Kunstinstituut Melly Explained

Kunstinstituut Melly
Map Type:Northern and Central Europe
Former Name:Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art
Established:1990[1]
Location:50 Witte de Withstraat, 3012 BR
Rotterdam the Netherlands
Type:Contemporary art gallery
Director:Sofía Hernández Chong Cuy[2]
Curator:Jessy Koeiman, Rosa De Graff

Kunstinstituut Melly[3] [4] [5] is a contemporary art gallery located in a former school building on Witte de Withstraat, in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. It was founded in 1990 and originally named after the street it was located on. It presents curated exhibitions, symposiums, live events, educational programs, and has a separate art literature publishing arm.

In 2017, the Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, as it was known, announced it would change its name in order to distance itself from its de facto namesake, the Dutch naval admiral Witte de With, and recognise the negative impacts of colonialism. Its new name, Kunstinstituut Melly, was announced in 2020,[6] [7] and references a sculpture by Canadian artist Ken Lum displayed on the exterior wall of the building entitled Melly Shum Hates Her Job (1989).

History

The gallery was formerly known as the Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art and was established in 1990 as a center for contemporary art with a mission of curating and exhibiting international art exhibitions. It is based in a former school building, which it shares with the TENT gallery.[8]

Chris Dercon was the first director from 1990 to 1996.[9] He was followed by Bartomeu Marí (1996–2001), Catherine David (2002–2004), Hans Maarten van den Brink (2004–2006) and Nicolaus Schafhausen (2006–2011). Defne Ayas was appointed director in 2012, and was succeeded by Sofía Hernández Chong Cuy in 2018.

Name change

On 17 September 2017, the center announced it would be changing its title because it was named after Witte de With, a Dutch naval officer who had worked for the Dutch East India Company and the Dutch West India Company and therefore was associated with colonialism.[10] [11] Then director Defne Ayas commented, "We were named after our location in 1990, the street in which we are situated is named after. Naming art institutions after locations in a bid to affirm neutrality was a trend in those days." The problem with the name was highlighted by critic Egbert Alejandro Martina during preparatory meetings for the exhibition Cinema Olanda: Platform, which ran alongside the Dutch pavilion at the Venice Biennale. An open letter from Martina and others stated, "Witte de With has 'failed' to come to terms with its own internal contradictions, and has yet to reckon with the historical figure it symbolically embodies."[12]

In response, the center titled its next exhibition Witte de With; What's in a name?. The ongoing debate became a national controversy.[13] By January 2020, questions were being asked in the mainstream media about why the center had not changed its name.[14] In June 2020, as part of the George Floyd protests in the Netherlands, activists vandalized symbols of colonialism in Rotterdam. These included the Piet Hein statue in Delfshaven, the Pim Fortuyn memorial and the Witte de With Center, where they left handprints in red paint.[15] In response, the center immediately took down its name board from the building, and director Sofia Hernandez Chong Cuy announced that there would be a consultation period and then a new name would be announced on January 27, 2021.[16] The centre produced a timeline to record the process.[17] [18]

Selected exhibitions

In 2009 a year-long program at Witte de With was structured as a series of group shows, presentations, performances, screenings and debates [19] including participations by Dineo Seshee Bopape, D.O.R., Simon Denny, Yngve Holen, Mark Leckey, Patrizio di Massimo, Lili Reynaud-Dewar, and Jeremy Shaw.[20]

Douglas Coupland held an exhibition called Bit Rot at the center in 2016.[21]

In 2019, the center hosted a solo show by Firelei Báez about the Haitian Revolution.[22]

External links

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Notes and References

  1. Book: Lorente, J. Pedro. The Museums of Contemporary Art: Notion and Development. 2011. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.. 9781409405863. 7.
  2. Web site: Sofía Hernández Chong Cuy. . 2018-01-08 . 2018-01-08 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180108175507/http://www.wdw.nl/en/about_us/team/sof_a_hern_ndez_chong_cuy . live .
  3. News: Kunstinstelling Witte de With in Rotterdam heet voortaan Melly . 2 October 2020 . nos.nl . nl.
  4. Web site: New name, new identity: An interview with Sofía Hernández Chong Cuy, the director of Kunstinstituut Melly. 2021-01-27. 2021-01-27. Art Index Rotterdam.
  5. Web site: Who Is Melly Shum? On FKA Witte de With's Name Change. 2020-10-27. 2021-01-27. Ocula.
  6. Web site: Verslag van de directeur en de raad van toezicht 30 september 2020 . 2 October 2020.
  7. Web site: Noem ons voortaan Kunstinstituut Melly . Kunstinstituut Melly . 2 October 2020 . 13 October 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201013104001/https://www.fkawdw.nl/nl/about_us/news/call_us_kunstinstituut_melly . dead .
  8. Web site: Witte de With, Center for Contemporary Art . Rotterdam Tourist Information . Rotterdam . 2 September 2020 . 5 September 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200905164313/https://en.rotterdam.info/locations/witte-de-with-center-for-contemporary-art/ . live .
  9. Web site: About us . https://web.archive.org/web/20181116215718/https://www.wdw.nl/en/about_us/team . 2018-11-16. 2018-11-16 .
  10. Web site: Witte de With art museum decolonizes name . 2020-09-02 . 2020-07-22 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200722105449/https://hyperallergic.com/399876/witte-de-with-art-museum-decolonizes-name/ . live .
  11. Web site: About. live. 31 August 2020. WdW Name Change. 30 June 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200630164415/http://change.wdw.nl/about/.
  12. Web site: Open letter to Witte de With . 2020-09-02 . 2020-07-05 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200705055818/https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeCz5ep2pGUvQNbuxYyn38aBLrSJy-PzZAjuwht5xPkY-vW_A/viewform?c=0&w=1 . live .
  13. Web site: De aangekondigde dood van Witte de With [Death of Witte de With announced] ]. 2020-09-02 . 2020-07-22 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200722105712/https://www.groene.nl/artikel/de-aangekondigde-dood-van-witte-de-with . live .
  14. Web site: The protracted renaming of Witte de With and the capability of doing better. 2020-09-02 . 2020-08-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200807115333/https://www.dipsaus.org/exclusives-posts/2020/6/13/the-protracted-renaming-of-witte-de-with-and-the-capability-of-doing-better . live .
  15. Web site: ANTI-RACISM GRAFFITI ON ROTTERDAM STATUES, ART CENTER . 2020-09-02 . 2020-09-05 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200905164312/https://nltimes.nl/2020/06/12/anti-racism-graffiti-rotterdam-statues-art-center . live .
  16. Web site: ROTTERDAM MUSEUM DROPS NAME LINKED TO 17TH CENTURY NAVAL OFFICER . 2020-09-02 . 2020-09-05 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200905164312/https://nltimes.nl/2020/06/28/rotterdam-museum-drops-name-linked-17th-century-naval-officer . live .
  17. Web site: 19 June 2020. Timeline. live. 31 August 2020. WdW Name Change. 5 September 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200905164343/http://change.wdw.nl/reports-media/timeline1/.
  18. Web site: 2020-11-25. Who Is Melly Shum? On FKA Witte de With's Name Change. 2020-11-25. ocula.com. en.
  19. Web site: Morality . 2018-11-16 . 2018-04-28 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180428183537/http://www.wdw.nl/en/our_program/exhibitions/morality . live .
  20. Web site: Act IX. 2018-11-16 . 2018-11-05 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181105021651/http://www.wdw.nl/en/our_program/exhibitions/act_ix_let_us_compare_mythologies . live .
  21. Web site: Douglas Coupland, Raimundas Malašauskas and "Art in the Age of… Asymmetrical Warfare?" at Witte de With, Rotterdam . 2020-09-02 . 2018-09-22 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180922211521/http://moussemagazine.it/link-rot-art-in-the-age-of-asymmetrical-warfare-witte-de-with-2015/ . live .
  22. Web site: Firelei Báez at Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam . Art News. 7 February 2019. 2020-09-02 . 2020-09-05 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200905164337/https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/firelei-baez-witte-de-center-contemporary-art-rotterdam-11863/ . live .

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