What role does resistance play in the course of history? How is change initiated in society?
Also see
Gewelfschilderingen -
Giorgio Andreotta Calo -
Anastasis
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At the invitation of the Oude Kerk, Zito Lema created a series of new works specifically for Amsterdam's oldest building. As a starting point for the installations, the artist focused on the numerous (in)visible traces of social resistance and conflict found in the Oude Kerk. Prior to her presentation, Zito Lema delved into the archives of the Oude Kerk.
Change as a Constant
Change may be the only constant in the turbulent history of the Oude Kerk and in society. How do we navigate change over time, and what precedes it? These questions were central to the installation by artist Aimée Zito Lema.
The Relationship Between Art and Resistance
Zito Lema took two moments of resistance as the starting point for her work: the Iconoclasm and the struggle against the veneration of icons in 1566, and the opposition to the installation of a red glass artwork by Italian artist Giorgio Andreotta Calò in the Oude Kerk in 2018. In her installations, she explored the relationship between these two moments, questioning how art can be a form of resistance, but also how art can provoke resistance.
Tribute to an eventful history
Here is Where we Meet was a subtle tribute to the building and the eventful history of the Oude Kerk. The basins adapted to the shape of the space, while the industrial pipe framework echoed the visual language of the ever-present scaffolding used for restoration work in the church. The edited images displayed on the carpets, sculptures, and in the basins were directly derived by Zito Lema from existing visual elements in the building. By using images already present in the church and presenting them in new ways, surprising and enlightening perspectives emerged on the relationship between resistance and change in the history of the church and society as a whole.
About Aimée Zito Lema
Aimée Zito Lema (1982) was born in Amsterdam and grew up in Buenos Aires. She studied at the Universidad Nacional de las Artes (Buenos Aires), the Gerrit Rietveld Academy (Amsterdam) and the Royal Academy of Art (The Hague). She was also a resident at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunst Amsterdam), which celebrates its 150th anniversary this year, among others. The fascination with social resistance runs like a thread through Zito Lema’s work: she previously made work about the Argentine dictatorship and the protests during the construction of the Stopera. Her work has been shown at MACBA, Centre Pompidou and the Gwangju Biennale, among others. The exhibition in the Oude Kerk will be her largest solo show to date, and it is the first time she has made such extensive context-specific work.
