Dance researcher/performer Maroula Iliopoulou follows the research process of Ingrid Berger Myhre in the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen. Read her text and follow the journey!

Since Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum is currently being renovated, their collection has been dispersed across neighbouring institutions, under the title ‘Boijmans Next Door’. Having said that, Dancing Museums collaborative European Project has been on the move as well.

During the local residencies for our Dancing Museums project, I followed the appointed choreographer, Ingrid Berger Myhre, at three different institutions in Rotterdam: the Maritime Museum, the Museum Rotterdam and the Kunsthal. Curious about how a choreographic residency, especially within a museum environment, can unfold? Navigate through the local choreographic residencies of our Dancing Museums project to follow the journey.

Museum Rotterdam: Invitation practices & audience participation

The third week of the local residency for our Dancing Museums project took place at the Museum Rotterdam and coincided with the launch of the new exhibition ‘Rotterdam’s Studio Secrets’, which is part of Boijmans Next Door. In parallel with the residency, there was an opportunity for Ingrid Berger Myhre to meet with the curator of the new exhibition and view parts of its set-up procedure.

What strikes me most about following the process of Ingrid during the project, is her commitment and sensitivity in acknowledging and understanding the context of the location (Museum) each time and accordingly always finding ways to adapt and transform her practice in a responsive manner.

The History of the City, one of the permanent collections at the Museum Rotterdam, is exhibited in a room which shares transparent-glass walls with some offices in the Gemeente Building. Therefore, visibility is possible from both sides. Utilising this opportunity, one of the practices that Ingrid decided to focus on this week was to experiment with the feasibility of making an announcement for an intervention. She explored forms of invitation to a visitor to participate on a specific task. For one of the compositions, they worked with cups, in a version of quite a familiar and recognisable game with a small ball conjuring trick. This game proved ideal as a way to interact with someone from afar, and in this case, from the offices of the other building. It is easily read from a distance and it requires just a short amount of time from the participant. These interactions provided useful insight into the potential invitation strategies and formats which can be voluntary and accessible. The repetition of the same object offered a rest for the eye and revealed a choreographic potential, which gave room to a variety of experiments and a desire to develop languages/systems that apply in different forms.

Image: Paul Sixta

CONNECTIONS

Dansateliers (NL) // Ingrid Berger Myhre (NO/NL) // Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (NL) – Associate Partner //