Detail of the herd in Ibrahimpaşa, Cappadocia, Turkey, October 5th, 2011. Photo: Sen McGlinn
UC Berkeley’s
Sproul Plaza (googlemaps link) on Friday,
December 7,
3:30 — 4:30 p.m.
Dutch artist, Sonja van Kerkhoff will be out with the international herd on the plaza
May 2009, heading towards the Ledra Street border crossing from North
into South Nicosia with the Dutch herd of elephants.
Some of the herd in Taksim Square, Istanbul on September 11, 2011
Sonja with the herd in Taksim Square, Istanbul, Turkey, 2011
There she herded her Dutch herd of elephants back and forth between the two sides of Nicosia in a playful gesture at fudging borders between art and the day-to-day.
The second herd, the one she is bringing to Berkeley, had its first airing in Istanbul’s Taksim square in 2011. Each elephant is made from newsprint from the countries Sonja drove through to get to Istanbul and it was such a hit, that she has continued the caravan ever since.
Since the caravan is managed by an artist, the trade routes have been influenced by art events and art stops. Van Kerkhoff is in the San Francisco area to participate in the WATERWHEEL (info about this) symposium on December 8th at the Los Medanos College Art Gallery (googlemaps link). The symposium exhibition “CONVERGENCE/DIVERGENCE,” on the theme of water and its global and local roles, is curated by Suzon Fuks and coordinated by the WEAD (Women Environmental Artist Directory). It features videos, photography, sculpture and installations by 30 artists from around the world, including van Kerkhoff, and runs until Dec 13th.
WATERWHEEL co-founded by Suzon Fuks will also be streamed live on December 8th,
10 am – 1 pm, Pacific Standard Time. More information on water-wheel.net.
For the symposium “Water Taking Form” by Sonja van Kerkhoff will discuss the five screen installation “Kainga a roto” (Home within) as a flow of associations on some social implications of water-systems ranging from Istanbul to the New Zealand Whanganui river to notions of “wai-rua” (second-water/spirit), the second waters within each of us.
CONVERGENCE/DIVERGENCE
Los Medanos College Art Gallery (googlemaps link)
(gallery website which also has instructions about the WATERWHEEL symposium)
2700 E. Leland Blvd, Pittsburg, CA 94565, U.S.A,
Open: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 12:30-2:30 & 4-6pm
More information about the exhibition and the symposium on this blog is here
Places the Caravan has stopped at:
Taksim Square, Istanbul, Turkey, September 2011
Ibrahimpaşa, Cappadocia, Turkey, Turkey, October 2011
Yuchengco Museum, Makati City, The Philipppines, November 2011
Dunedin (city centre + through an Occupy camp), Aotearoa | New Zealand, Dec 2011
Hampden Hotel (on a bar during flooding), Murchison, Dec 2011
During the farmer’s market, Nelson, Dec 2011
Towards the ‘red zone’ the destroyed city centre, Christchurch, December 2011
From the landmark watertower to the Town Library, Hawera, Taranaki, Feb 2012
Town centre wharf to the Art Gallery, Whangarei, February 2012
Town centre, Alice Springs, Australia, March 2012
Bahai Temple, Sydney, Australia, March 2012
Part of a “Fields of Wonder” event in a park, Leiden, The Netherlands, May 2012
Sonja van kerkhoff has made performance works as low-key interactions with the public since 1993. See her website for a listing and more information about these
>> sonjavank.com/perform.htm
Sen & Sonja Make Art 