My photo, Dies Irae, has been included in Arti et Amicitiae’s ARTI 2.020 show, the third edition of its Summer Salon. The title (Day of Wrath) is my response to the curators’ call for work that presented ‘new visions, with an outlook on other and better times’. Bearing in mind Trump, the pandemic and an increasingly poisoned world, I’m not entirely optimistic about the future. It could go either way and Dies Irae hovers on an knife edge between sunshine and the mother of all storms. It was taken on the Orcadian island of Graemsay, which is located in the Pentland Firth, one of the most dangerous stretches of water in the world.
Café/restaurant
This exhibition is being held in Arti’s ground floor café/restaurant that was designed by the prominent Dutch architect Hendrik Petrus Berlage, who was active in the 19th and early 20th centuries. With its heavy furniture and sculptural muses representing the arts, it reminds me of a London gentlemen’s club. Yet it also has an informality that benefits ARTI 2.020 and imbues the hundred or so works with a surprisingly light touch. There are other advantages too: Each day an Arti member hosts the show where his or her tasks include greeting the guests and showing them around. In return, they are provided with a lunch and a couple of drinks. When it was my turn, I opted for a salad with trout, smoked salmon and shrimps, which was totally delicious and was washed down with a fresh ginger infusion.
The exhibition is open from 12 to 5 pm, Monday to Friday. It closes on 28 October 2020.
There are also a series of interesting shows by Arti members in the ArtSpace, which is located next to the café. On the first floor is Inside Black, an exhibition that explores the depth and meaning of the colour black as explored through art, science and culture; it continues until 27 September.
Arti et Amicitiae, Rokin 112, Amsterdam. Tel: 020 624 5134
http://www.arti.nl
