Open Call: 3rd Nieuwstraat Festival

The Nieuwstraat is an ordinary street in the centre of Dordrecht, the Netherlands. In this street you will find trees, houses, shops, terraces, a cinema and a weekly market.
On an unannounced Saturday in July 2025, between dawn and midnight, the 3rd Nieuwstraat Festival will take place. On this day, volunteers will perform unannounced – and often unnoticed – using instructions or ‘scores’ provided by international artists. Passers-by will observe the works, but, outside of a distinct artistic context, may not recognise them as art performances. The unusual will hide in the ordinary.

We are looking for performance scores by artists who feel an affinity with the theme and its principles. There are no restrictions as to where they live, age and background.
Keep in mind that the works will be performed by often inexperienced, volunteers, so please write the scores in clear and accessible language, more-or-less as a manual. If relevant, do not forget to mention the desired time of day (in connection with the opening and closing of shops, terraces, the fruit/vegetable market).
As documentation, performers will be asked to write down their experiences afterwards. Together with the drafts, these reports will be published on UnnoticedArtFestival.com.

Send your proposals by 31 March 2025 (23:59 CET)
to nieuwstraat@unnoticedart.com.

Previous reports on UnnoticedArtFestival.com:
Nieuwstraat Festival (2020)
2nd Nieuwstraat Festival (2021)

2nd Nieuwstraat Festival: the works!


Ed Woodham: Fly
(performed by Emmy Vollaard)

The Nieuwstraat is an average street in the center of Dordrecht, the Netherlands.
The Nieuwstraat Festival took place on June 19, 2021, between sunrise and midnight. The performances were performed by volunteers, unannounced and without explanation.
The performances involved took place in everyday environments and hid the unusual within the usual. Passers-by will have observed the actions, but may not have recognized them as performance art.

Works by:
Peter Baren
Hans Bossmann
Vladimir Bovt
Finn Melvin Caird
Clare Charnley
Beau Coleman
Jane Domaliç
Jorn Ebner
Theodora Eliezer
g.a.d.o. (Paloma Sanchez Palencia & Lena Skrabs)
Johannes C. Gerard
Ienke Kastelein
Joshua Legallienne
Frans van Lent
LuLu LoLo
Andrew McNiven
Myrte van der Molen
Andrei Monastyrski
Nico Parlevliet
Mikio Saito
Masha Sumnina
Albert van der Weide
Ed Woodham
Jing Zhou

The Nieuwstraat Festival fits in a series of Unnoticed Art Festivals. It balances on the line between public and private. It shows artworks hiding in normality. The language, used to express the works, fits in the average social behaviour in public space and, because of that, remained unnoticed to bystanders.
Creating the concepts and executing the works are split. Artists send their concepts more or less as manuals. The chosen works  are carried out by a group of (both experienced and unexperienced) volunteers. These volunteers have a double roll. They are participants as well as audience. They are responsible for realising the performances in the best possible way and, doing that, they fully experience the works. In fact they become part of it.
This way the audience is not excluded but it is actually embedded.

The works in the 2nd Nieuwstraat Festival were performed by:
Peter Baren, Stefanie van den Bos, Geerten Ten Bosch, Hans Bossmann, Finn Melvin Caird, Jos Deuss, Malou van Doormaal, Marian van Hoof, Jolanda Jansen, Ienke Kastelein, Petra Laaper, Frans van Lent, Fang Mij, Nico Parlevliet, Sandra Posthuma, Jello Reumer, Yvette Teeuwen, Emmy Vollaard, Paul Voors and Vera Whistler.

The 2nd Nieuwstraat Festival is kindly supported by:

Programma 2e Nieuwstraat Festival

Met werk van:

-Peter Baren
-Hans Bossmann
-Vladimir Bovt
-Finn Melvin Caird
-Clare Charnley
-Beau Coleman
-Jane Domaliç
-Jorn Ebner
-Theodora Eliezer
g.a.d.o. (Paloma Sanchez Palencia & Lena Skrabs)
-Johannes C. Gerard
-Ienke Kastelein
-Joshua Legallienne
-Frans van Lent
-LuLu LoLo
-Andrew McNiven
-Myrte van der Molen
-Andrei Monastyrski
-Nico Parlevliet
-Mikio Saito
-Masha Sumnina
-Albert van der Weide
-Ed Woodham
-Jing Zhou

Nieuwstraat festival zoekt deelnemers!

 

Op een onaangekondigde dag in juni 2021 vindt, tussen zonsopgang en zonsondergang, het 2e Nieuwstraat Festival plaats. De performances in dit festival zullen worden uitgevoerd door vrijwilligers, onaangekondigd en zonder uitleg. Ze vinden plaats in de alledaagse omgeving en verbergen het ongewone binnen het gewone. Voorbijgangers zullen de handelingen waarnemen, maar herkennen ze mogelijk niet als kunst.

Voor het uitvoeren van de performances zoeken wij betrokken vrijwilligers. Ervaring niet vereist. Wel is belangrijk dat je je kunt vinden in de aard van het festival en dat samenwerking binnen een team je aanspreekt.
Stuur een mailtje met een korte motivering naar nieuwstraat@unnoticedart.com. We nemen dan snel contact met je op.

Deadline: zondag 25 april 2021, 23:59 uur (UTC+1).

Kijk hier voor een indruk van het programma: Alle werken van het 1e Nieuwstraat Festival (juni 2020)
(klik op deze link en dan op een kunstenaarsnaam):
https://unnoticedartfestival.com/the-nieuwstraat-festival/
Wil je meer weten over dit type festivals,
lees dan dit interview over het Unnoticed Art Festival in 2014:
https://unnoticedartfestival.com/interviewmetropolism/

Open Call: The 2nd Nieuwstraat Festival

The Nieuwstraat is an average street in the center of Dordrecht, the Netherlands.
The Nieuwstraat Festival took place in June 2020. During the day works of 20 international artists were executed by 16 volunteers.

Open Call:
The 2nd Nieuwstraat Festival will take place in May, 2021, between sunrise and sunset. The performances will again be performed by volunteers, unannounced and without explanation.The performances take place in everyday environments and hide the unusual within the usual. Passers-by will observe the actions, but may not recognise them as performance art.
Please describe your concept in a clear and accessible language, more or less as a manual. The performances will be carried out by (often unexperienced) volunteers. Don’t forget to mention the preferred time of the day (in relation to the opening and closing of shops, outdoor cafes, the fruit/vegetable-market).
We can only accept your submission if you include links to a website or page with some information about your practice.

Please send your submission to mail@unnoticedart.com.
Deadline: Monday, 1 February 2021, 23:59 (CET).

The Nieuwstraat Festival fits in a series of Unnoticed Art Festivals. It balances on the line between public and private. It shows artworks hiding in normality. The language, used to express the works, fits in the average social behaviour in public space and, because of that, remained unnoticed to bystanders.
Creating the concepts and executing the works are split. Artists send their concepts more or less as manuals. The chosen works  are carried out by a group of (both experienced and unexperienced) volunteers. These volunteers have a double roll. They are participants as well as audience. They are responsible for realising the performances in the best possible way and, doing that, they fully experience the works. In fact they become part of it.This way the audience is not excluded but it is actually embedded.

The Nieuwstraat festival is organised by
UnnoticedArt.com / TheConceptBank.org.

The Nieuwstraat Festival: The Works

The Nieuwstraat is an average street in the center of Dordrecht, the Netherlands.
The Nieuwstraat Festival took place on June 20, 2020, between sunrise and midnight. The performances were performed by volunteers, unannounced and without explanation.
The performances involved took place in everyday environments and hid the unusual within the usual. Passers-by will have observed the actions, but may not have recognized them as performance art.

Works by:
Annie Abrahams
Karina Beumer
Jessica van Deursen
Guillaume Dufour Morin
Ienke Kastelein
Jonathon Keats
Laura Hyunjhee Kim
Stefan Klein
Frans van Lent
Deirdre MacLeod
Javier Mansilla
Maria Martens Serrano
Andrew McNiven
Janet Meaney
Nico Parlevliet
Mikio Saito
Elia Torrecilla
Albert Van Der Weide
Kamila Wolszczak
Iris van Wijk

The Nieuwstraat Festival fits in a series of Unnoticed Art Festivals. It balances on the line between public and private. It shows artworks hiding in normality. The language, used to express the works, fits in the average social behaviour in public space and, because of that, remained unnoticed to bystanders.
Creating the concepts and executing the works are split. Artists send their concepts more or less as manuals. The chosen works  are carried out by a group of (both experienced and unexperienced) volunteers. These volunteers have a double roll. They are participants as well as audience. They are responsible for realising the performances in the best possible way and, doing that, they fully experience the works. In fact they become part of it.
This way the audience is not excluded but it is actually embedded.

The works in the Nieuwstraat Festival were performed by:
Safanja Bendeler, Stefanie van den Bos, Louwrens Botha, Malou van Doormaal, Kirsten Heshusius, Jolanda Jansen, Ienke Kastelein, Frans van Lent, Steef van Lent, Nico Parlevliet, Leonard Passchier, Jello Reumer, ieke Trinks, Emmy Vollaard, Kamila Wolszczak, Iris van Wijk.

Photos © the artists
Text corrections: Maria Martens Serrano

Er hebben zich voldoende vrijwilligers aangemeld!

Het Nieuwstraat Festival vindt plaats op een onaangekondigde dag van zonsopgang tot middernacht.

We zijn op zoek naar ± 15 vrijwilligers van verschillende leeftijden om de werken uit te voeren. Je hoeft geen ervaring of een artistieke achtergrond of beroep te hebben.
De performances vinden plaats zonder voorafgaande kennisgeving en worden uitgevoerd als normale dagelijkse bezigheden in de openbare ruimte. De performers zullen niet op zoek gaan naar speciale aandacht, zullen zich niet verhouden tot een anticiperend publiek, zullen geen spektakel creëren.

Als je denkt dat dit iets voor jou is, stuur dan voor 10 juni een paar regels over je persoonlijke motivatie naar mail@unnoticedart.com.
Een week voor het festival is er een voorbereidingsbijeenkomst voor vrijwilligers (met de nodige afstand) op een veld in een openbaar park in Dordrecht.
Bij die gelegenheid zullen we de concepten bespreken, de mogelijke manieren om de werken uit te voeren, de houding en de verwachtingen.

Stuur je mail voor woensdag 10 juni, 23:59 uur (CEST).
Begrijp alsjeblieft dat het festival geen budget heeft.

For English read further!

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Nieuwstraat Festival

 

The Nieuwstraat is an average street in the city center of Dordrecht, the Netherlands.
The festival will take place in this street on Saturday 20 June 2020, between sunrise and midnight. From the received submissions, a varied program will be compiled. The performances will be carried out by volunteers, unannounced and with no explanation.
Taking place in everyday settings, the performances involve hiding the unusual within the usual. Passersby may perceive these actions, but not recognize them as performance art.

The Open Call:
Please describe your concept in a clear and accessible language, more or less as a manual. The performances will be carried out by (often unexperienced) volunteers.
Don’t forget to mention the preferred time of the day (in relation to the opening and closing of shops, outdoor cafes, the fruit/vegetable-market).
We can only accept your submission if you include links to a website or page with some information about your practice.

Please send your submission to mail@unnoticedart.com.
Deadline: Monday, 1 June 2020, 23:59 (CET).

The Nieuwstraat festival is organised by
UnnoticedArt.com / TheConceptBank.org.