TENT 20

Download the timetable here.

TENT celebrates its 20th anniversary. 20 years of exhibitions, events, education, and guest programming, inspired by Rotterdam’s creative and cultural diversity. TENT marks this moment together with twenty Rotterdam makers and collectives and invites you for a dazzling two-day event on Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 September. A festive open house for acquaintances and curious newcomers, with a cross-disciplinary programme of performances, live music, poetry, films, wall-filling artworks, and a kids’ programme, where even the food and drink promise to be an artistic experience. The programme’s highlight is the premiere of the documentary ‘TENT 20’, a portrayal of TENT which also charts the city’s life during those 20 years.

Documentary TENT 20
A unique collaboration between director Christiaan van Schermbeek of Studio Moois TV, creative director André Marques, and musician Tim Wes of collective T&D, which resulted in a special documentary that looks back and ahead and gives voice to both positive and critical commentary. The filmmakers delved into the image archives, interviewed Rotterdam artists who have shown at TENT over the years and portrayed young talents who are about to make their own mark in the city. Impressions from 20 years of exhibitions and events at TENT are linked to reflections on makership past and present, the ever-changing Witte de Withstraat, and social themes important to the city. The documentary premieres on Saturday evening 28 September during TENT’s anniversary event and will later be broadcast on TV Rijnmond and online.

Looking back on twenty years of TENT
CBK Rotterdam started presenting exhibitions by Rotterdam’s artists in 1987, firstly at the Nieuw Binnenweg and then at the Villa Alckmaer on Westersingel. In 1999, CBK Rotterdam moved into the grpund floor of Witte de Withstraat 50, where the launch of TENT was heralded on 9 September with a performance by artist initiative B.a.d: twelve window cleaners washed the entire building’s windows in synchrony, after which the public were given special commemorative umbrellas to enter TENT without getting wet. Ten years later, the high windows were extended to street level, improving our connection to the city and the public. Over the course of twenty years, TENT has continually reshaped its role as a platform for and with the city – first with the exhibition space as a public workshop and the famous ‘multi-evenings’; then with high-profile solo exhibitions in which artists could take control of the entire exhibition space; always in lively collaboration with the initiatives in the city at that time and the increasingly international and intercultural artists’ communities that feel at home in Rotterdam. Artists Jonas Staal, Wendelien van Oldenborgh, Anne Wenzel, Libia & Olafur, and Katarina Zdjelar all made their first major artistic statements at TENT. Makers such as Erik van Lieshout or the Wakaman collective initiated collective projects.

TENT is part of CBK Rotterdam, which stimulates the visual arts climate in the city with investment schemes, presentations, art in public space, and international assignments.