THE COMMON INN
A variety of artists, designers, thinkers and other quote unquote talent was displayed and discussed in a motel scape: THE COMMON INN at Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam. Under the command to consider everyone and everything as a potential interest, the curators and scenographers Simon Becks and Jules van den Langenberg used an open open call system -no selection criteria applied- to compile a programme of exhibited works, performances and other activities.

Their continuous programme of twelve hours was divided up into nine acts, and used the narrative and theatrical strategies akin to cinema, musical and opera. Time is skewed and morality is suspended through the acts, and what remains are just ‘interesting’ characters. Specific roles where given to invitees, such as Laurens Otto as live-interpreter, Ivan Cheng as editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly and a slew of back-ground actors such as ‘Woman Walking Poodle’ or ‘Inquisitive Man with Red Tie’ to supplement the thoroughly scripted space with a sense of story and rehearsal.

Photos by Lonneke van der Palen, Aad Hoogendoorn, Petra van der Rhee, Franziska Müller Schmidt.