On The Other Side Of Reality

TENT brings together the world of contemporary art and that of the Caribbean Carnival. In TENT you can see the new fashion installation of fashion designer Marga Weimans and twelve young people are working together with performance artist Mette Sterre on a contemporary street parade for Saturday 12 September. The float and procession that Marga Weimans designed for TENT for the Rotterdam Summer Carnival will also have its long-awaited premiere that afternoon. (Photo: Aad Hoogendoorn)

Summer carnival
The Summer Carnival was first organized in the '80 years as an equivalent to the Caribbean Carnival, and has become one of the largest cultural events in the Netherlands. The Rotterdam Summer Carnival has a cultural background that is strongly related to the colonial past and the migration history of the Netherlands. With On The Other Side Of Reality, TENT brings the world of contemporary art together with the carnival: 'high' and 'low' culture, inside and outside, museum and society meet.

Street parade and exhibition with Marga Weimans
The famous fashion designer Marga Weimans (Rotterdam) designs a float with procession for the Street Parade of the Summer Carnival on Saturday 25 July. Fashion, art, performance and theater come together in a total concept that is also influenced by her personal background and her views on the city dweller as an 'agent of change'. A group of forty young dancers depicts a transformation process from tight architectural forms to the exuberant and infectious of the Caribbean carnival. They are transformed from framed to liberated, from duty to passion, from uniform to multi-faceted and from raw materials to stimulating senses. After the Street Parade, the parade proceeds into a monumental installation in TENT. For the realization of the project, Weimans works together with composer Rutger Zuydervelt (Machinefabriek), choreographer Amber Vineyard (House of Vineyard / HipHopHuis) and scenographer Joris van Oosterwijk.

Youth project The End Of Normal with Mette Sterre
Performance artist Mette Sterre (Rotterdam / London) works with a group of talented young people throughout the summer on a procession in which themes such as identity, masquerade and performance are taken as the starting point. The End Of Normal will premiere in September during the Art festival in the Witte de Withkwartier.

Final Symposium
In September, a concluding symposium will discuss the cultural and political implications of the connection between contemporary art and carnival. How relevant is the Caribbean carnival as an expression of protest or being different in today's city? The symposium serves as an evaluating platform for the questions that TENT asks the arts, the city of Rotterdam, the public and themselves.

View the item here RTV Rijnmond with Marga Weimans, in the middle of preparation for the Street Parade for axis 25 July ..