Yangon, the largest city in Myanmar, and the district of Sloterdijk. Two places that change under your feet. What’s the role of art in this change?
Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, and the Amsterdam district of Sloterdijk. At first sight two different worlds. But there are also similarities. Both places grow so fast that they change under your feet. This is the moment when a new identity is being formed, and art is of crucial value, according to Aung Soe Min (Pansodan Gallery, Yangon) and Bonnie Dumanaw (GET LOST, art projects, Amsterdam). An international discussion on the role of art in public space.
GET LOST, art projects initiates, organises, advises and mediates in the creation and implementation of cultural events and projects. PLAY STATION SLOTERDIJK is the latest art project. The project investigates the future of Sloterdijk as a new urban area through experimentation, speculation and imagination. On 28 June, four site-specific artworks will be opened in the public space in and around Amsterdam Sloterdijk. Bonnie Dumanaw is co-founder and artistic director of Get Lost. She has more than twenty years of experience in organizing cultural projects and she has worked for 10 years for Het Fonds BKVB (Mondriaan Fonds).
Aung Soe Min founded several galleries and art manifestations in Yangon. As a teenager, he saw his country pass from a civil war plagued socialist single-party state into military dictatorship. He founded a radio station and an underground newspaper to support democracy. Although he was arrested several times, he continued to work with prominent poets, writers, and artists of the resistance movement to military rule. Now, Aung Soe Min is leading the cultural revival in his city. He founded Pansadon Gallery, the first gallery for modern art in Yangon, he also creates spaces and events to help artists to earn a steadier living and he brings art to a much wider public. Aung continues to curate exhibitions, write and sing songs, paint and to direct videos.
Preview PLAY STATION SLOTERDIJK
During this programme Aung Soe Min and Bonnie Dumanaw will discuss the role of art in public space. How can art contribute to the quality of life in the city? How do you democratize art? The art manifestation PLAY STATION SLOTERDIJK officially opens on 28 June. After the discussion there will be a 1,5 unique preview tour along the artworks of the manifestation around the station Sloterdijk. Drifting between the artworks will bring a context to the exhibition as a whole.
Programme
15.30 Welcome
16.00 – 16.45 Discussion Bonnie Dumanaw and Aung Soe Min
17.00 – 18.30 Preview art tour PLAY STATION SLOTERDIJK
