’84 STAPPEN’ (Goethe Institut)

Kunstinstituut Melly was originally conceived as an art-house with a mission to present and discuss the ideas and work created today by visual artists and cultural makers. To fulfill the core mission of presenting contemporary art and theory, its team organizes exhibitions, commissions art, publishes and develops educational and collaborative initiatives, applying a practice of collective learning.

84 STEPS (84 STAPPEN in Dutch) is an initiative that features projects at the intersection of art and education. IN 2018, following a makeover of the ground floor gallery, an entire floor of the Kunstinstituut Melly saw the transformation of a white-cube gallery into a dynamic space for socializing art: MELLY. The name – 84 STEPS – marks the distance from the ground floor to the third-floor galleries, where the initiative is sited.

84 STEPS features immersive art installations by Afra Eisma, The Feminist Health Care Research Group (Inga Zimprich), Moosje M Goosen and Daily Practice (Suzanne Weenink), Raja’a Khalid, Lisa Tan, Domenico Mangano & Marieke van Rooy, and Romily Alice Walden. Unfolding over the course of a year, the programming within these installations aims to give special attention to issues surrounding mental health. These include weekend training sessions conducted by health experts organized by Veronika Babayan and Aqueene Wilson, as well as Forums and Workshops organized by Vivian Ziherl and Jessy Koeiman.

Numerous are the activities and workshops that have been organised since the opening of this dedicated area in April 2021, and that are planned for the summer and beyond. For instance, on September 5 the public will be able to experience ‘Coming Back Home, Movement Research and Improvisation‘, a training offered in English during which each attendee will employ different tools through a holistic dance approach that will help them to listen to their body again. Furthermore, a second appointment with the series KEYNOTE has been organised for October 15. On that date, ‘Lisa Appignanesi in conversation with Vivian Sky Rehberg‘ will be an opportunity to reflect on the significance of attention within histories of psychoanalysis, and the ways attention came to be considered (in often unpaid forms) a ‘care’ provided by women.

Click here to find out more about MELLY,  ’84 STEPS’, and the related events scheduled for the rest of the year.