Together with De Balie and Distant.Gallery, we explore the possibilities of an alternative cultural landscape. One not dominated by Big Tech or commercial interests. With: Constant Dullaart, Kunsten ’92, Sepp Eckenhaussen, Joke de Wolf, Untitled Tblisi, Archive of Silence, and Andariya
Step into exhibitions in Taipei, Košice or Tilburg. With Distant.Gallery, artist Constant Dullaart has developed an online platform where artists from around the world can showcase their work – especially when they find no connection to the dominant (Western) art infrastructure of fairs and museums. It also serves as an alternative to Big Tech, a place where people can come together without having their data sold and being played off against each other through likes and algorithms.
This evening curators, journalists and artists from Georgia, Sudan, Germany and the United States share their experiences through the online platform Distant.Gallery. What can the Dutch art world take along from their case-studies? What are the needed conditions to preserve and sustain art practices when both the physical and digital realms are co-opted, collapsed or rendered hyperreal?
Following these international perspectives, we turn to voices from Dutch arts funding organisations to reflect on the Netherlands’ cultural infrastructure within a global context. We ask whether private funding becomes necessary when the state, conflict, or media threaten artistic or academic freedoms.
About Distant.Gallery
Distant.Gallery is a (non-profit) foundation and online platform where people can come together informally, and meet online. It is constructed in such a way that it respects users’ data, does not store or resell it, and does not play visitors off against each other through likes and algorithms. This capacity for social connection, an alternative to “Big Tech” built for a cultural landscape, is the platform’s strength.
We engage with a variety of communities involved in digital and networked art, with an emphasis on bringing groups together that would not necessarily be able to find each other, nor interact in the Western-dominated art world. Building professional and creative relationships cannot be reserved exclusively for those privileged enough to fly from art fair to biennial, have a nanny, or happen to be born in a particular place. distant.gallery provides online spaces for artists, in an equal non-commercial context where independence and online privacy is guaranteed.
Tickets
Order your ticket on the website of De Balie: https://debalie.nl/programma/artistic-resistance-in-the-age-of-big-tech-09-11-2025