Cosima von Bonin’s Far Niente for Witte de With’s Sloth Section, Loop # 01 of the Lazy Susan Series, a Rotating Exhibition

At Witte de With, Center for Contemporary Art, Cosima von Bonin presents an exhibition around the notion of sloth and fatigue. With her typical laconic humor, Cosima von Bonin creates a constellation of new and existing works. From oversized stuffed animals to sewn fabrics, from pastiches of minimalist sculptures to recreations of shop display systems, her work blends formalism and pop, oscillating between seriousness and fun, weighed down with melancholy or fizzing with critical wit.

The expression dolce far niente evokes the sweetness of doing nothing. Here the expression takes on a certain irony, as this is the first show in a sequence of major institutional exhibitions, which means that the artist is doing quite the opposite of nothing.

The sequence is subtitled: THE LAZY SUSAN SERIES, A ROTATING EXHIBITION, referring to the rotating disks that appear in many restaurants and are used to present an array of dishes. The idea of a rotating exhibition differs from a traditional traveling show in that, with each rotation or loop, visitors are served a slightly different dish.

Education

During this exhibition several educational activities, like art confrontations and workshops, are being organized for high schools and academic students. In an art confrontation, the students take a close look at the works of Cosima von Bonin. The Witte de With educator takes the specific knowledge and experience of the students as a starting point. By creating an open atmosphere, students can explore their own responses to art works and increase their understanding of art. Discussion and debate are used to share ideas. We aim to engage students with the artworks and encourage critical thinking about the works of Cosima von Bonin and about contemporary art in general.

Workshops Wolfert Tweetalig

Four groups of students from Rotterdam high school Wolfert Tweetalig visit Witte de With during Cosima von Bonin’s exhibition. Their visit consists of two parts: an art confrontation and a workshop. Following the theme of the exhibition the workshop evolves around sloth. Artist Karin Schipper guides the students in creating their own universe out of movable and stackable goods. During the workshop the class gets divided into smaller groups who each have their own task in making this new universe come to life. The process of growth is captured in images, which together form a stop-motion film. The four stop-motion films will be screened on Sunday the 7th of November at 4 P.M. in the Goethe-Institut as one of the Slothful Sunday.

Art Now: Cosima von Bonin

Witte de With Education hosts a month-long series of workshops for over 400 high school students.