During our Office-in-Residence we had walk-in consultation hours, a copy station and we were available to talk on Tuesdays and Fridays. We were also present during the art market weekends and had many conversations with acquaintances and strangers from Platform BK. This has allowed us to recruit new members and spread knowledge. All our printed readers were present so you could easily take them home. We enjoyed all the good conversations that arose from us being present as Platform BK. We hope that even though the residency has come to an end, the conversations will continue.

During the residency we gave a workshop in collaboration with Zoe Dankert, and also organized an event as the first meeting after the election results. This is a starting point for a longer conversation and determines an action point for the elected cabinet period. Read more in the article by Nous Faes here.

We would like to thank all visitors for their input and expressions of support, and we would also like to thank the new members who have joined. In addition, we would especially like to thank Farida Sedoc, Annette Wolfsberger, Claudio Ritfeld and the entire W139 team.

People’s Forum 
Farida Sedoc 

Opening 17 November 19:00 – 22:00

People’s Forum, Farida Sedoc’s first solo exhibition, explores the conditions for art as livelihood and as a vehicle for change. Sedoc starts from her own precarious experience as an artist to address new forms of collectivity. Amplifying past and current voices of diasporic and transnational communities, the exhibition reports on resistance and civil disobedience, and suggests tools for emancipation. The punk, reggae, and hip-hop aesthetics in her visual imagery contrast the visual language of mainstream media.

In People’s Forum, repurposing this visual research material echoes the spirit of the 80s and proposes alternative realities of the present. This not only forms the basis for addressing many urgent topics in the exhibition and in society today but also speaks about global power structures in relation to people’s social, cultural, and economic positions.

Next to a series of new works by Sedoc, People’s Forum will bring together a program offering alternative and accessible forms of artistic production and autonomy: an art market, how-to workshops, and an office-in-residence of Platform BK.

People’s Forum Art Market—a freely accessible weekend market taking place on 25-26 November and 2-3 December—is full of unexpected treasures, self-published magazines, records, clothing, art works and craft products, and wholesome homemade food and drinks by local artists, designers, and makers.

Every Friday, the weekly How-To Workshop Programme experiments with alternative modes of economic self-sufficiency within the arts field and beyond, in collaboration with various Amsterdam creators and experts.

Platform BK’s Office-in-Residence offers insights into their work as an advocacy organisation for artists and cultural workers, aiming to mobilise independent art workers, and encouraging self-organisation and solidarity for a better art climate