The Streets Are our Brushes,
the Squares our Palettes

With an interplay of works, Ine Lamers and Elian Somers present their shared fascination for utopian societies. In their long term projects, each artist investigates in her own ways what becomes and remains of such utopias - socially, politically, and in the built environment. This exhibition developed from their ongoing conversations about the legacies of the Cold War, utopian dreams and architecture.
A recurring motif in the works presented is the ideal city. Lamers circumnavigates the ideal city in search of the possibility that a utopian place can be found somewhere amidst our far from utopian reality. Somers critically scrutinizes utopian projects, unraveling how blueprints for an ideal future tend to be entangled with geopolitics.
Both approaches result in layered narratives, dense with paradox and friction. Both artists build on their background in photography to explore how filmic installations allow this multilayeredness to unfold.

The exhibition has been made possible with support by the Mondriaan Fund and Stichting Stokroos. With special thanks to Claus Wiersma and Anke Bangma.