n line of Jeremiah Day’s interest in affirmative political examples, his new work brings together a long-term research investigation into the life and work of Willem Arondeus, a largely forgotten figure in the history of Amsterdam. Provisional Temple Of Semi-Failed Resistance Artist Fighter Dreamers attempts to transform the gallery space into an outpost for historical unearthing, a place in which to foreground forgotten stories and to reflect on how provisional and speculative the future has come to feel.

Willem Arondeus (22 August 1894 – 1 July 1943) was a Dutch artist and author who joined the Dutch anti-Nazi resistance movement during World War II. He participated in the bombing of the Amsterdam public records office to hinder the Nazi German effort to identify Dutch Jews and others wanted by the Gestapo. Arondeus was caught and executed soon after his arrest. Arondeus was inspired by artists who fought in the Paris Commune, and he believed that at some moments artists, even the dreamiest ones, have a unique capacity to step into politics. Indeed, the Amsterdam underground resistance contained many many artists of different kinds, and also a striking representation from the LGBTQI community, with Arondeus himself perhaps being best known for his last words: “Let it be known homosexuals are not cowards.”

Video: "Dreamers", featuring Claire Scharwz and including Florence ensemble performance with Greta Bimonte, Andrea D'Amore, Alessandra Palma, Villa Romana, May 2021. Stills by Giampolo. Camera by Sebastian Bodirsky. Two channel, HD, 11 minutes.

Prints: pigment-based ink on polyester.
Collage sources: 2011 open letter on cultural cuts in the Netherlands; 2011 culture cuts protests; Frei Kunsten magazine 1945; Monument to artists of the Resistance, Amsterdam; Claire Schwarz with biography of Arondeus; selected works by Arondeus.