In SAAMHORIGHEID (Togetherness), Chicago-based visual and performance-theater artist and educator Pope.L thematizes different expressions of oppression and exclusion that persevere in Dutch society today; from nationalism, xenophobia and racism to colonialism, imperialism and sexism. The framework of the video installation is a TV game show with quiz elements, in which individual contestants of different cultural backgrounds, ages, and professions compete against each other for the coveted grand price. Filmed at locations in Amsterdam – in this work called ‘the city of amnesia’ – the group of contestants answer various questions about each other. The group features both professional actors as unwitting passersby. This direct confrontation and comparison, with which competing individuals are being reduced to a couple of stereotyped features, enlarges both the visibility of their personal prejudices against each other and of society as a whole. Pope.L invites both contestants as spectators to confront the Dutch cultural archive. Essential!! On show at De Appel till 28 February 2023.

| tag: Amsterdam