On Saturday, April 19, 2025, from 2 to 6pm, Stage Left will take place at the Vleeshal—a special performance program curated by Roos Gortzak to mark the end of her 10-year directorship. The program will feature performances by Eglė Budvytytė, Jae Pil Eun, Rory Pilgrim & Robyn Haddon, and Zahar Bondar—artists with whom Gortzak has collaborated in previous years.

On June 12, 2014, Gortzak sent in an application letter as a response to the vacant role of director at Vleeshal, in addition to her application letter she included a proposal for an exhibition program which was introduced by the following paragraph:

When a comedian steps onto the stage, they must win over a room full of people with high expectations. If laughter is not provoked quickly, the performance risks failure. A new director finds themselves in a similar situation. She will be confronted with an empty exhibition space and many people who expect something from her. She is expected to fill this space with her future program. However, the space is not completely empty. The exhibition space has its own history, which, in my view, must be taken into account. Thus, she does not start with a blank page but with an unfinished book, to which she can add a new chapter through her program.

Now, Gortzak leaves the stage. Over the past ten years, she has established a distinctive artistic program that has put Vleeshal on the map locally, nationally, and internationally. She strived to introduce the broadest and most diverse audience possible to the new, the unfamiliar and the unknown. The unknown is often complex, incomprehensible, and, at times, perhaps even annoying. But it is also essential for gaining new insights, reflecting on (necessary) societal transitions, and exploring alternative ways of living and co-existing. How can we, in the context of an increasingly polarized political landscape and a global future that seems more daunting by the day, come closer together? To answer this question, Gortzak holds that it is necessary to break free from the desire to impress, to embrace doubt and failure, and to dedicate ourselves wholeheartedly, and with time and attention, to truly listening to each other.

Over the course of ten years she has realized numerous Vleeshal projects, including exhibitions, publications, and nomadic programs both in the Netherlands and abroad. Under her leadership, Vleeshal joined the Basic Infrastructure (BIS) in 2021 with the artistic program Rituals of Care, which Vleeshal executed from 2021 to 2024. In 2024, she developed the program Hop to Hope, securing Vleeshal’s place within the BIS. This program will serve as the guiding framework for all exhibitions and projects from 2025 to 2028.

And now, she concludes with Stage Left, in the order of performances:

In a spectacular way, Gortzak will collaborate with Zahar Bondar to deliver her farewell speech. Balance and bodily movement are recurring themes in Bondar’s work. Gortzak first met Bondar when he was one of the "movers" for Simone Forti’s Dance Constructions during her solo exhibition at Vleeshal in 2016. Additionally, as part of Vleeshal’s local nomadic program, he developed a tiled wall in co-creation with the Pennywafelhuis, titled If You Do It Well, I Will Do It Better. In 2026, a publication will be released in collaboration with Page Not Found.

Jae Pil Eun presents Blue Moon, a work inspired by Korean shamanistic practices in which drums are used to summon spirits. The installation, which includes a large ceramic drum, will be activated by Nadh Lingyun Cao and Jae. Deep rhythmic sounds are associated by Pil Eun with the elements of water, air, fire, and earth, and will fill and resonate within the space. Gortzak first collaborated with Jae when she curated the Fine Arts graduation exhibition at the Sandberg Institute in 2021. After the performance, the installation will remain in the space for three weeks as a prelude to Jae’s solo exhibition at Vleeshal, running from June 15 to September 7, during which he will also conduct research at Vleeshal.

Eglė Budvytytė brings Incantation Karaoke to Vleeshal, a performance in which she, together with seven audience members, recites a text in an intimate setting. Using rhyme, rhythm, repetition, and a vulnerable presence, the work aims to evoke a sense of collectivity. Gortzak and Budvytytė collaborated in 2022 and 2023 on the duo exhibition Song Sing Soil at Vleeshal, also featuring Marija Olšauskaitė, for which a new performance was developed. In 2026, Vleeshal will contribute to a new publication by Eglė Budvytytė, which will be released in connection to the 2026 Venice Biennale, where she will represent Lithuania.

Rory Pilgrim & Robyn Haddon have curated a special selection of musical pieces from Pilgrim’s body of work. The songs originate from Pilgrim’s films Sacred Repositories, Software Garden, The Undercurrent, Rafts, and their most recent work pink & green. Accompanied by a keyboard and harp, this musical contribution will guide the audience through the different periods of Pilgrim and Haddon’s 10-year collaboration. Pilgrim’s work was a key inspiration for Gortzak’s 2021-2024 Vleeshal program Rituals of Care. Additionally, they collaborated on a solo exhibition at WAMX in Turku, Finland, where Gortzak was guest curator of a series of five exhibitions. Pilgrim was also one of the three artists awarded a Vleeshal Commission in 2021, which became the starting point for the long-term project pink & green—a film branching into multiple forms, including a solo exhibition at Vleeshal in 2026.

Events

19 April

Stage Left: a performance program and the public goodbye of Roos Gortzak

12 – 4 pm