Extra City, Center for Contemporary Art
Antwerp, 06/10/2004 — Extra City is a non profit organization established mid-2003 in order to provide impetus for innovation, dialogue and exchange in contemporary art. November 20, 2004 it is pleased to present the opening of its Center for Contemporary Art in a former grain silo in Antwerp.
Extra City seeks to be a pathfinder in formatting an institute for contemporary art of the 21st century. The center aims to adopt a most singular position on the basis of the different agendas it interconnects: both thinking and realizing, in close dialogue with cultural producers of today, a space and a demanding program for contemporary art in the light of an expanding international horizon.
Extra City stands for a multi-space where dialogue and exchange pave the way for redefining exhibitions as an ongoing negotiation of cultural meanings and values. Extra City endorses new patterns of cooperation: it aims to be a catalyst for multiplying the potential of individual efforts and talents. Consequently it not only counts on its own exhibition program, but will equally rely on extensive collaborations with MuHKA, AIR Antwerp, international institutions and smaller organizations.
Belgium’s simultaneously central en periperal geographic location allows for the thinking and unthinking of radically different economies for art. Extra City seeks to be a pioneering platform for exhibitions and reflection, in the centrifugal field that is delineated by the great centers in London (Tate Modern), Paris (Centre Pompidou) and North Rhine-Westphalia (the museums in Cologne and Düsseldorf).
January 2004 Extra City embarked upon the renovation of a former grain silo at Kattendijkdok. The complex is made available by the Antwerp port authority and has been renovated in close collaboration with B-architects. Extra City is situated at the boundary with the old city and disposes of an exhibition surface of approximately 1600 square meters. The center will stage four large exhibitions yearly. These will be combined with short and mid-term residencies of international artists and residencies of organizations, alternated with smaller projects in and outside of the exhibition infrastructure. The program is initiated by Wim Peeters, founding director of the center. Wim Peeters was previously active as independent curator and artistic director at Antwerp’s NICC (2002-2003).
For its inaugural exhibition “Dedicated to a Proposition”, Extra City invited some 20 international artists. The title for the project was borrowed from Abraham Lincoln’s public address in Gettysburg in 1863, describing a utopian horizon in the politically unstable era of civil war. “Dedicated to a Proposition” is set out to investigate the work of contemporary artists as propositions against or in favor of the (pre-emptive) desire for a new world order. The show will be close to the skin as an approximation of the friction between the utopian and the individual, fear and public space and the engagement of art versus the “white cube.” The show as an operating base will be branching off in many directions: the exhibition space, the media and the urban surroundings. Terence Koh (Canada), Robin Rhode (South Africa) and Mike Bouchet (USA) were invited to combine their participation to the exhibition with a 3-month residency.
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practical information:
opening November 20, 2004 at 4.00 pm
inaugural exhibitions: "Dedicated to a Proposition" and "Hotelit"
artists in residence: Terence Koh, Robin Rhode and Mike Bouchet in collaboration with AIR Antwerp
November 20, 2004 – February 20, 2005
opening weekend 20 & 21 November 2004
open: Friday-Saturday-Sunday, from 11.00 am - 11.00 pm
admission: 2,5 euro
visiting address:
Mexicostraat
Kattendijkdok, Kaai 44
2030 Antwerp
Belgium
+32 (0) 484 42.10.70
info@extracity.org
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Extra City benefits the support of ministerie van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap, provincie Antwerpen, stad Antwerpen, Gemeentelijk Havenbedrijf Antwerpen, Ahlers, De Tijd, Klara and De Trouw NV
For further information please contact Wim Peeters
at +32 (0) 484 42.10.70 or at info@extracity.org