Peter Westenberg

Biography Peter Westenberg (Enter, Netherlands, 1968)
Lives and works in Brussels, Belgium.

The projects by visual artist and film maker Peter Westenberg (1968) vary from printed matter to films and interactive media. They reflect his interest in visual discoveries, social myths, psycho-geography, media representation and sentimental journeys.
www.videomagazijn.org/index.html

The Language Police is a project conceived by Peter Westenberg for Satellite of Love. The format is a vlog (video weblog) about the word “allochtoon” (used in Dutch to mean “non-Dutch”). In this weblog, videos are collected and annotated, provided with commentary, background information and context. Two classes from the college of graphics in Rotterdam, led by teacher Peter Kunnen, form the Language Police crew. For two months (the duration of the exhibition), Rotterdam kids investigate whether the word allochtoon can still be used and if not, what should we use? What do you call others? And what or who is “an other”?

The vlog comprises street interviews (in corporation with Cineac, Rotterdam), workshops, sketches, background information and links, but the kids also look at their own position and the (im)possibility of shaping their own identities. Prior to the exhibition, they have taken part in a workshop with the Onafhankelijk Toneel theatre group, with actor Jamal Boukhriss as the central figure, about adopting a different personality. The result of this workshop is also part of the exhibition.