Guido de Boer • Vincent de Boer • Natasa Heydra • Haas&Hahn • Lenny Oosterwijk • Arno Coenen&Iris Roskam&Abner Preis • Baschz Leeft & Janjoost Jullens • ATTAK • André Smits Artist In The World • Bruce Tsai • Daan den Houter • Chris Versteeg • Nicole Martens• Luuk Bode • Wake Up in Art • Driessens & van den Baar • Job Pattinasarany • Arjan Smit • Mwah - tekstuele verwenners • Felix Kops en Konkel & Kraan • Job Wouters

Mediapartner: OPEN Rotterdam