New Europeans

A Test Site For Everyday Life

Event Mar10 2016, Amsterdam

Seven Easy Blank Wall Solutions – Informal Opening

In response to our ongoing project at The Wall, artist Dina Danish has produced a series of interventions.

The wall surrounding Marineterrein has been warding off unwanted visitors for 350 years. It’s not surprising that it has become invisible to the local inhabitants, who have grown accustomed to ignoring it generation after generation. A few months ago, Marineterrein was opened to the public but it remained hidden behind the wall that no one sees.

Converted temporarily into a site for public exhibitions during the Dutch EU presidency, the wall was further disguised as it was hidden behind the wooden structure used to display the monthly photo exhibitions. Even though it does not close off Marineterrein anymore, the wall preserves its function of obstruction: it separates the public from the EU officials.

Dina Danish saw this as an open invitation for a series of interventions meant to make the wall visible again. She approached it as a blank slate, more specifically, a blank wall in need of ‘decorating solutions.’ Taking her cue from the visual language of a Buzzfeed post, which usually consists of a list of images and texts, she designed seven ‘easy blank wall solutions’ and executed ideas such as ‘add greenery’ or ‘hang a mirror’ in ingenious, site-specific ways. One of the works even shows a glimpse inside the wall by making visible the lobby of the building where the EU Commission meetings take place.

Seven Easy Blank Wall Solutions was conceived and executed in collaboration with Freja Kir and Stefan Auberg, part of the New Europeans team.

Dina Danish (1981, France) studied in Egypt and now lives in Amsterdam. Due to her many travels, she often takes the position of an outsider, consciously or not. She is particularly interested in the understanding and lack thereof between people, which she uses as a starting point for her conceptual work, often with a playful or ironic note.

Join us for an informal opening of the work on Friday, March 11th, from 17.00 on at the white containers on Kattenburgerstraat. The exhibition is on view until May 15th.