☰
Welcome Stranger co-published an edition of De Gids, the oldest literary magazine of the Netherlands. It focuses on the encounter between known and unknown, between the close and the strange. What happens when the strange comes closer? How do we draw the line between what is our own and what we consider strange, what is near and what is far? What can bring alienation? And what does it mean to welcome 'the strange' - is that even possible?
Besides an essay about Welcome Stranger by Marianna van der Zwaag, , Mia You and Siel Verhanneman write letters to the one who is always a guest in their writing: the imaginary reader. There are also short stories by Richard de Nooy, Maarten Inghels and Wytske Versteeg, and an essay by Florette Dijkstra.
An English version of the text of Marianna van der Zwaag you find here.
Can't face another sad salad!, Simon Wald-Lasowski, 20.10.22 - 13.01.2023, prolonged till 21.06.23, photo: studioLNDW
Welcome Stranger meandered through Amsterdam for the past three years, claiming public space in an unassuming way. Artists were invited to make new work for on, above, or with their own homes. In doing so, they worked in the unexplored area between personal and public space. Passersby became chance visitors or sharers, and places that people might have walked by for years were magically seen with different eyes.
Four new artworks are coming soon, all starting at the same time. We will update this website when information is available. You can also follow Welcome Stranger on Instagram: @_welcomestranger_
In the meantime, do explore what was created so far and continues its life online EXPLORE THE ARCHIVE
Roos van Lint, Groene Amsterdammer, 7 juli 2022
Press about earlier editions here
Recording live from somewhere (Hoofdweg reflections) is a radio show hosted by Radna Rumping, live from her living room, somewhere on the Hoofdweg in Amsterdam. The radio show is as a 'hidden track', which appears a few months after the opening of the work Hoofdweg (a possible line), an audio essay that Radna made at the invitation of Welcome Stranger.
While the sound work invites the listener to take a walk and thus form a long line along the Hoofdweg (2.5 kilometres), this radio show returns back to the intimacy of the living room, behind the facade. Here, Radna's record collection is housed in a built-in cupboard, which she does not often look at anymore, but opens again for this occasion.
During Recording live from somewhere (Hoofdweg reflections) the living room turns into a radio studio for a while; invisible to the listener but still 'from somewhere'. Radna will play music for an hour that is loosely related to the audio essay, and will discuss thoughts and questions that arose both during and after making Hoofdweg (a possible line).
The broadcast can be listened to via jajajaneeneenee.com -
The audio essay 'Hoofdweg (a possible line)' is available over here.
Tracklist:
La Monte Young - Composition 1960 #7
Sun Araw - Flote
June Tyson - Theme of the stargazers
Sun Ra - New Horizons
The Natural Spiritual Orchestra - We love roll call y’all (fragment Do the right thing)
Rammellzee - Beat Bop (instrumental)
Peter Tosh & The Wailers - Steppin Razor
Adrian Piper - The Mythic Being (fragment Other than art’s sake)
The Slits - Newtown
Massive Attack - Exchange (mountain steppers dub)
Yoko Ono - She hits back
The Raincoats - Ooh Ooh La La La
Quasimoto - Come on Feet
De La Soul - can you keep a secret? (skit)
Inoyama Land - Bananatron
David Byrne - Tree (Today is an important occasion)
Poly Styrene on privacy (fragment Who is Poly Styrene?)
Curtis Mayfield - To Be invisible
Finis Africae - Segundos y segundos y segundos
Joanna MacGregor - Moondog Sidewalk dances
Laraaji - All Pervading
Donald Byrd - Stepping into tomorrow
