Transmovement

Date: 9 December 1993 - 18 January 1994

The guest curators Bülent Evren, Nour-Eddine Jarram, and Jessy Rahman have been living and working in the Netherlands for some time. They are fully integrated into the Dutch art world and, as such, are familiar with life in two cultures. They were asked to curate an exhibition featuring the work of fellow artists from their countries of origin who also live and work in the Netherlands. The idea behind this was that they would be best positioned to guide us in recognizing artistic quality.

However, during the preparation of this exhibition, a painful discrepancy emerged between, on the one hand, the municipality's political directive to Stroom to develop a minority policy for visual artists and, on the other hand, the stance of the participating artists, who strongly opposed being categorized or valued under such a label.

Bülent Evren’s selection:
Atilla Kanbir and Hüseyin Karadeli

Nour-Eddine Jarram’s selection:
Emerald Beryl, Bouchaib Dihaj, and Latif Aabdaoui

Jessy Rahman’s selection:
Ilene Themen, Carlos Blaaker, Ruth Keteldijk, and Tom Zandwijken

Stroom wrote to the involved aldermen on December 15, 1993:
"Organizing this exhibition has made it very clear that ‘stimulating an art policy for migrants’ is based on a misunderstanding. Minority policy is essential when it focuses on improving social conditions, in which, in our view, education and training are the most important factors. Only when these disadvantages have been addressed can opportunities be equal, allowing one to choose whether to become an artist or, for example, an accountant. In that case, the quality of the effort delivered is the only criterion. But even if the premise of this exhibition is based on a misunderstanding, the result is certainly not."

A publication of the same name accompanied the exhibition, featuring an introductory text by sociologist Ineke Gooskens titled The Pitfall of Minority Policy.