Jacob Dwyer lets a pipe run down the facade from the window of his apartment on Kleine Wittenburgerstraat in Amsterdam Centrum-Oost. The pipe ends 135 cm above the ground in a horn-shaped opening that invites the ears of passersby.
Jacob is fascinated by how one can create worlds and stories with words and sounds. A speaking tube originally refers to a metal pipe used for communication from the bridge to the engine room aboard a ship. Nowadays, it is more commonly found in children’s playgrounds. In his work, Jacob uses the pipe as a conduit that brings internal worlds to the outside. If you listen carefully at the horn, a voice can be heard describing the space it occupies and the events that may have taken place there. The work provides a new perspective on housing. Jacob Dwyer has experienced what many others have in the city: an seemingly hopeless search for affordable housing. In recent years, he has moved from subletting to squatting, from a bank to a mezzanine.
MORE ABOUT THE ARTIST
Jacob Dwyer (1988, UK) studied Experimental Film at Kingston University and completed a residency at De Ateliers (Amsterdam). His work has been exhibited in art spaces and film festivals, including IFFR (Rotterdam), IDFA (Amsterdam), Good Children (New Orleans), De Appel (Amsterdam), and BFI (London). In 2022, he released The Devil Museum on vinyl with Mana Records, and in 2023, Notes on Devils was released by Building Fictions.
“When I was invited to participate in Welcome Stranger, I, like many people in this city, did not know where I would live when the time came. Still, it was exciting to imagine what I would create, for through these thoughts I could visualize a home. What would it look like? Where would it be located? And how would my work function on the facade; that threshold between inside and outside. It made me think about all those indoor spaces I have seen over the past ten years, from sublets to squats, from banks to mezzanines, in my constant and seemingly hopeless search for affordable housing. Remnants of all these stays travel with me. They find their way into this work through words and sounds.”
ABOUT WELCOME STRANGER
Since 2020, Welcome Stranger has invited various artists to create new, temporary artworks for the facades of their homes. In doing so, they expose something personal in the middle of their own neighborhood. This summer, Welcome Stranger invited three artists to create new works in the three different districts where they live. The facades create an environment for new observations, where every passerby is welcome to engage.
here and via the map below.
More information can be found here and via the map below.
