Joeri Woudstra

In the work of The Hague-based artist, composer, and producer Joeri Woudstra/Torus (1993), nostalgia and melancholy are recurring themes. From musical performances with strobe lights and Top 40 pop music to installations and videos featuring carnival sounds and water slides, his work evokes a longing for (not yet) bygone teenage years. In times of relentless progress, technological phenomena are changing at a rapid speed. This high turnover rate not only causes us to look back nostalgically on our youth–for Woudstra, the 1990s–but also fosters similar feelings towards objects dating back just a few years.

Joeri Woudstra & Hannah Rose Stewart - Thin Air - You're Gonna Carry That Weight

In the exhibition Thin Air - You're Gonna Carry That Weight by Joeri Woudstra and Hannah Rose Stewart, their shared interests in (anti-)capitalism, club culture, and architecture come together. Using a variety of props, stage elements, and performances, the artists highlight how the past can linger eerily in the present.

They are interested in exploring hauntology: how certain ideas, cultural elements, or potential futures can still be sensed in their absence, as if they haunt the present day. This can give rise to feelings of nostalgia, which Stewart and Woudstra connect in the exhibition to nightlife and club culture. The artists not only focus on the clubs themselves but also on the so-called liminal spaces of nightlife. The in-between spaces on the way from club to club, the dark corridors or alleyways, or the dimly lit backstage areas—all these spaces hold specific cultural significance for the artists and evoke a sense of nostalgia for them.

In the exhibition, art and nightlife merge into an immersive experience of sound, light, and art, offering a critical perspective on changing urban landscapes and the role of nightlife in gentrification. Clubs – described by the artists as ‘cathedrals of gentrification’ – are often located on the outskirts of the city in areas subject to redevelopment. The extensive program carefully curated by Woudstra and Stewart plays a key role in this, as various artists activate the exhibition in a magical way, reinforcing the connection between day and night, inside and outside, and between art and listening.

Additional production
  • Leona Elisa Tiemessen
  • Sophie Verdonk
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