We are glad to inform that the BijlmAIR used the expertise of the Thami Mnyele Foundation residency program and invited Leo Asemota to work in Amsterdam.

Leo Asemota "The Handmaiden, Amsterdam S.E."
Opening 4 June at 17.00 uur, t/m 19 August at CBK Zuidoost
Amsterdam

Since spring 2005 Leo Asemota has been working on ‘The Ens Project’. During his stay in Amsterdam Southeast from March until June as part of BijlmAIR program, he has been refining what was previously established during his residency at Metal in Liverpool on “The Handmaiden”, the central being in this project. An installation of four vitrines reveals the Bijlmer-influence on the project. Within, there are traces to be found of the memory of the Bijlmer as part of the contemporary history of the Netherlands. Migration through the ages play a central role by which Asemota zooms in on mythological characters and folklore of the ancestors of the inhabitants of Southeast, especially of Ghanaian and Surinamese. Like in earlier editions of ‘The Ens Project’ Asemotacontinues with his use of unorthodox and original material like vellum, palm-oil, beeswax, orhue (kaolin) and coal dust as well as introducing new ones such as fur, silk and bronze.

BijlmAIR is the residency program of CBK Zuidoost, SMBA and Stichting FLAT
more info at: http://cbkkunst.nl/kunstopdrachten/bijlmair2010-leo-asemota/



Leo Asemota was born and raised in Benin City (Nigeria) before settling in London in 1998.Previous exhibitions and presentations from ‘The Ens Project’ include The Handmaiden; Liverpool (2010) at Metal at Edge Hill station in Liverpool,One’s History is Another’s Misery (2009) at Autocenter Berlin which subsequently travelled to Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam, The longMarch of Displacement (2008) at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, Emerging Discourse (2008) at Bodhi Art New York, ens memoralis (2008) at the National Portrait Gallery in London and After Walter (2007) a performance interpretation of Walter Benjamin’s “An Artwork in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility” which was broadcast on Resonance 104.4FM, London’s premiere art radio station.

BijlmAIR is the residency program of CBK Zuidoost, SMBA and Stichting FLAT