The September edition of Art Central Rotterdam XL marks the grand opening of the new cultural season, serving as a citywide celebration of contemporary art. This event reaffirms the profound significance of art as a vital and essential component of society.

Building on the success of previous editions, Art Central Rotterdam XL - Art Weekend will once again bring together 28 venues across the city. Galleries, institutions, and artist-run spaces will collaborate to showcase Rotterdam's vibrant art scene. The public program promises a rich tapestry of exhibitions, performances, and guided tours, offering visitors diverse opportunities to engage deeply with contemporary art.

This citywide manifestation aims to foster collaboration, celebrate creativity, and provide a platform for dialogue and cultural exchange. Art Central Rotterdam XL - Art Weekend invites both local residents and international visitors to immerse themselves in the dynamic and evolving landscape of contemporary art in Rotterdam.

In its 2024 program, Art Central Rotterdam XL approaches the city of Rotterdam as a system. While the February exhibition explored the networks converging in the Beurstraverse, this September program engages with subsystems and their interactions across the city. The title is borrowed from the American systems theorist Russel L. Ackoff, who said that a system is not the sum of its parts, but rather, the product of their interactions.

This performance program asks which relational networks make up the city and what happens when these are temporarily exposed or influenced.

Urban infrastructures, such as architecture, streets, and signage, serve both as frameworks for and expressions of relations. What emerges are dynamic networks of humans, non-human entities, and their activities. ‘A system is not the sum of its parts’ presents five performances that intervene in contexts across Rotterdam, weaving a unifying thread through various art venues and inviting exploration of the city.

The artists in the program explore the urban environment through the lens of information, interaction, language, ecology, and directions. As described below, their performances reveal the flows of movement within the city (Ilke Gers), challenge spatial perceptions (Elsemarijn Bruys), respond to the language of gentrification (Cengiz Mengüç), explore hidden urban biodiversity (Marika Vandekraats), and point at the interplay between locations and cultures (Toine Horvers). In doing so, they invite audiences to interact with and consider their surroundings in unexpected ways.

• A

  Performance

  

  Normal Distribution,
  Ilke Gers

  Courtesy of JOEY RAMONE

  Normal distribution is a site-specific work made along the Kruisplein pedestrianised walkway. Simple curve markings with chalk powder play on the mathematical notion of Normal distribution, bringing into question the myths and problematics of standardising models that underlie the public sphere dominated by business interests. Referring to the Bell curve, where most of the data lies around the average and the real information is revealed by the tails of the curve stretching out on either side, the work evokes the history and problematics of the Bell curve. It relates its origins and standardising function to the site; a busy, transitional space that connects the train station to the centre of the city, falling within Rotterdam Central District's developing '24-hour economy', surrounded by multinationals Shell, Unilever, Robeco and Coolblue. As the markings are picked up by footsteps, and therefore slowly erased by pedestrians walking over it, the chalk will spread in two main directions––towards the station and towards the city centre––thus becoming an analogue visual marker of distribution created and eroded through audience movement.

  Date & Time: Saturday, 14 September, 12:00–12:30
  Where: Kruisplein Rotterdam

• B

  Installation

  

  Solid Ground,
  Elsemarijn Bruys

  Courtesy of Contour Gallery

  Solid ground refers to a foundation, stable ground, soil, both literally and figuratively. The work plays with spatial perception; Where does the ground begin or end? This inflatable sculpture invites interaction—walk across it, sit on it, or lie down, and you'll gradually sink into its surface. The work matches the dimensions of Contour Gallery, displacing the ground surface of the indoor gallery into a public environment–playfully letting you experience space anew.

  Date & Time: Saturday, 14 September, 15:00-18:00
  Where: Rijnhoutplein Rotterdam

• C

  Guided Walk

  

  Smoothie Report,
  Cengiz Mengüç

  Courtesy of OMI Rotterdam

  Cengiz Mengüç delves into the languages of gentrification processes in Rotterdam. Drawing inspiration from René de Boer's notion of the 'Smooth City'—a global trend where cities strive for perfection, efficiency, and control, pushing out alternative stories, ideas, and subcultures—Mengüç investigates how this phenomenon unfolds in Rotterdam's city center. His project, 'Smoothie Report,' collects texts from real estate, city marketing, hospitality, and retail advertisements he encounters in the urban landscape, and re-composes them as poetic slogans. These slogans are then reintroduced into the cityscape as subtle interventions, playfully questioning the dominant urban narratives. During the guided walk, Mengüç leads visitors past these interventions and invites them to construct alternative slogans together – encouraging a deeper examination of the structured language of the city and potentialities for subversion.
  RSVP: rsvp@artindexrotterdam.nl

  Date & Time: Sunday, 15 September, 11:00-12:00
  Where: Starts at WTC, Beursplein 37

• D

  Workshop

  

  How to see through the eyes of a Fish,
  Marika Vandekraats

  The art of fly-fishing is a craft in which the maker ties various materials onto a hook to resemble a bug to attract a fish. In the workshop ‘How to see through the eyes of a fish’, we will construct a mimicry of aquatic beings that reside in the Maas to call to the fish that swim along the river. The workshop will give attention to the varied beings and sights within the currents of the river, while also gleaning from the materials in the cityscape. Traditionally, the materials used in crafting hooks can be synthetic, but are also often sourced from other animals such as birds, rabbits, deer, and even polar bears. The materials, when combined together, glimmer under the water and move in organic ways, mimicking bugs that call the fish's attention. This art of multispecies communication becomes an act of hybridity— combining fragments of various species to mimic another. Using speculation and a bit of local gleaning, we will consider the sights that a fish in the Maas would see and consider what would grab its attention. This workshop would bring to the attention of participants what lies beneath the surface of the Maas and consider the (often hidden) biodiversity of the city.
  Registration required, sign up via rsvp@artindexrotterdam.nl

  Date & Time: Sunday, 15 September, 14:00-16:00
  Where: Varia Zone, Gouwstraat 3

• E

  Performance

  

  Rotation 5,
  Toine Horvers

  Courtesy of PHOEBUS Rotterdam

  Cardinal directions are an essential means of orientation in the world, yet also invisible in our daily lives. In his performance titled ‘Rotation 5,’ Toine Horvers verbalizes this orientation system in the context of Rotterdam’s main park. Slowly rotating on his axis, Horvers calls out the words ‘north’, ‘east’, ‘south’, and ‘west’ as he passes those directions. During subsequent rotations, he calls out the words of the four cardinal directions in 65 different languages. The work is a metaphor for unlimited physical and mental space, encouraging the audience to reflect on their connection to other locations and the interplay of cultures within and beyond the city.

  Date & Time: Sunday, 15 September, 19:00–19:30
  Where: Het Park, Baden Powelllaan 2