Performance of a Massacre

2016
Performance

The artist had originally announced his plan to stage The Performance of Massacre at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam on January 29th, 2016. However, the event was cancelled without explanation on the day it was scheduled to take place, causing great consternation at the museum. Instead, a panel of seven participants came together to engage in intense discussion and debate. Through alternating expressions of understanding and regret, they gradually revealed details concerning the nature of the failed performance and caused another performance to emerge slowly. The truth of what had actually happened never did come out in the various narratives, just as God is not supposed to appear in nature.

Performance contributed by the following participants: Dr. Sophie Berrebi (Associate Professor of the History and Theory of Contemporary Art at University of Amsterdam); Huib Cluistra (Actor); Bart van der Heide (Chief Curator, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam); Meinke Horn (Artist, curator and freelance museum teacher at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam); Renée Akitelek Mboya (Curator and filmmaker); Robert-Jan Muller (Art critic, chairman of AICA Netherlands [Association Internationale des Critiques d’Art]); Henri Sandront (Producer of Public Programs, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam).

Performance of a Massacre (2016) was initiated by former Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam curator Hendrik Folkerts (documenta 14, Kassel); Research curator: Britte Sloothaak (Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam); Producer: Henri Sandront (Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam).