Questions Collective Comes to New York

Thu, Oct 4 - Sat, Oct 27  2018

From October 4th until 27th, Amsterdam-based Questions Collective (ROOSPEEE, Tessel Brühl, Julia Veldman C, Flavia Faas and Céline Talens) are coming to New York to take part in the Art In Odd Places project. They will have a display at the Westbeth Gallery, and will also take part in a public festival on 14th Street from October 11th until 14th. 

Questions Collective 

Questions Collective is an all-female Amsterdam based interdisciplinary collective. The collective combines its members’ backgrounds in design, art, theater, music and choreography in performances, exhibitions and theater productions. They have been invited to New York to premiere their work Foundation at Art In Odd Places festival. From October 4th to October 27th their work will be exhibited at Wesbeth Gallery in Manhattan and on October 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th they will attack 14th street with our outdoor performance. With the giant beauty tools the group is currently creating, they will give the street a cosmetic makeover in a militaristic, feminine and colorful choreography. 

Foundation

Foundation– on the cosmetic role of the artist in gentrification is a commentary on the uncomfortable role artists play in urban development, of which 14th street is a primary example. It has developed from a dodgy industrial area, to an artist hot spot, to prime real estate. In the process, leaving behind original inhabitants, pricing out marginalized groups and ultimately even the artists. By making their role explicit, via the use of make up on an urban scale, Questions Collective wants to open up the discussion on the topic. By treating the street as a ‘facial canvas’ they try to visualize their role as a cosmetic device used to increase the appeal of an urban area. Questions Collective and artists in general as creatives create value for others but are then washed away.

The theme of this year’s edition of the festival Art In Odd Places is “Body”. Questions Collective grabbed onto the theme by conflating urban development with the body, and the use of cosmetics to increase the ‘appeal’ of the (female) body. They nod to their imagine as an all-female collective by using the language of tools expected to be found in a woman’s toolkit.