Oasism, the Rodin Gallery/Samsung Museum, Seoul, South-Korea
The way nomadism changes our relations towards each other and ourselves is one of the central issues of 'My home is yours, your home is mine'.
One of the paradoxes of nomadism is that it presupposes the existence of place: the presence of people who host creates the possibility for others to be guests. Then, the flux of people visiting generates a cross-desse mination of ideas. Eventually this may stimulate hosts to go and become guests themselves. In this way, the oasis is the counterpart and the result of nomadism. We see the way we have been functioning as Foundation B.a.d is an example of this process. By running the building we can provide a place for guests. We do so practically, by facilitating guest studios as well as our own, and conceptually, by the projects on hospitality. Receiving guests in our guest houses and studios has generated a flux of creative influences. And lately, members of B.a.d have been living abroad, in Barcelona, Budapest, Japan…
For 'My home is yours, your home is mine' we presented our identity in its most flexible and broad sense.
Bottom up: How to plan the unexpected?, Foundation B.a.d, Rotterdam
A workshop addressing the importance of free spaces and the apparent impossibility of including them in the plans of urban development. Free spaces are conditioned by their unregulated position within urban planning (e.g. squats). Using the possibilities of these spaces results in recreating specific social structures such as artists’ initiatives. These, in turn, create a basis for the kind of creative and conceptual development essential for the cultural identity of a city.
The workshop would have taken the form of a visit to Foundation B.a.d, an independent artists’ initiative in the South of Rotterdam. Being the headquarters for a hybrid community of artists and designers working independently as well as collaboratively, B.a.d initiates projects and provides guest spaces for an international community of cultural producers.
But, unfortunately the workshop did not take place….