KunstRoute Unofficial - The Application

What happens when writing a subsidy application becomes a work of art itself? That is the question performance artist Jonny Tudor poses during the KunstRoute Leiden weekend, when he transforms the hall of Theater de Generator into a live workspace for two days.

From 10:00 to 17:00, Tudor writes a real subsidy application for a new bi-monthly performance art evening at de Generator. That application is simultaneously the performance. Other artists are invited to join and contribute to the writing. Computer screens are projected live on the back wall, so visitors can follow the entire process: the writing, crossing out, searching, doubting, formulating and negotiating with the logic of funding bodies and policy plans. On Sunday at 17:00, the application is actually submitted.

The performance raises questions about the position of art and artists: why must art constantly justify itself, and how much time disappears into bureaucracy before an idea can even exist? At the same time, it is a plea for performance art in Leiden, a discipline that is barely visible within the city but holds a firm place internationally in contemporary art. Where KunstRoute traditionally is dominated by two-dimensional visual work, Tudor symbolically claims space for an art form that unfolds in space, time and encounter. This year, de Generator deliberately chose not to officially register for KunstRoute Leiden, but to breathe new life into a grassroots movement - starting with this performance.

About the artist
Jonny Tudor is director and artistic leader of Theater de Generator, theatre maker and performance artist. His multidisciplinary work moves between theatre, visual art and activism and has been seen on stages, in museums and galleries in and outside the Netherlands.