Tricksters Tricked: (Un)covering Identity, Van Abbe Museum

Arthub Asia continues its collaboration with the Van Abbe Museum with the participation of Xijing Men in the exhibition Tricksters Tricked.

Tricksters Tricked is an investigation of design and its dual role in shaping our contemporary reality. It concentrates on the craft of identity construction, a task that has become compulsory for most organisations and individuals today.

What do we gain and what do we lose in the constant game of identity negotiation? What is being highlighted and what is being concealed? Which is more favored at the end of the process: the authentic or the communicated entity? Is it even possible to talk about authenticity in the face of a multitude of added layers?

In October 2010, the Van Abbe Museum will launch the exhibition Tricksters Tricked–(Un)covering Identity. The exhibit will examine four levels of identity representation: the self, the city, the nation and the museum, with the aim of illustrating the dualities in each of them.

During Dutch Design Week 2010, from the 23rd to the 31st of October, Tricksters Tricked will be reinforced with a special, live layer: daily interventions, requests visitors to get their hands dirty by participating in diverse design processes. A rich program of lectures, workshops and movie screenings complement the subjects at hand.

The Self, the City, the Nation and the Museum
Each floor in the tower focuses on one of four levels of contemporary living, forming a panoramic view of the optional facets of (un)founded identity.

The City
Is our image of the city the product of public campaigns or arbitrary developments? In the global economy, city branding is synonymous with economic survival. Where do we stand when branding actually becomes an urban planning tool? The collective Xijing Men, with their video I Love Xijing–The Daily Lives of Xijing Presidents, reveals the process of designing a utopian city. Replacing extravagant authoritative gestures with daily routines, they superimpose top-down and bottom-up, the institutional with the self-organised.

For a complete press release please click here.