View of the outside of the Richard Serra Hall / Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

Christina Hemauer and Roman Keller, The Postpetrolistic Internationale, 2009–2010

Video and audio installation with wooden stage

Ilana Halperin, A Brief History of Mobile Landmass, 2009–2010

General view of the exhibition

Bik Van der Pol, Facts on the Ground, 2010. Video. Duration: 23 min.

Exhibition of the documentation material produced during the year-long commissioning series of works in and around Rotterdam's port extension project Maasvlakte 2, with works by Lara Almarcegui, Bik van der Pol, Jan Dibbets,Marjolijn Dijkman, Fucking Good Art, Ilana Halperin, Christina Hemauer & Roman Keller,Paulien Oltheten, Jorge Satorre, and Hans Schabus (website collaborators: Maria Barnas (poetry) and Markus Miessen (interviews)).

On view at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen until 25 April. Entrance free.

More images of the exhibition here

More images of each commission here

'Making of' videos here

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Museumpark 18-20, 3015 CX Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Opening hours: Tue–Sun 11.00 to 17.00

All images: Latitudes | www.lttds.org

We have started a Latitudes' YouTube Channel with ten 'behind the scenes' videos from 'Portscapes', the evolving series of art projects presented and produced throughout 2009 in and around the port of Rotterdam. The videos present short interviews with the artists (Lara Almarcegui, Jan Dibbets (part 1 and part 2), Marjolijn Dijkman, Fucking Good Art, Ilana Halperin, Christina Hemauer & Roman Keller, Paulien Oltheten, Jorge Satorre, Hans Schabus) and an introduction to the project by SKOR curator Theo Tegelaers and Ria Haagsma, Senior Communications advisor of the Port of Rotterdam Authority.

Latitudes' YouTube Channel also includes documentation of an action with Lawrence Weiner in the context of his 2008 Fundació Suñol exhibition 'THE CREST OF A WAVE' as well as Ignasi Aballí whitewashing a window for his exhibition 'Something, or nothing' in the Suitcase Art Projects, Beijing.

Production stills while filming the 1969 '12 Hours Tide Object with Correction of Perspective', in the Dutch coast near Zandvoort.
The film was consequently included in Gerry Schum's Land Art TV

Production stills, '6 Hours Tide Object with Correction of Perspective' in Maasvlakte beach, 8 February 2009.
Photos: Latitudes, Paloma Polo/SKOR and Freek van Arkel

The inaugural Portscapes project took place a year ago on Sunday 8 February with the filming of a new version of Jan Dibbets' 12 Hours Tide Object with Correction of Perspective, newly titled 6 Hours Tide Object with Correction of Perspective.

Dibbets realised the original version of this classic work on the Dutch coast near Zandvoort in February 1969 and this 'second attempt' (the artist rejects the notion of a ‘remake’) was shot forty years later to the month, in February 2009 on a beach that will disappear with the construction of Maasvlakte 2. The eight minute film was premiered in the FutureLand visitor centre every Sunday during June 2009 and was screened on loop in New York, during Latitudes' participation in the non-profit festival 'No Soul for Sale' (24–28 June).

6 Hours Tide Object... records the drawing of a trapezoid shape in the sand during low tide using a bulldozer which drives back and forth along the beach. The shape consequently appears as a rectangular ‘frame’ in the resultant film due to the angle of perspective distortion in being shot from an elevated platform. Subsequently, the incoming tide washes it away. A formalistic reflection on geometry, representational illusion and the camera-’eye’, Dibbets reasserts the freshness of this fleeting filmed action with no hint of nostalgia. Within the context of the development of Maasvlakte 2 the work allows our fresh interpretations: concerning the physical modification of Dutch coastline, or new perspectives of construction, destruction and change, for example.

Watch the 'making of' by Olaf Schuur.

6 Hours Tide Object... was produced in the context of 'Portscapes', an accumulative series of ten new commissions by initiated by the Port of Rotterdam Authority with advice and financial support from SKOR (Foundation Art and Public Space, Amsterdam) curated by Latitudes, Barcelona.

An exhibition is currently on view at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen with the resulting works realised throughout 2009. On view until 25 April 2010 - free entrance.

As the 2008–9 artistic cycle turns for many towards a holiday exodus and 'out of office' autoresponders, below is a selection of some unseen and 'behind the scenes' moments from our projects since last summer.
Thank you to everyone y felices vacaciones!
– Latitudes



(Three images above): MCL with Lawrence Weiner during the installation of Lawrence Weiner's exhibition 'THE CREST OF A WAVE' at the Fundació Suñol, Barcelona, in October–November 2008; during the press conference; Lawrence, Latitudes and Fundació Suñol team (Sergi Aguilar, Maga Ruiz, Xavier De Luca, Mireia Arnau and Jaume Brunet) photographed by Pierre-Jean Moulis after tossing a horseshoe upon the crest of a wave.

16–19 October 2008: presentation of the Danish artist Tue Greenfort 'transparent' bins outside Frieze Art Fair, London, commissioned by the Royal Society of Arts' 'Arts & Ecology' programme.

5–9 November 2008: Leaving the 'X, Y, etc!' Videolounge in Artissima Art Fair, Torino, Italy; admiring the phenomenal long table arrangement Artissima dinner hosted at the equally phenomenal Venaria Reale.


November 2009: fourth visit to Rotterdam – evening boat trip with some of 'Portscapes' artists, site visit to the port with the Port of Rotterdam's Sjaak Poppe (Hans Schabus and Roman Keller alongside) and discussions in Marjolijn Dijkman's studio (Roman Keller and Christina Hemauer – with Ilana Halperin on Skype)


November 2009: ‘La, la, la, la: on winning and losing’ co-curator Aimar Arriola arranging a work with artist Verónica Aguilera and (below) selecting images with Fermín Jimenez Landa and Oriol Vilanova.


8 February: SKOR curator Theo Tegelaers and Jan Dibbets during the filming of Jan Dibbets' '6 Hours Tide Object with Correction of Perspective'; some of 'Portscapes' artists including Bik Van der Pol and Marjolijn Dijkman visit the beach while waiting for the tide to go up; Christiane Bosman (SKOR press coordinator) and curator Theo Tegelaers from SKOR at 'Portscapes' during Art Rotterdam opening evening.

18 February: Vena (por la) talk with (the then) Walker Art Center associate curator Doryun Chong (now associate curator at MoMA in New York)

April 2009 - The Associació d'Art Crítics de Catalunya awards Fundació Suñol for their exhibition programme (Latitudes-curated projects Lawrence Weiner's 'THE CREST OF THE WAVE' and the Land Art film programme 'A Stake in the Mud, A Hole in the Reel. Land Art's Expanded Field, 1968–2008' were part of this season)


(7 images above): First Neapolitan lunch with Simon Fujiwara and Jordi Mitjà: deep-fried maceroni; Erick Beltrán installing during 'Provenances', Umberto di Marino, Naples; preparing Simon's 'Museum of incest'; subtitling session with Nicoletta Daldanise; delightful Sicilian cuisine at Umberto's house, documenting Erick's work during the opening night and audience during Simon's performance 'The Museum of Incest: A Guided Tour' (publication here)

(5 above): Arrival day in Beijing with Ignasi Aballí; laying out the Barcelona posters for 'Scenic viewpoints'; (around 3.30am...) installation of 'Nothing, or Something' at Yintai Centre with Suitcase Art Projects artistic director Carol Yinghua Lu and Ignasi; checking the vinyl is straight with Ignasi ('El País' always at hand) and a quiet conversation with Carol on the escalators.


(2 Above): During the installation of 'The Garden of Forking Paths', Maisterravalbuena, Madrid, May 2009 and post-opening beer landscape at Maisterravalbuena office, 29 May 2009.

Hans Schabus mulls over the location for his Portscapes project, the image 'Europahaven, Port of Rotterdam, 17 Juni 2009', 15 June 2009

(2 above): At Latitudes' temporary office space during the non-profit festival 'No Soul for Sale', in New York, 24-28 June 2009 (with Michael Jackson breaking news on screen).

The Bruce High Quality Foundation in full (we are indebted to them for their fantastic 1983 Burger King set up)


(3 above) Installing Graham Gussin work during 'Sequelism Part 3. Possible, Probable or Preferable futures' in Arnolfini, Bristol (July 2009); hanging around with participating artists Francesc Ruiz and Haegue Yang as well as Nav Haq (Arnolfini curator) before dinner; and knitting lessons from Haegue at Arnolfini's bar.

[All photos: Latitudes | www.lttds.org]

Transposing our daily operations from Barcelona to New York's 22nd Street, Latitudes is presenting its recent publications, project-related paraphernalia and documentation. The office ‘scenario’ is conceived by the artist group The Bruce High Quality Foundation, incorporating dining furniture from the abandoned 1983 Burger King from Governor’s Island (see images above and below), where they have recently filmed 'Isle of the Dead'. This zombie movie about the death of culture in New York will be premiered during Creative Time’s ‘This World & Nearer Ones’ (opening June 27,2–4pm). Latitudes first collaborated with Bedford-Stuyvesant-based The Bruce High Quality Foundation for the group exhibition ‘Greenwashing. Environment: Perils, Promises and Perplexities’ (Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy, February–May 2008). Touching on themes such as gentrification and public space, satire and self-promotion, its activities have included reality TV, films, tableaux vivants, photography, protests, installations, merchandising and a production based on the musical Cats.

During NO SOUL FOR SALE we are also showing Jan Dibbets’ 6 Hours Tide Object with
Correction of Perspective (1969/2009) (8 mins.) as well as the 'making of' the film (20 mins). Shot in February 2009 and premiered on 14 June in Rotterdam, this Dibbets work is the inaugural project of Portscapes, the Latitudes-curated commission series taking place throughout 2009 in and around Maasvlakte 2, a 5000 acre extension to the Port of Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

NO SOUL FOR SALE: 24–28 June, 1–9pm. Free admission.
28 June, 6–7pm: Screening three films by The Bruce High Quality Foundation

X INITIATIVE: 548 West 22nd Street, New York, NY 10011 (former Dia Center)
GETTING THERE: C or E train to West 23 Street station, and walk west on 22nd towards X

All images: Latitudes | www.lttds.org