The total scab-free solidarity and performative silence that struck floor-shows and soundstages from Desert to NJ coast for over half a year at A Tale of a Tub

Artists: Lara Almarcegui, Mercedes Azpilicueta, Daniel Jacoby, David Maroto, Falke Pisano, Victor Santamarina

Exhibition title: The total scab-free solidarity and performative silence that struck floor-shows and soundstages from Desert to NJ coast for over half a year

Curated by: Tiago de Abreu Pinto

Venue: A Tale of a Tub, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Date: September 5 – November 1, 2020

Photography: LNDWstudio / all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and A Tale of a Tub, Rotterdam

The exhibition The total scab-free solidarity and performative silence that struck floor-shows and soundstages from Desert to NJ coast for over half a year takes its title from and refers to a particular extract from Infinite Jest (a novel by David Foster Wallace) that focuses on president Johnny Gentle, a jester-like character who embodies a lack of compromise, responsibility and empathy towards others. He epitomises somebody who does not involve the community in his decisions, nor fosters a sentiment of unity among them. The works in this exhibition engage orally and somatically with the visitor by showing how the environment affects, protects, or alters the body in processes of exchange, to essentially reconfirm the importance of interrelationality and intersubjectivity between ourselves and others. Johnny Gentle stands as a neuralgic element to raise socio-political questions addressing the dichotomy of the private and the public—understanding the body from within, and its relation to the surrounding environment that potentially affects us and is affected by us. The exhibition ultimately unfolds a psycho-topological conundrum involving the visitor in a “catalogue-novel,” in which a set of characters open a dialogue around solidarity, collectivity, interdependence, and the process of becoming empathetic subjects.

This exhibition marks the inaugural edition of A Tale of a Tub’s annual Open Call for Exhibition Proposals, conceived in collaboration with and support from CBK Rotterdam. The exhibition is additionally supported through the municipality of Rotterdam and the Mondriaan Fund.

The total scab-free solidarity and performative silence that struck floor-shows and soundstages from Desert to NJ coast for over half a year, 2020, exhibition view, A Tale of a Tub, Rotterdam

Falke Pisano, The value in mathematics: Negotiations in exchange, 2015 Wood, ceramics, fabric, dim: 192x115x150 Text-panel belonging to the work, printed on archival paper, 43,2 x 27,9cm

The total scab-free solidarity and performative silence that struck floor-shows and soundstages from Desert to NJ coast for over half a year, 2020, exhibition view, A Tale of a Tub, Rotterdam

Falke Pisano, The value in mathematics: Negotiations in exchange, 2015 Wood, ceramics, fabric, dim: 192x115x150 Text-panel belonging to the work, printed on archival paper, 43,2 x 27,9cm

Daniel Jacoby, Pink Dusts, 2019 Various dimensions, moisture resistant MDF cut outs, acrylic paint, underwear, light fittings, wiring, PVC, LED strip with controller, metal fixings

The total scab-free solidarity and performative silence that struck floor-shows and soundstages from Desert to NJ coast for over half a year, 2020, exhibition view, A Tale of a Tub, Rotterdam

Daniel Jacoby, Pink Dusts, 2019 Various dimensions, moisture resistant MDF cut outs, acrylic paint, underwear, light fittings, wiring, PVC, LED strip with controller, metal fixings

Falke Pisano, The value in mathematics: Learning in proximity, 2015 Sculpture with wood and paper, dim 42x38x38 cm, Text-panel belonging to the work, printed on archival paper, 43,2 x 27,9cm

Falke Pisano, The value in mathematics: Negotiations in exchange, 2015 Wood, ceramics, fabric, dim: 192x115x150 Text-panel belonging to the work, printed on archival paper, 43,2 x 27,9cm

Falke Pisano, The value in mathematics: Learning in proximity, 2015 Sculpture with wood and paper, dim 42x38x38 cm, Text-panel belonging to the work, printed on archival paper, 43,2 x 27,9cm

Lara Almarcegui, 10 guides to Wasteland Medium: printed matter

Lara Almarcegui, Wasteland: Rotterdam (Harbor) 2003-2018 Genk 2004-2014 Moss (Peterson paper factory) 2006-2007 Madrid (Legazpi Slaughterhouse) 2005-2006 Medium: slide projection

David Maroto, Meskalamdug, 2020 Wall drawing, sculpture, performance

Victor Santamarina, Side-tray, 2020 Scrap aluminium and leaked water 52 x 35 x 26 cm

Victor Santamarina, Head-bucket, 2020 Scrap aluminium and leaked water 30 x 24 x 25 cm, Chest-basin and hands-plate 2020 Scrap aluminium and leaked water 56 x 30 x 8 cm

The total scab-free solidarity and performative silence that struck floor-shows and soundstages from Desert to NJ coast for over half a year, 2020, exhibition view, A Tale of a Tub, Rotterdam

Victor Santamarina, Head-bucket, 2020 Scrap aluminium and leaked water 30 x 24 x 25 cm, Chest-basin and hands-plate 2020 Scrap aluminium and leaked water 56 x 30 x 8 cm

The total scab-free solidarity and performative silence that struck floor-shows and soundstages from Desert to NJ coast for over half a year, 2020, exhibition view, A Tale of a Tub, Rotterdam

Daniel Jacoby, Pink Dusts, 2019 Various dimensions, moisture resistant MDF cut outs, acrylic paint, underwear, light fittings,
wiring, PVC, LED strip with controller, metal fixings

Victor Santamarina, Bum-bowl, 2020 Scrap aluminium and leaked water 38 x 30 x 25 cm

The total scab-free solidarity and performative silence that struck floor-shows and soundstages from Desert to NJ coast for over half a year, 2020, exhibition view, A Tale of a Tub, Rotterdam

Victor Santamarina, Bum-bowl, 2020 Scrap aluminium and leaked water 38 x 30 x 25 cm

Victor Santamarina, Side-tray, 2020 Scrap aluminium and leaked water 52 x 35 x 26 cm

Mercedes Azpilicueta, Geometric Dancer Doesn’t Believe in Love, Finds Aspiration and Ecstasy in Spirals, 2015 synchronized HD video-projections (20’30”, loop) on aluminium sheets