GOGBOT X Concordia productielab

Guido Bertling is director of Planetart, the organization behind the GOGBOT festival, among other things. Concordia asked Bertling to act as guest curator and translate his perspective on Enschede into an exhibition. His first thought about the city was related to the AKI ArtEZ. He says:

“The art academy AKI ArtEZ has been a pillar of the cultural and artistic life in Enschede for decades. Former director Joop Hardy described the AKI conceptually as Plato's garden. This model views the institution as a productive meeting space, where teachers and students come together in a nearly hierarchical-free environment to jointly explore artistic processes and issues. In this project, I want to pick up this core idea and translate it into a current, practice-oriented work format.”

In the run-up to the GOGBOT festival, a two-week work and residency program will be implemented in Concordia's art space.

Four young recently graduated international artists are invited to realize a site-specific work, under the guidance of four established Enschede artists. This brings together the artistic process as described by Hardy and the local roots. 

During the construction of the work, the exhibition space is open to the public. This gives the opportunity to experience the process up close. Bertling says:

“There are important structural and educational reasons that advocate for the execution of this specific format. On the one hand, the project initiates a sustainable regional network formation that goes beyond merely importing ready-made exhibition pieces. Since the production of the artworks necessarily takes place on-site, a direct connection is established between the invited talents and the local institutions, studios, and mentors. Thus, the creative and technological added value remains in the city. Professional networks are built that extend beyond the duration of the festival and actively involve the existing infrastructure of Enschede. Secondly, the format offers a special transparency of the creative and technological process. The combination of the two weeks of on-site work and the subsequent documentation breaks the classical distance between the public and the completed work of art. The focus shifts from the pure end product to conveying the underlying methodology. Experiments, technological obstacles, and joint solutions are made comprehensible and directly accessible for the visitors of the exhibition.”

The presentation of the realized works will start simultaneously with the official opening of the GOGBOT festival. Since the two-week creation phase, collaborative experimentation, and the use of local resources are essential components of the total project, the final exhibition includes two levels: In addition to the physical or digital artworks, a short documentation accompanying the process will be integrated. 

The names of the participating artists will be announced soon.