Archive Event V - Spiritus - Archiving the (Un)imaginable
10 September 2022

How do we archive, understand and explain challenging phenomena, and how do the stories we tell, and the ways we tell them, connect us to what is beyond ourselves and into the fringes of our own understanding?

In conjunction with the first edition of the Public Research Residency, Looiersgracht 60 is pleased to present the fifth edition of their Archive Series on Saturday September 10, 2022. ‘Spiritus – Archiving the (Un)imaginable’ is the title of the collective project between artists, Doina Kraal and Roger Cremers who were invited by Looiersgracht 60 and Radical Reversibility as the inaugural residents.

The overarching questions of Spiritus surround the representation and visualization of the universe and the stories that are told to describe (speculative) phenomena, histories and future scenarios. Constantly looking for ways to keep the narrative of an object alive, both Kraal and Cremers work with compilation and collaboration as a methodology of reviving and engaging with historical context. Their substantive and long-term collaboration has been made visible to the public over the course of four weeks through a diverse public event programme consisting of collective discussions, film screenings, and panel talks with experts in the field of astronomical research, philosophy and religious studies.

Now to finish their time in residence, they will present the culmination of their work within the context of the Archive Series as a sound performance titled 'Oumuamua' set against an immersive installation of large-scale sculptural works. This site-specific installation and performance will pull research and materials from the previous public events and will invite musicians Boele Weemhoff and Sylvian Kloens to collaborate on a live instrumental performance.

Doors open at 20:00, the performance will begin at 20:30 and will be followed by a small reception and intimate dialogue with the artists around their on-going explorations and outcomes of their time in residency. Admission is free, but places are limited, please email us at info@looiersgracht60.org if you would like to attend.

Archive Event Series
Looiersgracht 60 has a multifunctional history as a cardboard factory, printing facility and bottling plant. These many uses of the space inspired an interest in how we archive past histories and practices and how this speaks to our understanding of how to bring these elements into our contemporary frameworks. Looiersgracht 60’s Archive Series are unique, site-specific events, performances and installations investigating archives with artists and practitioners who are actively engaged in better understanding the past in our present.

Roger Cremers
Roger Cremers studied at the Academie voor Beeldende Kunsten in Maastricht and the Rijksakademie voor Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. Cremers works with historical images, such as archival imagery, magazines, and more recently the representation of images in social media, which emphasize a collective striving towards progress. This process leads his research into a distinct juxtaposition of historical reference and narratives, which interweave both past and present. Cremers’ work has been exhibited at AKINCI, Amsterdam, Batabgianni Gallery, Athens, HEDAH, Maastricht, Institut Neerlandais, Paris, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Bignan, among others.

Doina Kraal
Doina Kraal studied Fine Art at Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam (BA) and at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London (MA). From 2020 to 2022 Kraal was a PhD candidate at PhDArts, a practice-lead doctoral study programme at ACPA (Academy of Creative and Performing Arts), Leiden University. Kraal works through installation and performance, and investigates how intimate and multisensory encounters imprint between object and viewer. In 2018 Onomatopee published Touche-à-Tout, a comprehensive collection of writings, images and documentation around Kraal’s research. Kraal’s work and publications have been presented at Foam, Amsterdam, MAMA, Rotterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Flora, Bogota, Soledad Senlle Art Foundation among others.

Radical Reversibility
Radical Reversibility is a practice and research-based arts platform interested in the interplay between image, viewer and perception. Founded in 2017 by artists Martine Stig, Elodie Hiryczuk & Sjoerd van Oevelen, and curator / editor Frank van der Stok, Radical Reversibility was expanded in 2020 with curator and writer Taco Hidde Bakker and image editor Isabelle van Hemert. Radical Reversibility functions as a network and a laboratory where artists, writers, curators and academics seek to contextualize their own work within new practices and engage in discourses in and beyond the arts by bringing together research projects in public events, exhibitions and publications.