Charles van Otterdijk 'Double Centre'

Situation reports from a twilight zone

8 September - 17 November 2013
Opening: Saturday 7 September, 8 pm
during Museumnacht Den Haag
Location: Hogewal 1-9, The Hague
Open: Wed-Sun, 12 noon-5 pm

**** NRC Handelsblad (11 Sept. 2013)
**** nrc.next (17 September 2013)

Download exhibition guide: click here (pdf)
Publication Double Centre: click here

Stroom School side program: click here
Various guided tours and a book presentation

Part of See You in The Hague

Starting in the fall of 2013 the Stroom program See You in The Hague is a multifaceted narrative about the city of The Hague, a city that evokes feelings of hope and freedom throughout the entire world, but also of fear and conflict. The program kicks off with the opening of the exhibition Double Centre by the Dutch artist Charles van Otterdijk at Stroom Den Haag.

Stroom Den Haag and Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven jointly present the long-term project Double Centre. The title refers to two mysterious buildings in the former GDR and to the Kafkaesque experiences of Charles van Otterdijk in trying to interpret these structures. Double Centre takes the visitor on a quest into a twilight zone where the boundaries between legal and illegal and between fiction and reality become blurred. The result of the artist's ongoing research will be revealed in two exhibitions (respectively at Stroom Den Haag in 2013 and in the Van Abbemuseum in 2014) and in an accompanying publication.

Charles van Otterdijk discovered the mysterious spaces by accident in the thick forest near the Oder-Neisse line in the former GDR. It is totally unclear what the precise function of these buildings might be. Because of their locations (institutional) illegality cannot be ruled out. Based on his memories and some sparse documentation Van Otterdijk works on a reconstruction, under the title Double Centre, and tries to get to grips with the potential meaning of these places.

Double Centre brings up associations with rendition centres and other methods used by democratic constitutional states to eliminate (whether or not alleged) terrorists. These procedures often take place in the no man's land that is out of view of the media and judicial and parliamentary control. Double Centre ushers the visitors into a similar twilight zone. Instinctively we ask ourselves the question how far we can or should go in the defense of our state of law. The exhibition at Stroom Den Haag shows a first presentation of his research so far. In the summer of 2014 a new phase in his ongoing findings will be on view in the Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven.

Publication Double Centre
This book includes photographs, documents and a short text by Charles van Otterdijk. The book is an autonomous publication and not an exhibition catalogue. It is a co-production of Book Works (London), Stroom Den Haag and the Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven. The first copy was presented to Willem Post (Clingendael Institute), more info and photographs click here.

The exhibition is made possible in part by:
Mondriaan Fund and Stichting DOEN.

Partner:
Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven

Special thanks to:
Museum Waalsdorp, The Hague
Design See You in The Hague: Autobahn

LINKS
TEDxHagueAcademy.org
Nine inspirational speakers and their vision of the future of peace and justice (9 September 2013 in het Peace Palace, The Hague)

PRESS
de nieuwe (Arti et Amicitiae), January 2015 (in Dutch)
Het Financiele Dagblad, 21 december 2013 (in Dutch)
De Groene Amsterdammer, 7 November 2013 (in Dutch)
Den Haag Centraal, 4 October 2013 (in Dutch)
galeries.nl, 4 October 2013 (in Dutch)
nrc.next, 17 September 2013 (in Dutch)
H ART, no. 116. 26 September 2013 (in Dutch)
-> English translation: click here
Jegens & Tevens, 16 September 2013 (in Dutch)
chmkoome's blog, 16 September 2013 (in Dutch)
Blikvangen, 12 September 2013 (in Dutch)
NRC Handelsblad, 11 September 2013 (in Dutch)
-> English translation: click here