Ondertussen: Eric Peter

29 October - 15 January 2017
Location: Hogewal 1-9, The Hague
Open: Monday - Friday, 11-5 pm; Saturday - Sunday, 12-5 pm (closed Sunday 25 thru Tuesday 27 December and Sunday 1 January)

With the concern of worldwide crises, conflicts and the politics of fear at the back of our mind, Eric Peter feels there is a desperate need for a social transformation worldwide. A new attitude that is more positive, considerate and hopeful; one that embraces and unites us instead of tearing us apart. The project Familiar Strangers: Conversations on the Near Future explores this very shift through a series of dialogues. There is a lot to learn when it comes to speaking about social change and heading towards an inclusive state of mind. Even more when it comes to the voices of those left out from an international discourse.

Eric Peters' Ondertussen presentation covers mainly his residency period at The Unifiedfield, an artist-run organization on the island of Mindanao in The Philippines with a nomadic artist-in-residence program. Hence a travel itinerary is made in concordance with each resident's project. It followed up two other work periods Eric Peter had in Pakistan and the Peruvian Amazon earlier in 2015. Whereas he was interested in visiting Pakistan to look beyond the news stories of the country as "one of the world's most dangerous places", the Amazonian jungle seemed an alluring place to question environmental-related topics. The Philippines, with its 7100 islands and emerging economy, are an impressive whirlpool of social change in a climate of very distinct cultures.

The itinerary for his residency period on Mindanao was as follows: starting within Davao City, the project soon visited the province of Davao Oriental. It then proceeded into the miner's area of Nabunturan and surroundings. After a few days, Eric Peter headed back to Davao City and visited the small Sama-Bajau community along the city's southern harbor area. After a fishing trip with the Sama-Bajau, they brought him to Samal Island. With a few days towards the end of the residency without a definitive plan, he decided to make a trip to the northern province of Surigao del Sur. Those last few days, he had conversations with the village elder and an imam of the Bangenge, an Islamic seafarer tribe.

The conversations in Familiar Strangers give insight into people's lives that are seemingly separate, but prove to be interconnected with anyone's actions everywhere. Video as the artist's medium of choice originates in the need of sending the project into the world, making it accessible outside of art spaces only. Compiled as various chapters of a whole, they speak of a global and local search for understanding, peacefulness and happiness through distinct voices.

In 2015 Eric Peter received a PRO Onderzoek subsidy for his project Familiar Strangers: Conversations on the near future.

LINKS
www.familiar-strangers.net

Ondertussen
The Ondertussen space links Stroom's exhibition program to its enabling policy for artists. This policy aims to strengthen and improve the visibility of The Hague's artistic climate. Presentations in Ondertussen are usually the result of subsidies provided by Stroom, but can also show the results of mediation by Stroom or of other stimulating activities. The presentations are intended to illustrate the diversity of the grant applications and the positive effect of our enabling policy for artists. The presentations can vary from (interim) reports of (research) projects and residencies to network presentations. The Ondertussen presentation is the responsibility of the applicant.

Archive Ondertussen presentations

PRESS
Trendbeheer, 17 December 2016 (in Dutch)

29 Oct '16 - 15 Jan '17
Stroom Den Haag, Hogewal 1-9, The Hague
Entrance: free