Three Artists Walk into a Bar

"– quite apart from making us laugh – it [humour] has been employed to activate repressed impulses, embody alienation or displacement, disrupt convention, and to explore power relations in terms of gender, sexuality, class, taste or racial and cultural identities." - Jennifer Higgie -

De Appel Curatorial Programme 2011-2012 presents Three Artists Walk into a Bar..., a series of works and interventions that take place outside of the premises of the exhibition space, channelled through discussion, dialogue, and public gatherings at the Appel Boys’ School and on the website of the project, www.threeartistswalkintoabar.com. Using the quality of humour to test the potential of art as a critical instrument for the analysis of social, political and cultural issues, this project aims to build a community of peers, professionals and a variety of publics. The commitment to humour, stems from a belief in its social quality; in its capacity to bring subversive voices and unexpected perspectives to mainstream awareness.

What happens when three artists walk into a bar? Between 13 April and 13 May 2012, more than fifty new works of art will be produced – the result of an open invitation to students and residents of every graduate and post-academic fine art programme in the Netherlands. The decision to work with peers has been motivated by the urge to form a generation of young people who are directly affected by the impact of the current political climate towards culture. Three Artists Walk into a Bar… aims to produce a fertile ground for an unexpected multitude of voices, speaking out from and to the conditions of the present time.

While the ‘show’ takes place in the social fabric of everyday life, the function of the Appel Boys’ School will be altered for the duration of the project, shifting its use from production site to auditorium, from bar to information point. On Saturdays, the Boys’ School will open its doors to the public to give hints and plant rumors of the public and semi-public works and performances made by participating artists. Saturday gatherings will also include a programme of lectures and workshops by internationally renowned practictioners from the field of art, theory and comedy. Visitors will also have a chance to explore the filmic character of humour in the temporary cinema through film and video works selected by the participants in the exhibition.

Three Artists Walk into a Bar... tests the multitude of possibilites and strategies for the distribution of art: whether the art works develop a one on one encounter, reach an unsuspecting public, or are visible to a mass, there will always be someone who ‘chances upon the joke’, with or without consent.

de Appel Curarorial Programme 2011-2012 This year the participants of de Appel Curatorial Programme decided to form an international curatorial collective, The Black Swan, to create a platform for future collaboration. The Black Swan is: Antonia Alampi, Katia Krupennikova, Qinyi Lim, Sanne Oorthuizen, Alec Steadman, Ivana Vaseva.

Three Artists Walk into a Bar...
Final Project Of The Curatorial Programme
Kuratoren: The Black Swan  (Antonia Alampi, Katia Krupennikova, Qinyi Lim, Sanne Oorthuizen, Alec Steadman, Ivana Vaseva)

Künstler: Haseeb Ahmed, Roi Alter, Yosuke Amemiya, Andreas Arndt, Zayne Armstrong, Marwa Lamia Arsanios, Mercedes Azpilicueta, David Bernstein, Daniela Bershan, Fritz Bornstück, Clifford Borress, Mitchel Breed, Deniz Buga, Chad Burt, Crystal Z Campbell, Jaiyoung Cho, Steven Chodoriwsky, Simeon Cieslinski, Edward Clive, Edmund Cook, Valentina Desideri, Ingeborg Entrop, Efrat Gal, Kevin Gallagher, Ceemin Golshan, Fotini Gouseti, Yoeri Guepin, Rosie Heinrich, Maja Hodoscek, Anna Hoetjes, Andy Ingamells, Sergei Inja, Adria Julia, Kroot Juurak, Rei Kakiuchi, Hyemin Kim, Jihyun Kim, Rachel Koolen, Alexi Kukuljevic, Geraldine Longueville, Pernille Lonstrup, Anna Luczak, Saskia Noor van Imhoff, Isabel Marcos, David Maroto, Fran Meana, Toeh Meisami, Magdalena Mellin, Eden Mitsenmacher, Lara Morais, Momu & No Es, Pendar Nabipour, Aapo Nikkanen, Saskia Noor van Imhoff, Irene O'Callaghan, Anouchka Oler, Ane Ostrem, Joyce Overheul, Jurgis Paskevicius, Miguel Peres dos Santos, Eric Philippoz, Enrico Piras, Doris Prlic, Julia Reist, Kirsty Roberts, Padraig Robinson, Dusan Rodic, Nathania Rubin, Jeremiah Runnels, Vanja Smiljanic, Sarah Stein, Fraser Stewart, Marija Sujica, Witta Tjan, Diego Tonus, Sander Uitdehaag, Deniz Unal, Janneke van der Putten, Katja van Driel, Susan van Hengstum, Timmy van Zoelen, Rui Vilela, Kym Ward, Amanda Wasielewski, Jeff Weber, Christoph Westermeier, Aline Weyel, Robert Wittendorp, Mariana Zamarbide, Emile Zile