What makes something waste? Is it because it's broken, unwanted, or simply not in the right place? This is the question that begins the exhibition and public program "Out of Place." Waste isn't just what we throw away. It can also be what overflows, what's left behind, or what slips through the cracks. Anthropologist Mary Douglas once said, "Dirt is matter out of place."
At TENT, the artists in the exhibition explore this idea. Using drawings, sculptures, costumes, stories, sound, and walks, they demonstrate how remnants and forgotten objects open doors to imagination, become mirrors of society, and spark new ideas. In their work, waste is given a new voice.
After a fantastic summer with the Rotterdam Holiday Passport and the first Artistic Field Trips with adults around waste in Rotterdam, Out of Place is now reopening on Saturday, September 13 at 15.00 p.m For an adult audience. The exhibition features colorful drawings of underground cities where waste becomes kingdoms, dreamlike chalk figures floating through the air, and a slowly rusting fountain filled with black ink that speaks with the voice of a river. You can enter a theatrical dressing room to try on costumes and see harbor sludge—usually removed and hidden—returning here as a silent reminder of the river's life.
The program also extends beyond the exhibition space. During the Artistic Field Trips, artists take visitors to hidden corners of Rotterdam. There, you can walk through a concealed landfill, cycle through harbor air, or tuck into a goblin feast made from found remains. After each trip, the artists return to TENT with a small pop-up exhibition, bringing part of their experience into the space.
The reopening of Out of Place coincides with the opening of the cultural season on Saturday, September 13, with the dance performance Waste Me in collaboration with Maas Theater en Dans, choreographed by Cecilia Moisio.
Holiday passport programming
In July 2024, it returned Wasteland Festival back with Out of Sight, a city-wide interdisciplinary festival that explored hidden infrastructures and ecologies of waste through exhibitions, workshops, tours, conversations, and performances. At multiple locations—including TENT, the Nieuwe Instituut, Gemaal op Zuid, and Roodkapje—the festival invited the public to reflect on how waste shapes urban life, both visible and invisible.
As part of the main programme, TENT presented the interactive summer exhibition Out of Sight: Out of Place, where children and families could playfully explore the worlds of urban waste, using imagination and a sense of discovery. Through interactive artworks, tactile installations, and guided explorations, young visitors learned what waste is, how we live with it, and where it goes once it disappears from view.
The exhibition brought together a vibrant mix of artworks and installations: from interactive play spaces surrounded by hedges and fences, to triptychs, wall drawings, river objects and clay sculptures, theatrical sets, and sound artworks made from waste materials.
In addition to the artworks in the exhibition space, the program also invited visitors to venture into the city with a series of monthly, artist-led activities that explored Rotterdam's waste infrastructures up close. Visitors of all ages were encouraged to participate in these performative excursions: What makes something waste? Where does it go once it's out of sight? What creatures live with it, care for it, or make it their home? How far does it travel? And could we imagine a future city without waste?
The exhibition included a new work commissioned by Caz Egelie and was part of the Rotterdam Holiday Passport-program.
With special thanks to Kaisa, Mingus and Dolores for their beautiful handwriting!
Artwork by Martin Foucaut
