ROTTERDAM.- The organisation has developed an inspiring programme for the 21st edition of the Art Rotterdam fair, during Art Rotterdam Week, once again in the iconic Van Nellefabriek. New this year are The Performance Show, Mural Machinepainting Show and the new presentation of the section dedicated to video art under the name citizenM Projections.

The Performance Show: The new Art Rotterdam initiative
From Friday until Sunday, The Performance Show will take place at AVL Mundo/Atelier Van Lieshout, a stone's throw away from Van Nellefabriek. The curator of this varied and ongoing artistic programme is Zippora Elders, artistic director of Kunstfort bij Vijfhuizen and co-curator of sonbeek20->24. The current and attractive performance of this unique programme is a selection from a range of international galleries, performance collectives, and museums. The Performance Show is an initiative of Art Rotterdam in collaboration with Atelier Van Lieshout, Witte de With and is supported by Rotterdam Festivals and Stichting Droom en Daad.

With its raw, industrial—previously partly closed for the general public—spaces, AVL Mundo/Atelier Van Lieshout is the ideal place for this programme. Elders: 'The art of performance is both vulnerable and fleeting, audacious and present; The artist himself doesn't know exactly how things will turn out. Endurance is often an important aspect. These performances raise questions about physicality, spatial relationships, presence, interactions and the human being. As a spectator, the relationship is very direct with the performance and the performer, which is unique in the context of AVL Mundo/Atelier Van Lieshout's spaces.

Pendulum (2019) by Van Lieshout will also be exhibited for the first time in the Netherlands. This monumental yellow artwork, with a gong announcing the end of the world every fifteen minutes, was part of Van Lieshout's exhibition in New York a few months ago.

Mural Machinepainting Show
On the grounds of Van Nellefabriek, right in front of the entrance, a wall 12 meters wide and 3 meters high will be present during the fair. Three machine painters will, in turns, apply a painting using very sophisticated techniques. The result of their 'performance' remains visible until the closing of the fair. After closing hours, the work is bleached so that the next painter can start again the next day. The performances and results will be documented and distributed via film (including stop-motion) and photography.

The selected artists are Thomas Trum (1989), Ash Keating (1980, Australia) and Rutger de Vries aka Perongeluk (1987). Working on the basis of research, experiments and autonomous principles, they represent an ambitious and promising trend in the field of mural painting. Their way of working, applying paint with self-built tools, gives the viewer an exciting and surprising show, and the results are consistent.

Mural Machinepainting Show was realised by the office of Rotterdam MURALS Inc., specialized in the field of contemporary murals.

citizenM Projections
Projections, the well-known section dedicated to video art, undergoes a transformation and will continue under the name of citizenM Projections. The initiator is the main partner of Art Rotterdam, the citizenM hotel chain, which has art in its DNA. According to Robin Chadha, CMO citizenM hotels, this focus on video art is quite logical 'because video art fits perfectly with the experience of our guests'.

The selection committee for the section includes the Ekard Collection, Brown Family Collection, Liesbeth Willems (curator of the KRC collection) and Bart Rutten (director of the Centraal Museum Utrecht). Each member of the committee has committed to acquiring a work for their collection. The citizenM hotels chain even takes this a step further: The works purchased by Liesbeth Willems will be exhibited at the 20 citizenM hotels around the world. Chadha: 'Evidently, this is an excellent podium for the artist.'

The new design of the entrance, designed by the world renowned fair architect Tom Postma, provides a framework for the presentation of fifteen works on different formats and on different screens. 'The selected videos provide a clear and varied picture of the latest developments within video art', says Bart Rutten.