< Program overview

In 2020 Expoplu has started a new pilot program, Expoplu Exchange, in which space, time and means is being offered to artists, writers, curators and scientists to develop their practice in a collective framework. WHO'S TO BLAME? will be the public presentation of the first pilot group.
 

About WHO'S TO BLAME?

"As a group we share an interest in climate issues, the Anthropocene, and the well-being of the earth in general. Our practices and research originates from questions of knowing and not knowing, the mystery of natural phenomena, and the artificiality of the concept of nature.

While questioning presumptions and taking different perspectives on the Anthropocene, our initial discussions arose from questions like: What does the Anthropocene mean to individuals? How can we reconsider our relation as humans with nature and what is our current position in the world? And to what extent is our idea of nature constructed or artificial?

While the pandemic heavily impacted the project on a practical level, it also influenced our thoughts and discussions. The change in human behavior and social relations opened up thinking beyond conventions and foresee possible futures. Can we imagine ways of living in which the relationship between humans and nature is more equally distributed between all beings and non-beings on the earth.

We found common ground in the very direct question of who is to blame. The issue of responsibility is not only targeting the failing systems of governments and climate perpetrators like oil and gas companies, but also asks individuals who are implicated in violent systems that affect the earth today to take responsibility. With such a bottom-up approach a necessary question is how individuals are able to take over control?"
 

Participants

Koen Kievits (1996, NL)
The contemporary mystery and its value are continuously researched in Koen Kievits’ work. Is the miracle dead? And with it the viewer as well? By subtracting phenomena from our surroundings and reshaping them into installations he tries to approach and thoughtfully displace the senses of the viewer. Koen Kievits works with multiple photographic techniques, makes video-installations and places interventions in public space. Smoke coming from underneath a sidewalk, feet sinking into a field of grass, or the view of a mountainside which slowly drains empty are all works by which the artist lays the focus on our own perception.

Kurina Sohn (1991, KR)
Kurina Sohn was born in South Korea but raised internationally, in NYC, Arizona, Jakarta, Beijing, Baltimore, and now she is based in Eindhoven. She went to the Maryland Institute College of Art for BFA and worked after her bachelor graduation in different fields of design and digital fabrication lab. During her master studies in the Design Academy of Eindhoven in Contextual Design and her research she became fascinated by the recent developments and possibilities of new perception of artificial and manipulated nature. As an artist and a designer she had to express her imaginative ideas into tangible media, kinetic installations, and video. Her work continues to provoke thoughts and answers in controversial discussions of the present and the future.

Oscar Ekkelboom (1993, NL)
As a curator, researcher, and composer Oscar Ekkelboom is especially interested in contemporary commemorative practices and the Anthropocene. Although the two subjects are not necessarily related, they both allow investigating how to deal with the tangible and intangible remnants in today’s civilization. While forcing critical thought on social issues through local stories his work might establish discomfort. But this torment might as well open up new perspectives. Oscar Ekkelboom holds and MA in Curating Art and Cultures from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and earned a bachelor’s degree in Art History at the Radboud Universiteit in Nijmegen.

Renee van Oploo (1991, NL)
In her work and installations, Renée investigates existential issues that relate to the contemporary human condition. What it means to be human in the time we are living in. For example, she analyzes the human discomfort in relation to social media and the social pressure that results from it, the increasing influence of technology and science, the digital structures which are intertwined with our lives. Other questions that she asks herself are: how does Climate Change influence the current society and how are we dealing with such complex problems? Her installations mostly consist of animations, sculptures, sound and natural elements. All these are carefully placed in a scene that tells a story about being human.

Stan Gonera (1994, NL)
Stan Gonera is a Dutch artist who primarily works with performers, actors and film sets. In his works playful elements appear, which often refer to bigger events / human structures. He does this in a way without pointing his finger, but by questioning through observing. The works take the form of small experiments where positions and relationships of beings and ‘non-beings’ get presented, extracted and represented.
 

About Expoplu Exchange
Expoplu supports the participants through this trajectory on practical, theoretical and financial level. The aim for the program is to stimulate the development of the practice of each participant, to provide a new network of peers and professionals and to offer a dialogue with the public. Unique for the program is that the participants shape their own trajectory. Instead of a program that is pre-set, participants can decide what they want or need to gain, also based on their collective interests. Guest speakers will be invited that can share valuable knowledge concerning their ambitions and plans. In the end the participants will curate and organize a program that fits the content of their process. This means that the project can result in an exhibition, symposium, publication, website, podcast, a walk or something else. Due to a diversity in practices the participants have possibility to make cross-overs to other disciplines or learn from different positions and approaches. Collective learning and exchanging knowledge are at the heart of Expoplu Exchange.