I die, therefore I am

31 October - 26 November 2016
Opening: Wednesday 2 November, 17.30 hrs
(by Gerko Tempelman, organizer Death Café in the Netherlands)
Location: Atrium Stadhuis Den Haag, Spui 70, The Hague
Open: Monday to Friday 7-19 hrs, Thursday 7-21.30 hrs and Saturday 9.30-17 hrs (a Stroom host or hostess is present between 10 and 17 hrs)
Entrance: free

Almost everyday, in newspapers, on television and social media, images of victims of (war) violence and natural disasters meet our eye. Usually these deaths seem far removed from our daily routine. Just like our own death. Secretly we are afraid to talk about it and certainly not in public.

The exhibition I die, therefore I am is an open invitation to reflect on one's own death, to talk about it with other people and help each other to get more out of life. City Hall is the perfect location for such a topic: it is the place we all visit to report a birth or to register a death.

I will die
People from all over the world, young, old, rich and poor, look you straight in the eye and say in their native language: I will die. According to the Chinese artist Yang Zhenzhong nobody wants to die. He was curious which facial expression people would have when pronouncing this sentence in front of a camera. And what their expression would be after they had said it. All these people make you aware of your own mortality. What's more: in death we are all equal.
www.shanghartgallery.com

Death Cafés
To facilitate these talks about death Stroom, with the help of volunteers, organizes a number of Death Cafés. During informal meetings participants, usually strangers, can gather around the coffee table to talk about their own experiences with death. With conversations like this we help each other to get more out of life.

Would you like to participate in a Death Café?
That is possible, in Atrium City Hall, on:
- Wednesday 2 November, 11 hrs
- Friday 4 November, 11 hrs
- Wednesday 9 November, 11 hrs
- Friday 11 November, 11 hrs
- Fri 18 November, 11 hrs
- Wed 23 November, 11 hrs
- Thursday 24 November, 11 hrs (in English!)
- Fri 25 November, 11 hrs
- and Wednesday 16 November, 17 hrs
Please contact the exhibition host or hostess or make a reservation via reserveren@stroom.nl. You will receive a confirmation.

More information about Death Cafe:
www.deathcafe.com
www.facebook.com/deathcafenederland

I die, therefore I am is the third exhibition in a row Stroom organizes in City Hall collaboration with Stichting Atrium Den Haag. In 2014 there was the exhibition Sculptures of The City Centre dedicated to The Sculpture Gallery; followed in 2015 by an exhibition about monuments: Remembered Always... What is the colour of monuments in The Hague?

Parallel to the exhibition in Atrium City Hall you can also visit the exhibition Circles of Focus: The Fall Experiment by Christine Borland and Brody Condon at Stroom Den Haag (on view thru t/m 13 November 2016). This research project interrogates the potential for the act of mark-making in clay to constitute a legally binding body-donation bequest.

Colophon
Initiated by: Stroom Den Haag
Concept, text and organisation: Sandra Spijkerman
Graphic design: Janneke Hendriks and Erla van der Pauw

Special thanks to:
City of The Hague
Stichting Atrium City Hall
Mondriaan Fund
Advice Death Café: Karel Winterink

PRESS
Cineac Den Haag TV, 3 November 2016
(see clip on top of this page)
Denk je wel, 2 November 2016

'I die, therefore I am' on Atrium City Hall
photo: Mylène Siegers, courtesy Stroom Den Haag
'I die, therefore I am' on Atrium City Hall
photo: Mylène Siegers, courtesy Stroom Den Haag
'I die, therefore I am' on Atrium City Hall
photo: Mylène Siegers, courtesy Stroom Den Haag
'I die, therefore I am' on Atrium City Hall
photo: Mylène Siegers, courtesy Stroom Den Haag
'I die, therefore I am' on Atrium City Hall
photo: Mylène Siegers, courtesy Stroom Den Haag
'I die, therefore I am' on Atrium City Hall
photo: Mylène Siegers, courtesy Stroom Den Haag
'I die, therefore I am' on Atrium City Hall
photo: Mylène Siegers, courtesy Stroom Den Haag
'I die, therefore I am' on Atrium City Hall
photo: Mylène Siegers, courtesy Stroom Den Haag
'I die, therefore I am' on Atrium City Hall (opening by Gerko Tempelman)
photo: Mylène Siegers, courtesy Stroom Den Haag
Yang Zhenzhong, 'I will die', 2007 (detail)
photo: courtesy the artist & ShanghART Gallery & H-Space, Shanghai, China
Yang Zhenzhong, 'I will die', 2007
photo: courtesy the artist & ShanghART Gallery & H-Space, Shanghai, China