For the Record: Urban Imageries with Tim Wes

Tim Wes is taking on the role of a pioneer that fights for a place within acknowledged institutes and organisations, in order to create space for a new generation of artists that navigate through different disciplines. “Before this pop-up exhibition took place, we put pressure on the cultural organisations in Rotterdam. On one hand, this was to shed some light onto a dark situation (the beginning of the lockdown), and on the other hand it was as a form of protest, in order to be heard”. “The large group of creators that do not walk the most common paths are still not given the proper attention to, in my opinion”, Tim shares. With the projects that he develops, he tries to embody and represent the group: “I want to show them what happens when these two worlds – the world of creators and the world of institutions – collide and collaborate, and I want to show what possibilities lie ahead. In my opinion, Het Nieuwe Instituut is not afraid to take on a challenge, to take a risk and to experiment. This is why I decided to work with them”.

“Three people visit a peepshow. They pay, take a seat and are met by their entertainer as the curtain slides up. But when the music starts and the show is set to begin, the tables turn: the visitors start to dance and the entertainer gazes at them. The voyeur becomes the entertainer, wanting nothing more than to feel seen and desired. Lost in this strange power dynamic, they will do anything to feel seen: even pay. The music video for Face Me represents the vicious circle of a relationship in which two people are unequal to each other. Where one constantly gives while the other takes. Where one glorifies the good and ignores the bad in the person they’re with because, against their better judgment, they want to love so desperately. They lose themselves in their desire and even though they know how it might end, go for that quick fix of happiness again and again. The story plays with context and flips expectations by shifting the power dynamic. It illustrates how, in a one-sided relationship, we can lose ourselves completely, and how things can turn out differently from what we expected at the beginning.”