Kunsthal Rotterdam

The exhibition Thomas J Price: Matter of Place is serving as the source of inspiration during this edition of Friday Night LIVE. The question "Who deserves a statue?" forms the foundation for a vibrant program featuring music, spoken word, and talks. Listen to the wordsmiths of The Word Club among the sculptures of Thomas J Price, and dance to the beats of the No Biggie collective in the Kunsthal Café. Come watch, participate, party, and connect during Friday Night LIVE X Cult North!

Programme
 

Live performance: Yves

Born in Amsterdam and raised in Almere, at a young age YVES already discovered his love of music through listening to his mother’s mixtape collection. Together with producer SHY he has developed a unique style for which he combines various sounds. His debut singles ‘Lifestyle & Party’ and ‘Blijven Hopen’ marked his introduction to the Dutch music scene. With tracks like ‘In M'n Hoofd’, Wauw’, and ‘Gespreksstof’ he attracted the attention of a wider audience. After releasing his debut EP ‘SADDERDAY,’ YVES continued his artistic growth and consolidated his position with the EP’s ‘HIGHSANDGOODBYES’ and ‘GODSPEED’. 

Performance: Shitrani

The Woman that never cried
Shitrani represents the silent struggle of unheard stories and unconditional love. In this moving and dynamic theatrical performance, Sanjaya and DUNYA take the audience on a journey to multiple locations, including Sri Lanka. It tells the story of Shitrani, a woman from an elitist military family who falls in love with a member of the Tamil Tigers, the enemy during the civil war. After giving birth to their child she is forced to abandon it and subsequently murdered for being ‘unfaithful’ to her family. The performance delves deep into the life of this ‘iron lady’  and explores what lay hidden behind her tough façade. 

No Biggie

The platform No Biggie promotes and celebrates hip-hop and R&B across the generations. What began in an intimate setting at Cannibale Royale, quickly led to collaborations with big names like Yardbird and O. Dagen, and venues like Rotterdamse Schouwburg and Network Festival. During Friday Night LIVE, No Biggie will be taking over the Kunsthal Café for an evening programme packed with music, including performances by Yentzyz, BKK, and Zeus. 

pop-up performance: The Word Club 

The Word Club is a platform for spoken word, poetry, and word art that is part of Cult North. It offers young people a space to make their voices heard and express their creativity through language. During Friday Night LIVE, eight young word artists from The Word Club will be presenting their own poetic pieces. They have each written a personal response to the question ‘Who deserves a statue?

Live performance: Michelline & Richie McLaren

To Michelline, music is a place of peace and self-reflection. Her lyrics reflect her feelings at various stages in her life. Artists like Alicia Keys, Cleo Sol, and Whitney Houston are her major sources of inspiration. During her performance she will be accompanied by guitarist Richie McLaren. 

Talk: Who deservers a statue?

Nouka & Kels
Kels and Noukka are proud members of Cult North and hosts of the programme in the Auditorium during Friday Night LIVE. They will moderate conversations on the theme ‘Who deserves a statue?’, and offer the audience a captivating evening of interaction and reflection. Their fresh energy and razor-sharp questions will make the evening even more interesting! 

Mini documentary: Set in Stone

Kwame The Creative
Inspired by the works of Thomas J. Price, Kwame explores the various steps he has to follow to make a statue of a person he holds in high esteem. In this documentary he takes the audience along in his creative process, the technical challenges, and the emotional choices involved. From concept to execution — ‘Set in Stone’ shows how Kwame is able to build a bridge between personal appreciation and social acknowledgment.

Photography exhibition

Tenchy
Tenchy is a versatile creative maker involved in writing, making music, and photography. For his photo series he made portraits of young people who, in his view, deserve a statue. His portraits highlight the impact these youths have on their environment, and why their peers see them as role models. Through his work, Tenchy shows that appreciation and acknowledgement may take on various shapes. 

Interactive game: Statue Battle Royale

Casper Pluuren
Casper Pluuren is a young anthropologist and regular moderator for various Cult North programme components. His interactive game (xx) invites visitors to think about the question ‘Who deserves a statue?’ and to jointly explore what concepts like appreciation and acknowledgement mean in our society. 

About Cult North

Cult North is a platform that supports young, self-taught creators from Rotterdam in their artistic and personal development. With a focus on talent development, cultural participation, and social engagement, Cult North provides young people aged 14 to 27 with the space to explore and express their creativity. By collaborating with cultural institutions and professionals from the sector, Cult North offers these young makers a platform to showcase their work and build new connections within the city and beyond.

About Thomas J Price. Matter of Place 

Discover the first solo exhibition in the Netherlands of the British artist Thomas J Price (1981, London) at th. With multidisciplinary work, spanning sculpture, performance, photography, and animation, Price constantly bends the conventions of material, scale, and presentation. The artist focuses on themes of representation and humanism and how we relate and respond to power structures within society. In this large-scale retrospective, the Kunsthal will be showing a wide variety of works from Price’s two-decade-spanning career: from the early performance ‘Licked’ (2001) to recent sculptures such as ‘A Place Beyond’ (2022).

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