Image: Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media
Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM] will host a new exhibition and installation by Dutch artist Wendelin van Oldenborgh, titled 'Dance Floor as Study Room—したたかにたゆたう'. The project runs in Studio A in Yamaguchi from November 30, 2024, to March 15, 2025, with admission free. YCAM describes the presentation as a new work that addresses social issues through an expression of quiet resistance and freedom.
According to the center’s exhibition page, van Oldenborgh is one of the leading figures in contemporary art in the Netherlands. Her practice has focused on video and installation, and the YCAM text says she has worked with themes including racism, gender issues, history and colonialism. The exhibition is framed around her continuing research into women connected to Japan, the Netherlands and Indonesia, including figures such as actor and film director Kinuyo Tanaka and writer Fumiko Hayashi, both of whom are noted in the source material as having ties to Yamaguchi.
The exhibition presents new work alongside previously made pieces. YCAM says the venue will be arranged as a dance floor, using the space as a setting for considering diverse cultures and societies. The Japanese subtitle, 'したたかにたゆたう', is explained on the site as referring to a state of freedom grounded in an will to face pressure from others without using violence and in a refusal to be reduced to any single category.
The new work shown in the exhibition was inspired by several women active in Japan, the Netherlands and Indonesia from the 1930s through the 1950s. YCAM names Tanaka, Hayashi, Beb Vuyk, Ratna Asmara and Suwarsih Djojopuspito as among the women linked to the project. The source material notes that Indonesia during their lifetimes was under Dutch and Japanese colonial rule, a period of major political and social change. The exhibition’s works are said to address individual struggle under oppressive systems and to question the roots of issues such as racism and gender inequality.
In addition to the main gallery presentation, YCAM has also prepared related programming under the same exhibition title. The page lists a range of accompanying events, including artist talks, gallery tours, book gatherings, a meeting session and a closing talk. The exhibition is free, and the center lists regular closure on Tuesdays, except when a Tuesday is a holiday, as well as a year-end and New Year break from December 29 to January 3.
The exhibition’s credits identify Yamaguchi City and the Yamaguchi City Foundation for Culture as organizers, with support from the Yamaguchi City Board of Education. Support is also listed from the Agency for Cultural Affairs’ 2024 program for the formation of cultural and artistic creation hubs, along with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Mondriaan Fund, Martinus Plantema Foundation and DutchCulture. YCAM InterLab is credited with technical cooperation, and YCAM is named as producer, with curatorial credit to Leonardo Bartolomeus. The exhibition is slated to remain on view in Studio A until March 15, 2025.
