Kunsthuis SYB

Kunsthuis SYB welcomes a three-artist collective Reinout Scholten van Aschat, bas van den hurk and Jochem Laarhoven for a research residency from April 2 to May 12, 2024 entitled part 54 or: reel real pul, and this part is no longer ly handy here.

Their research at SYB departs from several historical elements of Dada heritage in Friesland. The avant-garde movement Dada began during World War I, characterized by performances and disruptions embracing nonsense, irrationality and anti-capitalism. In 1923, Kurt Schwitters, Theo and Nelly van Doesburg and the Rinsema brothers, among others, organized a series of Dada-tours, consisting of Dadaïst performances, in Drachten, located a few minutes away from Beetsterzwaag. These were among the last official Dada performances. 

At SYB, the artists work in the spirit of the multidisciplinary nature of Dada. They draw inspiration from Kurt Schwitters’ poem The Onion (1919) and the 1923 article Dadaismus in Holland in Merz magazine. 

Within their collaboration, Reinout, bas and Jochem have developed a shared fascination with the onion. They perceive the onion as a non-human protagonist of their adventures in Beetsterzwaag and its surroundings. What stories can be told about the onion that transcend its literal meaning? Are there any political dimensions to it? 

The residency at SYB takes the form of a literal and figurative field trip in which different people and disciplines come together. Using the materials gathered in this context, the artists transform them into theatrical scenes, audio collages, music, performances, dishes, and short films.

The residency will result in a public presentation in May 2024. More info will follow.  

About the artists
Since 2018, Reinout Scholten van Aschat (°1989), bas van den hurk (°1965) and Jochem van Laarhoven (°1988) have been collaborating to explore the relationship between visual art and theater. From this research they assemble a multitude of media in installations and performances. In this multiplicity is the urgency to revisit an important modernist question: how do we live together and how do we give it shape? 

Reinout Scholten van Aschat, bas van den hurk and Jochem van Laarhoven are also part of the collective it is part of an ensemble, a changing group of about twenty artists, theater makers, actors, performers, theorists and students. Together, they engage in residencies and make exhibitions, performances and publications. Recent exhibitions include: Museum De Pont, Tilburg, Club Solo, Breda, Joseph Tang, Paris (FR), Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, Dürst Britt and Mayhew, The Hague.