Ellen de Bruijne Projects is pleased to welcome Jeremiah Day’s Provisional Temple Of Semi-Failed Resistance Artist Fighter Dreamers. A kind of dream of its own, Day speculates on what kind of space would emerge from honoring the artists of the Dutch Resistance of the Second World War, in particular Willem Arondeus.
Arondeus himself was inspired by an example from the past, from his research into artists who fought in the Paris Commune, and his belief that at some moments artists, even the dreamiest ones, have a unique capacity to step into politics. Indeed, the Amsterdam underground resistance contained many many artists of different kinds, and also a striking representation from the LGBTQI community, with Arondeus himself perhaps being best known for his last words: “Let it be known homosexuals are not cowards.”
In this new work Day does not so much narrate or explain this history as to try to mobilize it. With the collaboration of researcher Claire Schwarz Day reconsiders Arondeus’ thinking and words and sets them next to Day’s own contemporary reckonings and wrestlings.
