On Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 March, TENT opened the doors of Coolhaven 32 to the public for the first time. With a move and a new course, TENT wants to break down some walls and partitions as a stage and production house for Rotterdam makers. The new physical location, in a former harbour laboratory, has been set up as a hybrid place where artistic and social encounters can merge and where the space for co-creation and polyphony can grow around our programmes. In addition, TENT will move through the city with a nomadic programme, in which, together with makers, we search on a project basis for the best form, place and partners to delve into specific subjects and involve a diverse audience and participants.
Walk on By
28.3-8.6.2025
An exhibition with Schaun Champion, Naomi King, kolpeace, Charles Mason III, Djon Seedorf and Tarona, and a program by Tamara Vierbergen, Sheray of Light, Sheree Lenting, Elten Kiene and Cult North
The first project from the new location, Walk on By, is an exhibition and cultural exchange between Rotterdam and Baltimore, revolving around the African diaspora in both cities. Curator Joy Davis from Baltimore paired six artists with related working methods, forming three duos who share a search for ways to connect socially and spiritually with their communities through their art. The result is an exhibition of photographs, drawings and murals that offer recognition on multiple levels – not only because of what the works represent, but also because of how the makers work with colour, focus, detail, intensity and abstraction, and thus subtly or sharply navigate between what they do and do not want to emphasise.
The title of this project, Walk on By, is loosely borrowed from Dionne Warwick’s famous song about broken relationships. For curator Joy Davis, the underlying motivation for this project is a question that is closely linked to African diaspora history, and is extra urgent in our time of polarization: “What connections do we have, but what conversations are we not having?” [What connections connect us, but what conversations do we not have?] In line with this theme, artists Tamara Vierbergen and Sheray of Light provide an ongoing education program, choreographer, filmmaker and dancer Sheree Lenting presents a performance, and spoken-word artist Elten Kiene and Cult North realize a workshop series and performance with young people around the questions: which stories do we not tell, and why not?
At the same time, Walk on By more than an exhibition and public program. For the makers involved it is also, last year in Baltimore and now in Rotterdam, a cultural exchange program. An intensive week of meeting with each other and with local initiatives and community builders is an opportunity to share knowledge and stories from both diaspora contexts.
For more information on www.tentrotterdam.nl