Belly of the Whale: Opening night + Performance night
Opening times:
Fri 4th of December: 17:00- 22:00 + performance night: 20:00
Sat 5th of December: 15:00-20:00
Sun 6th of December: 15:00-20:00
*Upon this threshold, the very edge of what is known and observable, lies the event horizon, a liminal zone of magnified abilities. The only being that resides there unchanged is a beast of lovecraftian dimension. It waits for you, mouth wide open, saliva pooling at the back. You are warned of a sacral journey, a pilgrimage bringing a radical change in your core. As the beast swallows, warmth of its stomach embraces you, the acid melting your skin, flesh and bones, allowing for complete and total metamorphosis. I cannot tell you what happens next, as I do not know how you emerge. But the transformation has already begun, and there is nothing you can do to stop it. *
It is within the context of our own contemporary world, full of seemingly never-ending local and global crises, that the Belly of the Whale invites us to linger in the murky waters of metamorphosis. We all come into this world the same way: we are thrown into it. The world does not stop for us – it goes on, and on, and on. Our current reality is built on our history as a species, as a collective, and as an ecosystem. We can only hope to steer it towards our greatest dreams, but we keep on finding ourselves in the midst of extreme economic inequality, unregulated technological advancements, perpetual environmental injustice… And strangely, we find ourselves more disconnected than ever. What if these dark times we live in actually reveal that we are inside the belly of the whale? That we are being swerved by things happening around us: not exactly knowing how we ended up here, not sure what happens next.
What happens when you open up your eyes to this truth? What do you find inside the whale? What do you find inside yourself?
Swallowed by the unknown, this story is as old as art and religion go. In the myth of Jonah (Yunus), he too is swallowed by a large sea creature, and survives in its stomach for three days and three nights. He is spat out onto land: alive, but transformed by the experience. The comparative mythologist Joseph Campbell saw this swallowing as a crucial part of the hero’s journey. He saw the “world-wide womb image of the belly of the whale” to symbolize a “sphere of rebirth”, where “the hero goes inward… for the renovation of the world”. The hero’s entry into this transitory space entails an annihilation of what existed before, in order to make room for what is yet to come.
The hero’s descent into the unknown is not merely a journey of personal transformation, deepening and maturing the psyche, but one that also reverberates beyond the self, affecting the world the hero inhabits. What happens after the Whale spits us out? What do we do with the life that awaits us on the other side? What if, inside the belly of the whale, we not only discover that we are capable of being transformed…. but we also start to recognize that we hold the key to transform ourselves, and our ways of being, relating and acting in the world?
Regardless of what we encounter inside the Belly of the Whale, we must come out of the experience different, somehow. Changed… Anew.
The artists joining:
Helin Özdemir @helinarchives
Mima Mićić @mortc0re
Ceyhun Firat @ceyhunfirat
Francesca Mazzetto @Franfran.fm
Oana Beatrice Popescu @bloomingstrangely
Carme Ferrando Soriano @xcarmee
Mule @mouleaqa
Simona Krivorukova @ttutitamm
Meng @limengze091
Aden Mete @adens_arts
Emma Hendriks
Echo @bebopakrasia
Mira van den Berg @mira.vandenberg
vix @reciprocoenazul
Arie
Oleksandra
Giulia Monteverde
Art-Gang presents: Belly of the Whale. Art-Gang and WORM are collaborating in organising an exhibition project, where around 17 artists work in a community and make art for an exhibition in a period of three months. During this project they take part in workshops, visit different kinds of art mediums and work on their personal art works. This project is part of SKILLS COURT and is organised through MDT.
