Rotterdam Cultural Histories 6#: Video at the Lijnbaancentrum

The Lijnbaancentrum
The Lijnbaancentrum (1970–1984), led by Felix Valk, was the renowned exhibition space of the Rotterdam Arts Foundation (RKS). In the center of Rotterdam, various exhibitions were presented on art and visual culture, aiming appeal to a large and diverse audience. Moving image was seen as an indispensable medium to do this; therefore, the Lijnbaancentrum was equipped with a studio with modern video equipment for the recording and editing of both monochrome and recently introduced colour video.

Video-experiments
The studio offered free quality video equipment and expertise to Dutch and international artists such as Vito Acconci, Joan Jonas, Nan Hoover, Wim Gijzen and Jan van Munster. The studio also created recordings of performances, educational videos and produced reports on virtually all Lijnbaancentrum exhibitions.

A major exhibition in 1973, ‘Video’, brought these different applications of the medium together. Besides an overview of video initiatives in the Netherlands, the exhibition presented various educational applications of video, alongside the work of artists such as Dennis Oppenheim and Henk Tas.

Over the years the core of the Lijnbaancentrum video team was formed by Henk Elenga, Frédéric Kappelhof, Wink van Kempen and Erik van Dieren. Rotterdam Cultural Histories #6 gave an impression of their efforts and experiments with the medium of video, based on archival material, photographs and a selection of video works.

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.