For years and independently from each other, visual artists Ine Lamers and Elian Somers have been researching current utopias, former utopias and their representation. Based on their shared interest in political systems, ideology and architecture, they are developing a joint exhibition for the first time at Pennings Foundation. An exciting arrangement of photographic and cinematic images, cartographic drawings and audio works invites the viewer to become part of a quest for an unattainable ideal city.

Ine Lamers shows the cinematographic installation Radiant Screen, a work in development that concludes her multi-year Proyekt Z/Ж. With four screens, this work encircles the closed, secret city of Ж, a former socialist utopia in Siberia. Through found images, reconstructions and through stories from insiders, an ambiguous picture of the inaccessible city gradually emerges. But how reliable or biased is this image?

Elian Somers presents two spatial installations Ecumenopolis and Capital City, both of which are the result of her research project A Stone from the Moon.

In these installations, the viewer is taken to a model city of the future - inside and outside the context of an ideological and geopolitical struggle.

The landscape occupies a prominent place in the entire exhibition; it shows itself in moving and still images, alternately as a magical landscape, an utopian landscape, a revolutionary landscape, or as a layered, toxic landscape.

The artists work together with designer Claus Wiersma for their exhibition.

Various public activities will take place during the exhibition and a meet and greet with the artists. More information can be found in due course via the Pennings Foundation website and social media.

Ine Lamers (Wijchen 1954), lives and works in Rotterdam. Studied at AKI in Enschede and Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht. Has been conducting research (photography and video) for many years into the relationship between ideology (socialism and communism), urban architecture and landscapes. “As an artist I want to talk about societies. For me, art is the means to do that and to investigate.”

www.inelamers.nl

Elian Somers (Sprang-Capelle 1975), lives and works in Rotterdam. Studied architecture at Delft University of Technology and obtained her Master's degree in Photography at AKV | St. Joost. From this background, Elian Somers investigates the urban utopian landscape, in particular the interaction between architecture and urban design, ideology and (geo-)  politics.

http://eliansomers.nl/

Thanks to: Anke Bangma

This exhibition was made possible in part by financial support from: Mondriaan Fonds, Stichting Stokroos, Dienst Kunst en Cultuur in Rotterdam and Stichting Droom en Daad in Rotterdam.