The Precarious State #2, by Paloma Polo

Late 2008 will mark the start of another program at De Inkijk, an exhibition space owned by SKOR and located on the corner of the Ruysdaelkade and the Stadhouderskade in Amsterdam. For the first project, The Precarious State, SKOR commissioned artists Eliza Newman-Saul, Paloma Polo, Katarina Zdjelar and Noa Giniger to develop an art project. Each artist will be able to use De Inkijk for a period of one month in order to reflect upon the concept of identity.

De Inkijk
Stadhouderskade, 46
1072 AA Amsterdam

The Precarious State at De Inkijk # 2:
Paloma Polo

4 December 2008-4 January 2009

Opening: 4 December 2008 at 6 p.m.

For The Precarious State SKOR has commissioned artists Eliza Newman-Saul, Paloma Polo, Katarina Zdjelar and Noa Giniger to develop an art project that reflects upon the concept of identity. The second project in the series is an installation by artist Paloma Polo (Spain, 1983). The installation will showcase what appears to be the result of a mass act. An accumulation of flowers spontaneously collected in this urban space physically locates the happening of an event, opening up variable narratives. The drying out (and dying) of these referents is what will be left to witness.

For an item about Paloma Polo's project on weblogs.NOS.nl click: weblogs.nos.nl/buitenlandredactie/2008/12/09/bloemenkunst/

The Precarious State
The concept of national identity dominates the public arena. Indeed, language; nationality; religion; a collective past; and shared values, give people “a sense of belonging”. And yet, in this era of migration and globalization, it is still necessary to consider the possibilities of constructing one’s identity and establishing oneself in a foreign environment. According to Nicolas Bourriaud, the era of radicality (“radical” in the sense of having roots) is over. Rather, what lies ahead is personified by the radicant: “instead of returning to origins it will let its roots grow in keeping with its forward movement. [...] The radicant does not inhabit an ideal structure [...], but rather a precarious state. It constructs its route from what it finds.”1

SKOR believed that it would be interesting to approach the concept of cultural identity from this angle. Accordingly, the four artists have examined the issue by using the below questions as guidelines:

·What kind of path must/can someone follow in order to rebuild his/her identity?
·Which mechanisms are at work to allow individuals to feel like they belong to a group?
·Could De Inkijk function as a “space of translation” (according to Bourriaud “a common place including me and the other”)?

With The Precarious State, SKOR questions whether there are any new angles from which to view the concept of identity.