On Dedication

On Dedication is a group show that aims to develop a contemporary understanding of the idea of dedication through five original collaborations between artists and respondents from backgrounds in theology, philosophy, and the arts. The exhibition consists of five pieces of work that each present – either through their subject matter or their research and production methodology – a unique and individual interpretation of the guiding theme. The exhibition is accompanied by a publication commissioned especially for On Dedication, in which the respondents each respond to one of the artworks from their particular points of view.

Artists Ben Van den Berghe (BE) and Edi Danartono (DE) present their recent video work Lady Glass and Operator. Showing a slowly rotating educational glass sculpture alongside an electronic soundtrack, the piece meditates on the possible transcendence of the body’s machine-like nature through repetitive movements. Writer and novelist Koel Sels (BE) will respond to the work with a re-working of an earlier text about Van den Berghe’s Infinite Spin.

Harald den Breejen (NL) presents For Bob. Through a combination of photography and writing, this new piece of work muses on his grandfather’s practice of note taking, and on the merits of marginalia both as a window into the personal, and as a commitment to a continuous striving for progress. Philosopher Christopher Hamilton (UK) responds to For Bob by writing about a book from his own collection; a book in which he found a letter addressed simply to ‘Dad’.

Kathleen McKay’s photographic piece Untitled (2010) shows what appears to be a textile sculpture in which different textures suggestively make way for one another. The work is the result of a carefully crafted methodology whereby McKay investigates the possibility of the sculpture to correspond with the mental image that precedes it. Philosopher Sacha Golob (UK) has a long-standing interest in the work of McKay, and will contribute a new response to her work.

Jeremy Millar (UK) shows his video-piece The Oblate, a nearly 3-hour long registration of a monk re-binding a first edition copy of Joris-Karl Huysmans’ book by the same title. Huysmans’ book and Millar’s video are both set in the Benedictine order originally based in Solesmes. Theologian Marcel Barnard (NL), whose specializations include modern art practices as well as the contemporary liturgy that originates from Solesmes, contributes a response to Millar’s video.

Joseph Noonan-Ganley (IE) will show an excerpt of the installation Femme Fabrications, in which he explores the idea of devotional objects (such as flowers picked for his mother) in relation to the work of Joseph Cornell. Artist and art-writer Ciara Finnegan (IE/NL) will respond to the work in the personal manner that characterizes her own practice. In this, she summons a mother figure, responding to Femme Fabrications as “Mom”, a character that is based on a blend of historical fact, fiction and semi-autobiographical information.

On Dedication is a project by Harald den Breejen, King’s College London’s Centre for Philosophy and Visual Art, and Corridor Project Space. On Dedication is supported by the AFK (Amsterdam Fund for the Arts), Amsterdam Stadsdeel Oost, and King’s College London’s Centre for Philosophy and Visual Art; and with special thanks to Noor Nuyten / Dialog. The show opens on 7 Oct (18:00-22:00), and closes on 5 Nov as part of Museumnacht Amsterdam with a night of events (see corridorprojectspace.com for details).

Corridor Project Space is open on Thu, Fri, and Sat (14:00-18:00).