…Elk rondje is anders during Quarantine 
Live-performance + live stream video + residue installation  
Duration: 1 – 2 hours (72:02 minutes)
2015/2020

—

…Elk rondje is anders is about the convention of ‘rondjes lopen’ – ‘walking around in circles’ and originates from 2015.

In 2020 ‘…Elk rondje is anders’ was revised, renewed and relaunched during the pandemic. Same relevance, different context. For ‘…Elk rondje is anders during Quarantine’ the artist hand draws the clean lines as a reference to the gym courts where the so called “gabber parties” used to be organized. For these lines the artist uses a paint that shines, sticks, doesn’t fade and dries slowly, as a conceptual reference to the endurance of these gabber parties. The Nike Air Max 90’s footprints will then be traced during the live performance. Ultimately, these footprints will be the remaining artifact of the durational performance of walking in circles (translated to Dutch ‘rondjes lopen’). They are a part of the installation and are a reference to the Dutch subculture ‘Gabber’, an important (deserted) part of Dutch heritage from the 80’s/90’s.

Eyes are being kept closed to put the focus on the repetitive movement, feelings of- and adjustments in- the body.

*In short: Gabber is the only (known) subculture coming from the Netherlands. Gabber, also known as gabba, early hardcore, or Rotterdam hardcore, is a style of electronic music and a subgenre of hardcore techno. It was derived from acid house, techno and New Beat in the early 1990s. The word “gabber” comes from an Amsterdam Bargoens slang based on the Hebrew chaver meaning “mate” or “friend”. Fashion-wise, gabbers wore specific colorful Aussies (Australian tracksuits), bomber jackets and Nike Air Max 90 sneakers – especially developed to dance on all night long. The invented dance style by the Gabbers is called ‘hakken’. Characterized by shaved heads, braided tails and shaved sides, all genders look the same and do the hakken-dance. The early gabber parties used to be located in large gymnastics halls, with the colorful stripes on the floors, high ceilings and the practical floors. Throughout the week this was just a gym space where children followed their classes, and in the weekends this space was the home of gabbers.

Watch the entire video of the live performance stream (22-05-2020) below:

The work is based on a video of a gabber in the early 90s who is partying at a hardcore event. He answers the question “So, what do you do all of these hours at a party like this?” with: “Ik loop rondjes en ik loop rondjes, ik loop alleen maar rondjes. Kom iedereen tegen, blijf rondjes lopen, elk rondje is anders. Ik loop uren lang rondjes.” [Meaning: “I am walking in circles constantly, for hours I walk in circles, I only walk in circles, meet a lot of people, walk in circles and every circle is different.”]. Hence the convention of ‘rondjes lopen’.

© Video by Joao mb Costa
© Lisette Ros