3. DADA CAFE
Andre Breton Room, Andre Breton with sunglasses, exhibited in an vaulted room.
Immanuel collaborated with the STORM organization via email from Vancouver to Utrecht to organize an installation of 5 works or ‘stations’ in 3 vaulted brick rooms in the fort. 1. Surrealist Chess Board, a chessboard with an 18th Century Dutch/German chess instruction book. 2. The lemonade stand, where the cups had small holes in the bottom ( Younger children were partially confused with the leaking cups, yet older children told them to plug the hole with their fingers like a dike). 3. Poetry Reading Room, a microphone and amp, where the participants could read from rock song lyrics ( 1960s- 1990s), in Dutch and English, hanging from strings and detachable.4. Library of Mailed Objects- eight objects on plinthes in small alcoves, mailed from Canada to Utrecht, 1) Vancouver Telephone book 2009 2) Immanuel’s left Nike running shoe 3) A half consumed bottle of blue Gatorade 4) 30-45 collectable comic/t.v series cards ( 1960-80s) 5) Five issues of the 1960′s revolutionary Paris magazine – L’Enrage 6) one dutch train ticket 7) one nail, 8)pepper shaker. I mailed maybe 25 posters I took from the cafe at Emily Carr University of Art and Design, which I wished to be installed behind the objects. The STORm organization was to select the 8-9 they needed from this. 5. Igloo Theater, a movie/film room- Igloo theatre, which had a carpeted floor, a large television, and a very large blanket over the television and twenty feet in front of the T.V.: the audience could watch the movie from under the blanket. The 30min film composed by Immanuel, had short exerpts from black and white Surrealist films ( 1930′s-1940′s) with short scenes from, Alice in Wonderland movie, Pee Wee’s Playhouse, X-men advertising, Silver Surfer film, the Beatle’s Yellow Submarine, and the photo of Lady Gaga/DADA CAFE. Sixth, a room with a large photo of Andre Breton and sunglasses. 6. Andre Breton Room, a large photo of Andre Breton with sunglasses. Also, there were two hosts- Dutch teenage youth, assisting in the cafe, with t- shirts; one , with a painting by Theo Van Doesburg – Dutch DADAist, and another; with a Man Ray photo- Surrealist. And above the arch inside the main room was a sign with ‘DADA CAFE” written in sliced oranges.
The DADA CaFE, recontextualized Modern Avant Garde 20th Century art into a 13th Century Fort, for children, via contemporary conceptual art. Based partly on Immanuel’s M.F.A. thesis on Surrealism, the installation was designed to express and reframe the “Surreal DADAist and DADA SUrrealiST “, from 1920s Paris in 2010 Utrecht Holland. The key notion in this work and co-relations between the Surrealist art and biennale was freedom and play, or the freedom of play.
Dada Cafe was a collaborative work with the Initiator/Curator, Mark Kremer, and Co-Curator Michiel Blumenthal, with assistance from the STORM organization, namely, Mark v H ( Producer Kaap 2010 ), Hester Walters ( Project Leader + Practical Coordinator STORM ), Gouke Hilte ( Publiciteit + Marketing/ Internationaal beleid). and Ilona van der Heijden ( Afd. Educatie Stiching STORM ); and also KAAP 2010 Volunteers hosting and assisting this exhibition.
KAAP 2010 Biennale
DADA CAFE
Kevin Immanuel
( Recontextualization / Reframing / Art Action / Art Intervention )
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STORM, gallery/arts organization, Utrecht, Holland
Curator: Mark Kremer (NL)
Co-curator: Michiel Blumenthal ( NL / ITA )
Producer Kaap 2010: Mark van den Ham (NL)
Publiciteit + Marketing/ Internationaal Beleid STORM: Gouke Hilte (NL)
Project Leader + Practical Coordinator STORM: Hester Wolters (NL)
Afd. Educatie Stiching STORM: Ilona van der Heijden (NL)
KAAP 2010 Biennale is a biennale of 10 international artists whom exhibited and installed art in a 13th Century Dutch military Fort – Ruigenhoek. The primary audience for the Biennale was children, ages 3- 12.
ARTISTS
Tamás Kaszás : Prague/Budapest (b. Hung.)
Folly Teko: Woerden NL (b. Togo)
Maura Biava : Amsterdam (b. Italy)
Yael Davids : Amsterdam (b. Israel)
Yeondoo Jung : Seoul (b. Korea)
Saskia Janssen :
James Beckett: Amsterdam (b. Zimbabwe)
Kevin Immanuel : Vancouver (b. Canada)
Nina Yuen : Amsterdam (b. Hawaï)
Wietske Maas : Amsterdam (b. Tasmania)
4, TEXT: Public Art
