Eye Becomes Water

Curated together with Daphné Charitos, Jean Watt, Yasemin Köker, Abel Hartooni & Temitayo Olalekan

Eye Becomes Water is an exhibition programme which explores waiting as its conceptual starting point. A series of four exhibitions with accompanying public programmes will be hosted from mid-February 2025 to the end of June 2025.


The exhibition programme draws from Het Paviljoen’s history – one that has primarily passed down through oral storytelling and void of archival documentation. This void allows for speculative practices of/in the space. The position, and the action, of waiting, form the broad conceptual framework to guide artistic responses to the exhibition space. Waiting is of subjective multitudes – it is a mode of alertness to our surroundings, it is a practice of care for others, it is a revolutionary act of resilience against ongoing struggles, it is inflected with issues of gender, race, class, and location.


The programme featured works by the artists Sanie Irsay, with her video intervention titled ‘24h Swan Lake’, accompanied by a hearing session event by Radio Svitlo as part of the public programme; a duo show by Shervin/e Sheikh Rezaei & Soraya Abdelhouaret titled ‘Crying Could be a Solvent’, which explored the notion of alchemy in relation to waiting; a trio show by Zeynep Kayan, Amel Omar & Reinier Vrancken titled ‘the slab of outlaw time’, reffering to the tension and boundaries between exterior and interior, the outer shell and inner fullness; and a solo show by Sacha Rey titled ‘But I’m a Cheerleader’ which explores the challenges for equitable conditions in the creative arts. 


Photography credits go to Charlotte Daniëlse