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solo-project
nat karton
bert scholten
work period 15.09 – 15.10 2020
presentation 15.05 – 30.05 2021
A project on village identities, workers' history and the role of news coverage on identity in East Groningen.
It struck Bert Scholten that his own image of this region was strongly determined by a number of Geenstijl films in which Oude-Pekela was portrayed as the worst municipality in the Netherlands. There seems to be a strong feeling that 'those westerners' always have something to moan about. The feeling of inequality and that there is always talk about them but never with them. Now that Scholten himself also lives in the West he is extra aware of his position as an outsider, but at the same time he also sees himself as a local troubadour.
project
Bert Scholten stayed in Oude-Pekela for a month. In September Scholten had conversations about language, imagery and memory and worked together with former strawboard factory Siep&Co in Pekela. He immersed himself in the history of strawboard and its industry and working conditions. Scholten returns the cultural diversity he found in Pekela in the form of a newspaper. This newspaper he makes especially and only for Pekelders (red: people of Pekela), is printed in an edition of 6500 and were delivered door-to-door by Scholten himself in December 2020.
Scholten: "It contains, among other things, collections of words from the former strawboard industry and peat digging. It is a start to explore how these 'lost' words, and other local finds, could be used again. In spoken language, in memes, in music."
At the resort, the newspapers, amongst other work of Bert Scholten, will be for sale and you can watch the video about the project while making your purchases
This project is part of Gronings Vuur and is made possible by Mondrian Fund and Gemeente Groningen.
ABOUT
Bert Scholten (Assen, 1988) lives and works in Rotterdam. He was resident at the Rijksakademie (2018-2019) and studied at KASK Gent (2010-2011) and Minerva Groningen (2008-2012).
In 2018 his VPRO podcast ‘Niks was minder waar’ was broadcast. In 2015 his debut 'Figurative pop music' was released, followed by the LP 'Figuratieve popmuziek’, on his own label Het Generiek. He presented his performances at The Performance Show, Art Rotterdam (2020); Valkhof, Nijmegen (2019); Spring Performance Festival, Amsterdam (2018); Clash, Groningen (2017); and Showroom MAMA, Rotterdam (2016). In 2020 he will perform at Het HEM, Zaandam and SeMA, Seoul. From September 15 he will be working in Oude Pekela during Gronings Vuur in collaboration with het resort.
Gronings Vuur: is a traveling culture program that runs all through the province of Groningen. Every five to six weeks a different township is visited by artists and art companies. By initiating a floot of cultural activities Gronings Vuur contributes to an inspiring and energetic future for the province of Groningen.