A space is often conceived as consisting of three linear dimensions, a closed-off entity in which objects and events have a relative position and direction. Increasingly, however, space is being approached as part of a boundless and open four-dimensional continuum, known more as ‘’spacetime’’. This new approach towards space, however, remains ambiguous: the so called Spacetime can be defined the b
est as an entity, a relationship between entities, or as part of a conceptual framework. Traum = German word for “dream”, which is a psychic state in the form of a series of images, ideas, emotions and sensations penetrating the mind. Trauma = derived from the antique Greek word τραύμα, meaning violation or injury. A traumatic experience is the result of an overwhelming amount of impulses, exceeding one’s ability to cope with the emotions involved with this experience, leading to long-term psychic consequences. It is a moment in time then, where certain events cause a rupture in the subject's mind, leaving a long-term trace. Traum a is an exhibition platform which, in these fast-changing times, adapts itself to the shifting character of today’s art. Right now, art cannot only be found in the white cube. In fact, art has increasingly lost its naive optimism and purports itself to ground in reality, or at least in the complex networks of experiences that make up everyday life. Traum a is a nomadic platform without stable roots, whose aim is to bring a change in the traditional placing of art into the soilless and rectangular belly of the beast while simultaneously and actively analysing how art and society interrelate. The platform navigates through the artistic landscape, searching for a place to rest, contemplate and bring together aesthetic documents in the form of art exhibitions. Traum a transforms space into spheres, where dreams, evocations and hopes that do not exist in the bleakness of the present can be collected. As suggested by the name, traum a implies a sudden change or scission. This turn, however, arouses an inventive shift, setting in motion a chain of processes, in which artistic expression is at the same time symptom and consequence.
__________ Max Bouwhuis, Sara van Bussel and Kat van den Brink
