Rotterdam Cultural Histories #7 - Perish festival

This seventh edition of Rotterdam Cultural Histories revolved around the performance festival ‘Perish’. The festival explored the relationship between early performance art and performances from the late 1990s, reflecting on the role video occupied as a medium and meditator within both contexts.

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‘Perish’ was organised on May 24 & 25, 1997, by artists’ initiative Duende in Rotterdam. For 28 years, 1984-2013, Duende offered studio spaces, residencies and exhibitions to Rotterdam-based and (inter)national artists. The ‘Perish’ festival brought together videos of performances from the 1960s and 70s – including works by Dan Graham, Hélio Oiticica, Bas Jan Ader and Joseph Beuys – and (filmed) performances by contemporary artists such as Bik Van der Pol, Jeroen Eisinga, Alicia Framis, Charlemagne Palestine, Otto Berchem, Yael Davids, and Yvonne Trap.

Responsible for the concept and research for this seventh edition were Adelheid Smit and Wendy Bos (Witte de With).
With thanks to: Bik Van der Pol, Kamiel Verschuren and the Stadsarchief Rotterdam.

Rotterdam Cultural Histories
In Shared Space, our shared exhibition space on the second floor, TENT and Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art alternatingly create presentations on subjects from the history of art and culture in Rotterdam. This collaborative series was conceived by Defne Ayas (Witte de With) and Mariette Dölle (TENT) in 2014 to explore the common roots of both institutions in Rotterdam.