Join multidisciplinary artist Vilma Vanhanen on 25 October as she shares her story: the process and thoughts from her Zoöp Connections residency at Buitenplaats Brienenoord. For two months, Vilma has been working around many people, more-than-human life, tides and islands, immersing herself between the island of Brienenoord, Rotterdam South and the future city plans surrounding them.
Learn more about Vilma Vanhanen and the residency.
This is not an Island!
Programme:
15:00–16:00
Vilma shares the process of the Zoöp Connections art residency + opening of the mini exhibition.
16:00–17:00
Collective performance – Many noises and forces surround the island. When something new arrives, who must leave? Who is displaced? What do they sound like? What do they have to say? You can shout, tell, whisper, yell and we listen. Through a specifically built installation we can amplify our voices and carry it to those who need to hear it.
17:00
Free soup!
Please dress according to the weather!
Address: Van Brienenoord 5, 3077 AE Rotterdam
Buitenplaats Brienenoord is located on the Island of Brienenoord in Rotterdam, it is accessible via two bridges.
For accessibility info and support, please contact Buitenplaats Brienenoord’s founder and co-director Maurice Specht at (+31) 6 16544235, maurice@buitenplaatsbrienenoord.nl.
The residency operates under Buitenplaats Brienenoord’s Code of Conduct.
The residency
The residency is part of Zoöp Connections, a networked knowledge exchange programme connecting Dutch Zoöps and European cultural institutes, realised by EUNIC Netherlands in coordination with DutchCulture and supported by the EUNIC Global Cluster Fund. Taking place within the Zoöp framework developed by the Zoönomic Institute, the programme creates residencies in 2026 for artists, thinkers and practitioners from across Europe to learn from, live with, and work within living ecosystems. It prioritises process, learning and shared inquiry over predefined outcomes, and is centred on co-creation, care, listening and reciprocity.
Residency Partners
Buitenplaats Brienenoord
A rehearsal space for the future, situated on a 20 acre island at the edge of the city. Run by a collective of over 30 artist from various backgrounds – theater, visual art, photography, textile, dance amongst others – we try to envision different relationships towards time, care, generosity, space, people and nature. We do this through organizing events, workshops, gatherings, screenings, exhibitions, and creating new work. Given the location of the Island it offers a chance to step back from reality, without turning your back on it.
www.buitenplaatsbrienenoord.nl
Nieuwe Instituut
Nieuwe Instituut is the national museum and institute for architecture, design and digital culture, located in Rotterdam’s Museumpark. Through exhibitions, events, research and other national and international initiatives, we show how design ideas contribute positively to urgent societal and ecological challenges. Polyphony is also the foundation of the Zoöp, our organizational model in which non-human life has a voice.
www.nieuweinstituut.nl
Finnish Cultural Institute for the Benelux
The Finnish Cultural Institute for the Benelux creates sustainable connections and work opportunities for culture and art professionals between Finland and the Benelux countries, and promotes the visibility of Finnish culture in the Benelux region. We work with artistic projects as well as societal questions, and aim for long-term partnerships and connections to produce and support sustainable, contemporary and cross-disciplinary cultural initiatives.
www.finncult.be
EUNIC Netherlands
EUNIC Netherlands is the framework through which European national cultural institutes and other cultural representatives of European countries in the Netherlands co-operate in the development of unique multilateral cultural projects and initiatives. It is the Dutch cluster of EUNIC, the European Union of National Institutes for Culture, which groups together European national cultural institutes or other cultural representations collaborate around the globe.
www.eunic-netherlands.eu
Cover image: This is not an Island! by Vilma Vanhanen.