Jon Kessler & Mika Rottenberg

Seven (Alex) is a relic of the performance Seven by Mika Rottenberg and Jon Kessler from 2011. During their performance in New York, a machine called the ‘Chakra Juicer’ ensured that the sweat of seven dancers could be collected. Each artist represented one of the seven chakras, energy points in the body that are important for vitality and the wellbeing of body and spirit. The perfor- mance took place in a surreal, complex installation that is reminiscent of an engine room or a futuristic laboratory. Under the watchful eye of researchers in lab coats, they sat in a sauna or exercised on fitness machines in order to perspire as heavily as possible. The collected sweat was distilled in a lab and transported to the African savanna. One of the screens shows how the sweat of the seven chakras is poured into the earth of Botswana during the performance, as a healing ritual.

The installation Seven (Alex) presents a portrait of one of the seven artists from the performance, Alex, who represented the yellow chakra. This third chakra or solar plexus is located just above your navel, under your ribcage. It is the place where your ego is said to reside and where energy is distributed: where your force or drive is formed. The installation shows video footage of the performance in New York and of the healing ritual on the savanna. The installation also contains portraits of the other artists and little bottles with the coloured chakra liquids.

Nest ruimte voor kunst
ExhibitionsEvents
Nest

Double Plus Good

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Artists
Curators
  • Heske ten Cate
  • Laurie Cluitmans
In collaboration with
  • Aveline de Bruin

The group exhibition Double Plus Good presents artworks that are the result of one-off collaborations between artists. The artists in this exhibition take the vulnerable step to open up their practice to other makers, and explore each other’s world of thinking through paper, films and installations. What drives artists to engage in occasional or long-term collaboration with other makers or thinkers?

Double Plus Good includes collaborations between teachers and (former) students, between lovers and loners, between different generations and artists with a shared history. Together they enter a conversation with each other in their work, challenge each other to take the next step or to delve deeper into their matter.

The exhibition is a follow-up to ‘Collaborations’, an exhibition that Aveline de Bruin, of the Collection de Bruin-Heijn, previously showed in the Portuguese Quetzal Art Center and is being further developed and curated with her, curator contemporary art Centraal Museum Laurie Cluitmans and artistic director of Nest Heske ten Cate.

Read the introduction ‘Collaboration creates community‘ that Heske ten Cate wrote for the exhibition and her reflection on a period of intensive collaborations at Nest, as well as the essay ‘Nothing makes itself‘ by Laurie Cluitmans. Everything about the exhibition and the artists can be read here.

Collectie de Bruin-Heijn
The collection of Cees and Inge de Bruin-Heijn grew into one of the largest private collections in the Netherlands. The De Bruin-Heijn collection is managed by their daughter Aveline de Bruin, and in 2016 the family opened their own exhibition space for contemporary art: Quetzal Art Center in Vidigueira, Portugal.

Sponsors
  • Mondriaan Fonds
  • Stroom Den Haag
  • Gemeente Den Haag
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