GREAT APES
February 3 - March 4, 2007

Second Gallery is pleased to present Great Apes, guest curated by Dutch curator Femke Lutgerink. Lutgerink has invited Dutch artist Leonard Van Munster to develop an exhibition in the Second Gallery space in collaboration and dialogue with artists and scientists from Boston and Amsterdam, including: Sarah Banach (artist), Aisha Graham (artist), Marisa Jahn (artist), Geert Jan Mulder (artist), Tom Würdinger (MGH/Harvard Medical School), Eric Webber (MIT Media Lab), Jon Horvitz (Boston College).









Great Apes is the result of an alternative curatorial approach in which artist and curator collaborate amid an emergent network of other artists, scientists, and intellectuals. Second Gallery is closed for a month before the opening of Great Apes allowing the process for creating the show to unfold.
Great Apes explores the human fascination with gaining and wielding the ability to control and alter life on the most basic levels. This exhibition approaches the theme of the malleability of life-forms through the interaction of artistic and scientific practices, resulting in a unique exploration of phenomena such as genetics, cloning, the creation and diffusion of information, the relationship between science and politics, and the shifting of our understanding of truth over time.
As much as Great Apes explores a theme, it is also an experiment in a redefinition of the roles of the curator and the artist. Femke Lutgerink is a curator who is deeply involved in the development and creation of the show. Leonard Van Munster is the primary artist in the show, developing the theme with Femke Lutgerink, but additionally curating contributions from other artists and scientists as well as collaborating with them toward the creation of new works. The completed show confronts the visitor with the visual result of this collaborative curatorial and artistic approach.

For more information: http://www.secondgallery.org/ & http://www.donleo.org/

Articles on Great Apes
Nature, from mysterious fantasy to stark reality, by Kate McQuaid / Boston Globe, February 15
http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2007/02/15/nature_from_mysterious_fantasy_to_stark_reality/
A conversation with Femke Lutgerink, by Maria LaCreta / Big, Red & Shiny, Issue #61
http://www.bigredandshiny.com/cgi-bin/retrieve.pl?issue=issue61&section=article&article=A_CONVERSATION_WITH_4141540

SECOND GALLERY
516 East 2nd Street
South Boston, MA 02127


16 September 2006 Second Gallery, opening "PEACE KING MOTHER NATURE", part 1, 2006

NEWS /
Since September 2007 Second Gallery = Proof Gallery
http://www.proof-gallery.com/

Mills Gallery

Encounters
April 6 - May 20, 2007
Mills Gallery, Boston

Introduction
The main focus of Encounters is to show autonomous projects dealing with the tension between dominant and alternative (image) cultures in totalitarian regimes. Uzbekistan, Iran, Russia and the global domain of the internet are the featured regions. How is public life ‘designed’ in these regions? How to bring forth the tension between official and alternative visual culture? What is the dominant image Western media create of these societies and is there another story to tell? How to cope with the expanding global domain of the internet and the idea of freedom within this area? Guest-curator Femke Lutgerink brings together six artists from The Netherlands, Belgium and Iran - Nele Decock, Rob Hornstra, Stani Michiels, Anoek Steketee, Reza Abedini and Hans Wolbers - who explore these questions in their work. Photography, the internet, sound and graphic design are the media they use.

The artists show us their fascination with these societies, either far away or around the corner, seen from within or as a stranger. The self-willed, personal translations of the artists with an
obvious social acknowledgement tell us about astonishment, relatedness and also uncomfortableness within their exploration and confrontation with the others. None of the artists are explicitly political, but their points of view serve as an Archimedes point to tell about bigger global issues such as democratization, globalization and emancipation. The purpose of the
exhibition is to create a space of openness and comfort where the public can get a hint of these fruitful encounters.

Mills Gallery
539 Tremont Street, MA 02116
http://www.bcaonline.org/
Mills Gallery is part of the Boston Center of the Arts, and is a non-profit organization

Encounters was generously sponsored by The Netherland-America Foundation http://www.thenaf.org/ & by the Consulate General of The Netherlands, New York. Thank you very much!

Exhibitions

2006
• Programming ‘Photography in De Balie’. The main focus of this years programme (2005/2006) is autonomous projects dealing with the tension between dominant and alternative (image)culture in totalitarian regimes. De Balie is a political/cultural centre in Amsterdam. www.debalie.nl;

2005
• Time Travel, Tracks in the Making
Guest-Curator of the International Art Festival 2005, Magdeburg (Germany), September 2005 (responsible for the over all theme of the festival/exhibition with 11 Dutch artists/publication Now/Jetzt and a 2-day festival programme);
• DROPPING, a project in public space from artist Hester Oerlemans in cooperation with the local government from the Haarlemmermeer (see also: PR/communication and publications)

2002 – 2005

1 2

1. Cover of The Quarantine Series book
2. installation of Jan Christensen for Quarantine Series, 2003

• Assistant-Curator Quarantine Series
Quarantine Series is an exhibition space in Amsterdam
www.quarantine.nl;

2003
• concept-development for Test-Portal 2003,
August 14 -31

Publications

2005
• Jetzt/Now, publication for Time Travel, Tracks in the Making, production and edititing: Femke Lutgerink/Astrid Vorstermans, publisher: VALIZ, Amsterdam: www.valiz.nl (see also: exhibitions and writing)
• DROPPING catalogue - production/editing (see also: exhibitions);
• The Quarantine Series Book – editing (see also: writing)
• Production and editing of In Sight, Contemporary Dutch Photography from the Collection of the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, for the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (see also: writing);

2004
• OUT-STANDING, Businesspark Stationsgebied / Beukenhorst Zuid, Hoofddorp for the gemeente Haarlemmermeer - production/editing: (see also: writing);

2002
• Image-editing of the publication the Magnetic Era, video art in the Netherlands 1970-1985 (final editing Jeroen Boomgaard en Bart Rutten, publisher NAi Uitgevers, Rotterdam;

1999 – 2000
• For Real, Proposal for Municipal Acquisitions 1999/2000 – production/editing (see also: writing);

Documentaries

Current
• Developing a short film for the photo project Photographers Portraits by Koos Breukel;










2005
• Kunst van de Straat (Art of the Street), introduction film for the Dutch Affiche Museum in Hoorn about the history and techniques of posters. In cooperation with artist Ryan Oduber;
• 2B, documentation film about museum de Beyerd in Breda in cooperation with artist Ryan Oduber;

2004
• Howling with the Wolves, a documentary for ESIB (European Student Information Bureau) and LSVb (Landelijke Studenten Vakbond / Dutch Student Union);
• Quarantine Series made a filmic portrait of Dutch artist Jennifer Tee en her participation in the Sao Paulo Biennial (Nina Folkersma/Danila Cahen/ Femke Lutgerink/ advisor: Rob Schröder);
2003
• Quarantine Series made a documentary about the Venice Biennial (Nina Folkersma/Danila Cahen/ Femke Lutgerink/ advisor: Rob Schröder);

PR/Communication

2005
• DROPPING (see exhibitions);

2004
• FAUST, a music-theatre-production of Artery in cooperation with Nederlands Kamerkoor (Dutch Chamber Choir) 8 - 12 September 2004;











2003
• Test-Portal 2003, August, 14 -31, http://www.test-portal.nl/ (see also: exhibitions)

Other

Current
• Member of the IIA, the Institute of Intuitive Anthropology, with photographer Koos Breukel and artist Meinbert Gozewijn van Soest (started 2002);

2007
• A Conversation with Femke Lutgerink by Maria LaCreta in Big, Red & Shiny, Issue #61: http://www.bigredandshiny.com/cgi-bin/retrieve.pl?issue=issue61&section=article&article=A_CONVERSATION_WITH_4141540
• Presentation about FEMME art projects at ISCP (http://www.iscp-nyc.org/) in New York, February
• Conference on International Opportunities in the Arts presented by TransCultural Exchange, April 27-29
April 28: Not Your Average Residency
Presenters: Rosie Branson-Gill of The Berwick Institute, Boston; Freelance curator, Femke Lutgerink; Marie-Christian Mathieu of Studio XX, Montreal, Canada; Moderator: Bill Arning, Curator, MIT List Visual Arts Center
More info: http://www.transculturalexchange.org/conference_2007/schedule.htm
• Presentation Senior Seminar about FEMME art projects and studio visits at Montserrat College of Art (www.montserrat.edu), October 10

2006
• Temporarily part of the Cultural department of the local government of the Haarlemmermeer (responsible for the policy around public monuments, local museums, local radio and the website of the cultural department) for three days a week – from December 1, 2005 – April 30, 2006;

2005
• Interviews with photographer Anoek Steketee, artist Khozrow Hassanzadeh and
journalist Eefje Blankevoort for the Bazaar, a programme about democratisation and
freedom in the Middle East, De Balie, Amsterdam;

2004
• Guest-lecturer Culturele Vorming: an introduction for 1st years photography in the
Dutch cultural field, Royal Art Academy, Den Haag;

2002
• Assistant department Ateliers, Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten (Post-Art
Academy), Amsterdam;
• Start FEMME – art projects / freelance practice

1995-2000
• Part of a lecture group from Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam in cooperation
with the University of Amsterdam;
• Co-founder Artist Initiative Het Beleg (The Siege) – an initiative of art historians
and artists with the purpose to create links between the different professions in
the field of art;
• Organizer of a study travel to New York;
• Mentor of first years students, UvA;

Untill 1994
• Member of student council Castro Lacus, responsible forPR/communication

Funds for projects and nominations

2007
• Encounters, grant from the Netherland-America Foundation (www.thenaf.org) and from General Consulate of The Netherlands, New York;
• Great Apes, grant from General Consulate of The Netherlands, New York

2006
• Jetzt/Now



Jetzt/Now was on the shortlist (32 books) of the Best Verzorgde Boeken 2005 (Most Beautiful Books 2005), selected out of 400;

2005 / 2006
• Photograpy in De Balie (see exhibitions):

Hivos www.hivos.nl
Epson www.epson.de

2005
• Time Travel, Tracks in the Making (see exhibitions):

Dutch Embassy, Berlin, Germany
Lecturis (Publisher), Eindhoven, Netherlands
Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds (Culture Fund), Netherlands
Van Bijlevelt Stichting (Culture Fund), Utrecht, Netherlands

N.B. Quarantine Series, Faust, Test-Portal were all sponsored projects.
These Funds were obtained in cooperation with other people involved.

Articles (selection)

• Time Travel, Tracks in the Making en The Dutch Time Travel, Energetic and Stimulating Gestures, two articles for Jetzt/Now (2005)
(see also: exhibitions));
• Tubelight 38 (May 2005): AdemRuimte (BreathingSpace), Test-Portal 2005 - Tubelight is an independent magazine for art critique, http://www.tubelight.nl/;
• Tubelight 37 (March 2005): Frontstage/Backstage, a work in progress…,about the work of photographer Anoek Steketee;
• Tubelight 36 (January 2005): Ordered by Emptiness, about the work of artist Stani Michiels;
• Shorts (artist) texts for In Sight, Contemporary Dutch Photography from the Collection of the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (2005) and For Real (2000)(see also: exhibitions and publications);
• Interviews for the Quarantine Series Book met Jerôme Sans, Thomas Michelon en Macha Roesink (2005);
• Tubelight 34 (September 2004): Channel Zero;
• Tubelight 30 (Februari 2004): Het leven is een feest, laten we samen leven! (Live is a party, let’s live!) about an exhibition of Otto e Mezzo (1963) from Frederico Fellini;
• As soon as I start walking I feel better… (about art in public space) in: OUT-STANDING, Businesspark Stationsgebied / Beukenhorst Zuid, Gemeente Haarlemmermeer (2004);
• Interviews for Impakt Festival in Utrecht, http://www.impakt.nl/ (2002)

Statement

FEMME art projects
Femke Lutgerink / art historian and independent curator

In The Netherlands, I work independently, since 2002. I have a small firm called FEMME art projects. FEMME has two directions: the organisation and coordination of projects of other people, and projects I set up myself. Currently the focus is on the last. My resume - as posted on this website - will give you an idea what I did and what I am up to in the future.

When developing a concept for an exhibition I am always driven by questions coming forth out of social fascination for certain actual topics in combination with the specifics of the project location. Making an exhibition in New York – for me - is something completely different then making one in Berlin. My inspiration sources vary from artworks, film, philosophy, art and cultural theory, to literature and ordinary newspaper-articles.

An exhibition is more then bringing together some artworks. The concept – in images as well as in word/theory – is starting point for dialogue with artists, but also with others: writers, political scientists, philosophers etc. Together you try to formulate possible answers to questions you are confronted with. As a curator you create the framework. The communication of the concept is in the artworks, but also in communicating the (making) process of the exhibition, for example in a side program with discussions, films, or in the making of a book.

The projects of FEMME are never solo achievements. They are developed in collaboration with many people. I would like to thank all the people I had the opportunity to work with for their positive energy and input. I look forward to new collaborations, in The Netherlands, the USA or elsewhere.

FEMME art projects / USA