Water Portraits

open:
Saturdays and Sundays
11 am - 18 pm

Weekdays upon request via janaromanova.studio@gmail.com

Short description:
In the "Water Portraits" project, Jana Romanova invites participants to consecutively reuse one liter of freshwater until it's depleted. After each use, she freezes the water and takes its portrait. These frozen portraits receive the names of their users, along with a recipe for how the water was repurposed. As one cycle concludes due to the depletion of water, a new cycle begins.

This exhibition at See Lab features approximately 80 works that document this ongoing process for the last two years. "Water Portraits" delves into the interconnectedness of our actions, temporary ownership of resources, and the evocative passage of time.

Public program:

10 and 16 of September from 11.00 to 17.00 signup is required via this form.

"The Last Submarine" role-playing game designed and facilitated by Jana Romanova and Sophie Allerding

In the "Water Portraits" project, Jana Romanova invites participants to consecutively reuse one liter of freshwater until it's depleted. After each use, she freezes the water and takes its portrait. These frozen portraits receive the names of their users, along with a recipe for how the water was repurposed. As one cycle concludes due to the depletion of water, a new cycle begins.

This exhibition at See Lab features approximately 80 works that document this ongoing process for the last two years. "Water Portraits" delves into the interconnectedness of our actions, temporary ownership of resources, and the evocative passage of time

Photos opening: Lili Berger

Bio Jana Romanova:

Jana Romanova is a multidisciplinary artist inspired by misunderstandings. She works with performance and game practices, using photography and video as tools to discover gaps between what we say and what we do. She takes these breaches in communication as possibilities for being together, whatever that could mean.

Her long-term projects were exhibited at various international exhibitions and festivals such as Copenhagen PhotoFestival (Denmark), Format (Derby, UK), Chobi Mela (Dakha, Bangladesh), Cortona on the Move (Italy), Encontros da Imagem (Braga, Portugal), the Backlight Festival (Tampere, Finland), Encuentros Abietros Festival (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and many others, and she’s got several prizes and honorable mentions in photography and art all over the world.

For about nine years Jana has been active as a game designer for live-action role-playing games (LARP). Currently, she is researching how different game mechanics, gamification and playfulness can become tools for creating meaningful connections. She designs and facilitates larps and all sorts of games.

She teaches multiple courses at The Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, including methods for designing game experiences, performance and participatory practices, and organizes the Movement Lab.

More info

Installation design: Johannes Equizi
Graphic design: Sonya Umanskaya

Financially supported by / Met dank aan :

MIAP Foundation
Stroom Den Haag

Along with
Mondriaan Fonds
support of Jana Romanova's practice in 2022-2023

LES GUIDES

LES GUIDES

Exhibition by: Curators: Idil Samatar and Fayo Said and collaborators: Afro Student Association
Open: 17-18th of June | 12.00 - 17.00 H
Opening: Friday 16th of June | Doors open: 18:30-21:00

Short description:
When arriving in Senegal you are immersed by photographs, stickers and paintings of their spiritual guides, who are called Serignes in Wolof. As a majority Muslim country, most of its population belong to a Sufi order, one of the most significant being Murridiyyah (Mouride). The exhibition Les Guides takes you on a spiritual path, and follows the research question: What are the current views on the images of the Serignes by the followers of Mouridism in Senegal? There is a belief that imagery is prohibited in Islam because Muslims are often perceived as not having icons, idols or pictures of God or religious heroes. However, there are Muslim communities in the world that embrace imagery such as the one in Senegal. The exhibition includes photography, glass paintings and calligraphy from a research trip to Senegal.

OPENING NIGHT: Friday 16th of JUNE | DOORS OPEN: 18:30-21:00On the opening night, Mayke Kagg, who is an expert on Islam in Senegal, will give you a brief insight on Islam in Senegal. In addition to that, the curator Idil Samatar will explain her research from Senegal.

Funded by:

THE BLUE OF THE FAR DISTANCE

THE BLUE OF THE FAR DISTANCE
Exhibition by: Emilia Martin
Open: June 24th -July 02 | 12:00-17:00 H
Opening: June 24th at 20.00 H

Short description:
“The blue of the far distance” is a long term research into the topic of human relationship with the starry night sky in times marked by light pollution. Throughout her research and making processes Emilia visited amateur observatories where light pollution was too strong to see anything in the sky above, hand crafted planetariums built in the intimate settings of living rooms, farms, sheds. Inspired by the notion of hand crafted skies Emilia weaves different universes into a new one - a hopeful speculation. “The blue of the far distance” is a place of positive escape accessible and democratically available, a constellation of stargazers, of darknesses and surreal landscapes, of ancient orreries and universes in human scales, a clash between mundane and sublime.

About the artist:
Emilia Martin is an artist passionate about storytelling and myths, primarily working with media of photography, sound and writing. She grew up between two radically different realities: her grandmother's remote, rural farm filled with ancient myths and magic in Eastern Poland, and her hometown, Silesia – a heavy industry coal mining region in the Western Poland marked by extractivism and patriarchy. A clash between these two realities formed a place which continues to nurture her artistic practice. Emilia’s work explores the power of speculation and reimagining the realities we inhabit.

Funded by:

JELLIE KLASTER

GUEST ARTIST - JELLIE KLASTER
Residency and solo exhibition:

Residency: 1st - 31st of May (visit by appointment)
Exhibition: 26th of May - 10th of June
Saturdays and Sundays, 1 – 5 pm
Opening 26th of May, 5 - 7 pm
Finissage 10th of June, 5 - 7 pm
Weekdays: by appointment (email Jellieklaster@protonmail.com

photography: Anke van den Berg

WORK IN PROGRESS
Jellie will work on a spatial installation in the project space. See Lab invites everyone interested to drop by during this period and see her at work.

photography: Lili Berger and Jellie Klaster

FINAL PRESENTATION
Freedom, Body, Clay and Rope
The final outcome of the residency will be revealed in a public presentation taking place on Friday 26 May from 17:00 until 19:00. Yvonne Twisk, Art and Heritage specialist, advisor at House of Culture, and Governance advisor for Management and Supervision at Cultuur+Ondernemen, will give a speech prior to the opening of the installation. The exhibition is open to the public  until the 10th of June and ends with a finissage on June 10 at 17:00. Opening times are Saturdays and Sundays from 13:00 – 17:00, and during the week by appointment

About the artist

Jellie sees her work as a reflection of a philosophical inquiry into the relationship between body, mind, artist and object. What fascinates her is the question of the limits of freedom and autonomy. Is an artist free and autonomous? In a predominantly Western way of thinking, we often assume this, which makes the reciprocity, dependence and coherence of the individual with the world around him/her seem invisible. Her work arises from this philosophical thought and is at the same time a basis for how she deals with her material. It is about exploring and experimenting, searching for possibilities and boundaries of transformation, connection and making interventions. She uses tools and sometimes machines, but mostly she works with her hands and her body to create shapes in and with materials such as clay, textiles, canvas and rope.

Many thanks to the Cultural Incubator See Lab and Subsidie Makersregeling Gemeente Den Haag, who both made this residency possible.

SPRING GARDEN SESSIONS

Spring Garden Sessions IN SEE LAB

We experience spring intensely, in the beautifully designed garden of our cultural incubator and art community See Lab in Scheveningen. How? With you as a lover of very good music, casual experience, culinary tastings, Scottish and Irish Whiskeys from partner Dramtune (including a tasting of Rum, Grappa, Armagnac and Limoncello) connection at special locations. Our garden offers space for relaxation, connection and recreation and aims to be a green cohabitational area for art and nature in Scheveningen. In that atmosphere, a fine Sunday afternoon takes place for the connoisseurs, with surprising food and drinks.
The fine Spring Garden Sessions connect seamlessly with this experience, with a line-up to die for:

LINE UP:
14.15 - 14.55 - Lotte Walda
14.55 - 15.35 - Jolene
15.35 - 16.15 - Gijs Ballering (Friends of the family)
16.15 - 16.55 - Subterranean Street Society
16.55 - 17.35 - David Benjamin
17.35 - 19.00 - Zomaar Gasten 

Sunday 23rd of April 2023 | See Lab, Duinstraat 55 | Scheveningen | Time: 13.30 -20:00 uur
Tickets: : Regular Ticket: € 15,- | Regular Ticket & Indonesian Food: € 25,-
Organisation: podium aan zee