In February, Roman will start his two months exploration at the VDHG residency with the preliminary research question: “What role can artists play within activist communities?”. This question relates to a recurring interest in his art practice in which he reflects on the position of the artist in society and the potential of venturing outside of a traditional studio practice. In Leeuwarden, he will connect to activist communities to learn how their work and actions shape their understanding of the city and the region of Friesland. His first course of action will be to connect to the climate activists of Extinction Rebellion (XR). With 350.000 members in 70 countries, XR is the biggest protest movement of this age with a complex organisational structure that is continuously able to grow and compel new people to join the cause. At the same time, it operates within smaller local communities, 32 of which are in the Netherlands. These local branches organise protests, die-ins, training of new members and other actions within their regions.
During his residency, he will explore Leeuwarden through the perspective of XR and discover other activist communities in order to understand how his artistic practice can potentially develop within and contribute to these spaces.
In collaboration with activists, he hopes to explore different methods of research such as walking together and mapping the city. He looks forward to VDHG as a residency that does not provide isolation and removal from the world, but a space from which to work site-specifically and in relation to the built environment.