Aura opening well attended, photos online

aura-opening1Crowd outside the main entrance before the opening (l) with Castrum Peregrini’s Lars Ebert (l) and Michiel van Iersel (r)

Last Thursday we celebrated the opening of the Aura project: an exhibition and a series of events in the historic premises of Castrum Peregrini Foundation, where in WWII young German Jews survived in hiding. The opening was very well attended and people responded enthusiastically.

The 96-year old Castrum founder Gisèle allowed us to show three of her works together with other remarkable pieces from the collection and seven newly made and site specific installations by contemporary artists, including Amie Dicke, Chris Kabel, John Kleckner, Susanne Kriemann, Jan Robert Leegte, Alexandra Leykauf, Renee van Marissing and Allerd van den Bremen.

The following photos by our dear friend Simon Bosch give an impression of the evening, in case you weren’t there (or want to relive it). The next few weeks we will organize a series of so-called Aura salons with guided tours, performances, statements and music by Machinefabriek (May 28) and Pierre Bastien (June 11).

See more photos and read more about the Aura-project on www.castrumperegrini.org
aura-opening3Non-fiction’s Michiel van Iersel (l) and Castrum Peregrini’s Lars Ebert (r) welcoming everybody in front of an installation consisting of recycled furniture by industrial designer Chris Kabel.
aura-opening2Artist and Castrum-founder Gisèle d’Ailly van Waterschoot van der Gracht (left, center) and handsigned book by Walter Benjamin with graphic designer Eric Wie (left) and artist Sarah van Sonsbeeck (center) standing in the background.
aura-opening5Among the visitors was Roger Willems (right) of Roma Publications who designed the super-stylish Aura booklets.
aura-opening8The American artist and Aura participant John Kleckner (seen from the back, with beard).
aura-opening7German artist and Aura participant Alexandra Leykauf (l) standing in front of photo installation by Susanne Kriemann.
aura-opening4Installation by Amie Dicke in the abandoned living room of Claus Victor Bock, one of the people who was kept in hiding at Castrum Peregrini during WWII and who passed away last year.
aura-opening6Dutch artist and Aura-participant Jan Robert Leegte (l) and his computerprojection in the archive of Castrum Peregrini (r), which is situated in the basement of the new project space.