Doing the Stuff With the Thing is an exhibition of visual artists Mayra Sérgio and Romy Yedidia. The show presents four installations that reimagine different types of craftsmanship as a way to process societal struggles. Sérgio explores decolonising procedures of selfhood, while Yedidia brings to the fore aspects of feminine performativity that are expected to remain hidden. Both artists dwell aesthetically and conceptually in the threshold between control and lack of control. They attempt to claim agency of their personhood, either by enacting an Amazonian technique of substance transformation as a grieving ritual, or constructing a machine capable of alleviating anxiety.

Materiality is central within the exhibition. Matter is contained and splattered, sometimes shaped into structures which are on the verge of collapsing, other times domesticated into unexpected moulds. The materials perform as much as the artists.

All the exhibited works stem directly from the artists’ personal experiences; rendering the installations with rawness and precision that can only derive from first person accounts. Doing the Stuff With the Thing encompasses struggle and resilience, systematic labour and creativity, permanence and change.

Performance program
Friday October 8, opening 18:00 – 22:00
19:30 – Through the Mouth, performance by Mayra Sérgio
20:30 – Anxiety Machine, performance by Romy Yedidia

Sunday October 10
14:00 – Cornice, long durance performance by Romy Yedidia

Saturday October 16
16:00 – Through the Mouth, performance by Mayra Sérgio
17:00 – Anxiety Machine, performance by Romy Yedidia

Artists websites:
www.mayrasergio.com
www.romyyedidia.com

The works exhibited are made possible thanks to the support of Mondriaan Fonds and Arti et Amicitiae. Graphic design: Johanna Ehde