Come celebrate the opening of the W139 exhibition – the first of Melted for Love’s three exhibition chapters across Amsterdam. With free entry and a buzzing bar, and a special performance, the gallery stays open late, turning the evening into a lively gathering point for anyone curious to dive in. The exhibition is an acoustic and material study of how ecosystems absorb the impacts of militarisation, colonial occupation, and environmental disruption. The artists trace signals that travel across land, through subsurface networks, and within the more-than-human world.
The evening features a performance by Music Research Strategies (Marshall Trammell) Pedagogy of the Surveilled: Listen Like Wolves. Conceived as a set of actions for performer and percussionist together with an ‘Active Listening’ Conduction Ensemble, Listen Like Wolves mobilises collective attention as a creative and affective force.
On this special night, you will also see the works exhibited at W139; world-premiere works by Diana Policarpo and Bernardo Gaeiras speculating on future uses of the former Bugio Lighthouse through radiophonic transmissions. Alina Schmuch – a participant in ALTERLIFE, Sonic Acts’ major international research and residency programme with Rupert, Vilnius – examines manipulated water systems shaped by drought and rising sea levels. You will also find new work by Lower Levant Company together with Olga Micińska merge bat calls, broadcasting, and encrypted messages to reflect the ecological catastrophes wrought by colonial warfare in the Eastern Mediterranean. Adelita Husni-Bey restages Italian fascist archives, exposing damaged infrastructures and extractivist legacies in Libya. Maeve Brennan explores the depths of a salt mine to question the violent writing and preservation of Western imperial power.
W139 forms one chapter of Melted for Love’s three-part exhibition programme across Amsterdam. All three exhibition locations, W139, Arti et Amicitiae, and Rozenstraat, will be open during the entire Biennial from Wednesday to Sunday, 12:00–20:00. The exception is Monday, 2 March, when the exhibition will be open from 12:00 to 17:00.
The exhibition opening is a free event. After the opening, visitors can purchase a single ticket for each venue or choose a combined ticket that grants access to all locations – W139, Arti et Amicitiae, and Rozenstraat. The tickets are not dated, and visitors can use them during the general visiting hours, excluding the performance events.
