Bad—Inside Out—For You – Foundation B.a.d.

Day & Night, from 19 Jun 2020,
Talingstraat + Arendsweg, Rotterdam

Foundation B.a.d. has created 18 window vitrines that are viewed from Arendsweg, and shows artworks viewed through the windows on Talingstraat.

The lockdown has been unexpected and created societal and individual challenges. Art is a potent way of reflecting on unfamiliar circumstances, like those we are now experiencing. And, perhaps, it is through image the we make sense of the unknown. Hence, the artists at Foundation B.a.d. are sharing their reflections and responses to lockdown, and in way that fits the new normal.

B.a.d. has made eighteen 150 x 115 window vitrines with artworks that are viewed from the street. We want to share artistic perspectives with the neighbourhood and contribute to the community spirit. Some works reflect on the pandemic predicament. Some take a broader look at the world while others show an inner world. The vitrines are lit day and night, making the experience from the street literally illuminating.

Artworks

Katinka van Gorkum
An Opening Speech

Performance, 19 June 2020
Click below to read the original Dutch transcript and English translation

Nederlands

English

Kate Genever
Made by Hand (Flags)

Frank Bruggeman
The Crowned Sprite

The coronavirus reigns supreme and so it deserves a statue. Because corona means crown, I visualise the virus as a crowned being. But not a crowned being of great stature and physical power but rather a small figure with an innocent appearance. Associatively, this image brought me to a brand figure of Coca-Cola from the 1940s and 1950s: a high-blond, elfin boy or sprite with a hat in the form of a crown cap! Coincidentally, like many people, I decluttered my house during the corona lockdown. One of the things I found was a tourist figurine from my childhood. It was a miniature version of the limestone statue of Bartje, a fairheaded boy from Drenthe, created by Suze Boschma-Berkhout in 1954. In an enigmatic flash, I pressed a bottle cap onto this figurine’s head, whereupon it instantly became the crowned sprite. Naturally, every statue needs a landscape at its feet. The landscape my crowned sprite reigns over is savage, dead and empty.

Helmut Smits
Bread Mix

Aletta de Jong
Grounded

Ground betonite clay, made into a slip and painted onto glass

Jason Coburn
Spring/Summer Autumn/Winter

A T-shirt made of 90% cotton and 10% polyester, buried for four seasons beneath an old yew tree (Taxus baccata), the longest living plant species in Europe and a symbol of everlasting life and resurrection. The T-shirt was unearthed after a year. The soil’s acidity eroded the cotton, leaving behind the non-biodegradable polyester.