Emmy Vollaard, Najendra Caldera, Kwinnie Lê, Lili Ullrich
Cuarentena Volumes I
initiated by Emmy Vollaard, Najendra Caldera, Kwinnie Lê and Lili Ullrich, four artists based in Rotterdam. Connected through their performative practices, the lockdown prompted a new way of sharing their texts, performances, letters and drawings with one another. Cuarentena Volumes is abbreviated as cv: “these times might become a dent in the curriculum vitae, allowing to focus on the work itself.” Part of "Learning from COVID19: Reflections on knowledge-related commons and practices of self-organization amidst COVID19."
April 2020
Dear School of Commons,
In these times of Corona, the four of us, Nash, Kwinnie, Emmy and Lili, have created a space for an ongoing collaboration, dissolving the competitive nature of creating, and coming back to the roots, the fun and freedom of our practice.
In the current situation, the world is on a hold. At least, that seems to be the notion. As events were getting cancelled and everybody remained home, we were about to move into a new studio. A new space. This naturally changed our ways of working. Maybe this space isn’t a new space, maybe it has been there all along inside each and every one of us and we just needed a moment to enter it (again). We organized a space, physically and mentally, where we can come together, the four of us, and reach out and react to one another within the borders of the social distancing. We search for ways of connecting within these borders, and use the energy this situation brings along with the energy each of us individually is taking to the space. And so these energies become a shared energy, in which we look for common space. Softly, listening intently and without expectations of self and the other we freely arrange and discover what it means to live in these times. Thus a new practice develops, one we partly need to manifest virtually.
There are different ways one can look at the current situation in which the art world also seems to be on a halt. On the one hand, it can be frightening, a halt in the art world perhaps also means a halt in shows, commissions and so on. A dent in the CV. On the other hand, it is a moment to create freely and experiment. The competitive nature between peers completely dissolves. We wanted to explore this notion in connection with one another and started to send each other performances, letters, drawings etc. under the name Cuarentena Volume I. Abbreviated as cv, it’s a play on words with the acronym for curriculum vitae. As time progresses, we keep the same acronym with a different conjunction of words according to the situation then. You can find our collaboration on https://cv.hotglue.me, placed in such a way in which the maker becomes somewhat anonymous. A focus on the work itself, a focus on our need to create and communicate together. Perhaps a change we would like to see, even after social distancing.
Warmly,
Emmy Vollaard, Najendra Caldera, Kwinnie Lê and Lili Ullrich (artists based in Rotterdam, NL)
About CV: We are four artists working in Rotterdam, Netherlands. connected through our performative practices, we came together to open a new studio when the pandemic broke out. Thus it happened that we organized our practice according to the new context. We started to send each other performances, letters and drawings under the name cuarentena volume i. Abbreviated as cv, these times might become a dent in the curriculum vitae, allowing to focus on the work itself. Without expectations of self and the other we freely arrange and discover what it means to live in these times and to adapt our practices to the continuous change in circumstances.
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