SUSU – SUFFERIN’ SUCCOTASH at Punt WG

Artists: Clara Amaral, Enric Farrés Duran, Martijn in ‘t Veld, Maartje Fliervoet, Michiel Hilbrink, Francisca Khamis, Ignacio Gatica, Ilse van Rijn, Stéphanie Saadé, Martín La Roche, Dongyoung Lee

Exhibition title: SUSU – SUFFERIN’ SUCCOTASH

Curated by: Valeria Marchesini, Martin La Roche, Dongyoung Lee

Venue: Punt WG, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Date: May 8 – 30, 2021

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Punt WG, Amsterdam

In 2019, Good Neighbour (GN) proposed an exhibition that could be seen as a container for words, similar to a book. To make art as words, this was the invitation to ten artists and one writer to participate in Suﬀerin’ Succotash. Back then, diﬀerent works were drafted, organized, selected and written. Due to the pandemic, the show was postponed and all the plans were delayed. Throughout 2020, this interruption opened time and space for new meanings and reconsideration. In its 2021 version, the works embraced slight adjustments and the exhibition became SUSU, a repetition of the original show, but including a few diﬀerences.

The title Suﬀerin’ Succotash was originally taken from Ron Padgett & Joe Brainard’s homonymous publication made in 1971. It referred to a trademark expression said back then by Silvester the cat, the Looney Tunes’ cartoon. “Because these cartoon characters were ubiquitous in the childhood of most North Americans between, say, 1940 and 1995, a lot of people have only ever heard this phrase said by them, never by an actual human in the same room they are in.” According to users of the question- and-answer website Quora: “it was an interjection to express dismay, frustration, distress or surprise. Anyhow, the literal meaning of succotash is a vegetable dish with corn and beans, sometimes also with tomato, peppers, or onion. The phrase suﬀerin’ succotash may therefore have an intrinsic meaning beyond its usefulness as a minced oath: aw, crap, we’re eating this again?”

Good Neighbour (GN) is a research platform based in Amsterdam since 2017, run by artist Martín La Roche, designer Dongyoung Lee and researcher Valeria Marchesini. GN defines itself primarily as a community of readers who share a communal interest for books seen as performative tools. GN doesn’t seek to build a library, it makes time for appreciating existing ones.

The exhibition is made possible with the kind support of the Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst and Mondriaan Fonds.

View of the exhibition SUSU at Punt WG, Amsterdam, 2021, photo: Ilya Rabinovich

From top to bottom: Stéphanie Saadé, Underlines, 2013; Enric Farrés Duran, Open a place for content (Abrir un lugar al contenido), 2021, photo: Ilya Rabinovich

Stéphanie Saadé, Underlines, 2013, photo: Ilya Rabinovich

Enric Farrés Duran, Open a place for content (Abrir un lugar al contenido), 2021, photo: Ilya Rabinovich

View of the exhibition SUSU at Punt WG, Amsterdam, 2021, photo: Ilya Rabinovich

From front to back: Martín La Roche, Alinea, detail, 2021; Maartje Fliervoet, Correspondances (frieze), detail, 2021, photo: Ilya Rabinovich

Maartje Fliervoet, Correspondances (frieze), detail, 2021, photo: Ilya Rabinovich

From left to right: Enric Farrés Duran, Tell me, enigmatic man, whom do you love best?, 2017; Maartje Fliervoet, Correspondances (frieze), 2021; Francisca Khamis Giacoman, As far as I can remember, 2021; Clara Amaral, Manual, 2021, photo: Ilya Rabinovich

Clara Amaral, Manual, 2021, photo: Ilya Rabinovich

From left to right: Enric Farrés Duran, Tell me, enigmatic man, whom do you love best?, 2017; Francisca Khamis Giacoman, As far as I can remember, 2021; Maartje Fliervoet, Correspondances (frieze), 2021, photo: Ilya Rabinovich

Enric Farrés Duran, Tell me, enigmatic man, whom do you love best?, video still, 2017, courtesy of Enric Farrés Duran

Francisca Khamis Giacoman, As far as I can remember, performance documentation, 2021, photo: Ilya Rabinovich

Francisca Khamis Giacoman, As far as I can remember, detail, 2021, photo: Ilya Rabinovich

From front to back: Maartje Fliervoet, Correspondances (textiles), 2021; Ignacio Gatica, Stones Above Diamonds, 2020, photo: Ilya Rabinovich

Maartje Fliervoet, Correspondances (textiles), 2021, photo: Maartje Fliervoet

From left to right: Francisca Khamis Giacoman, As far as I can remember, 2021; Maartje Fliervoet, Correspondances (textiles), 2021; Dongyoung Lee and Michiel Hilbrink, Droomhuis, 2021, Martín La Roche, Alinea, detail, 2021, photo: Maartje Fliervoet

From left to right: Maartje Fliervoet, Correspondances (textiles), 2021; Francisca Khamis Giacoman, As far as I can remember, detail, 2021, photo: Ilya Rabinovich