In 2024, (A)WAKE foundation took the opportunity to rent the former car repair garage Karatay (15 min walk from Rotterdam central station) to use as a cultural space for a temporary time, until the urban plans of the neighbourhood change its course. Artists Salim Bayri and Ghita Skali were invited to take care of its concept and the exhibition program. The car repair garage became moezeum, a cultural space and café for gatherings, exhibitions, and experimentation.
‘moe’ in Dutch means tired.
A space tired/moe of social injustices, a raging conservatism, xenophobia and the ever growing genocides.
moezeum is a space that tries to oppose extractivism and overproduction to offer a zone of rest.
moezeum is an attempt to briefly own the gaze, concerns, desires and joys specific to people from the Global South and two way citizens in the Dutch context.
Our broad interest is in the trinity of politics, humour and power. How do they pull each other, and how do they overlap? We select artworks and artists based on our intuition, biases, serendipity, friendships and people we admire around us to explore these three.
Inside the space, you can read on the wall Mladen Stilinovic’s text ‘The Praise Of Laziness’ from 1993. Shortly after the collapse of Yugoslavia, it is an ode to laziness, not as mere inactivity, but as a form of resistance to capitalist notions of productivity. Although this text is from 1993 and brings the well-known binary of West and East, the words of Stilinovic are there to remind us how to actively invest laziness as a potential solution.
In 2024, between the fantasies around our lands and people, the hamster wheel of the West, and being tired of the injustices we witness and live, we want to create space to be a bit less ‘moe’ and a little more actively lazy.
Team
Production: Dana Claasen, Reda Senhaji and Hamity Bahtat
Sounding board: Hilda Moucharrafieh and Shirin Mirachor
Graphic design: Studio Mooni
Website: designed by moezeum team, developed by Tayeb Bayri
Assistance: Guus Voorham and Khalil Ryahi
Glue of moezeum: Ghita Skali and Salim Bayri (sticky but useful)
Trainees: Carla Menas and Lisa Ünsever
Initiated by (A)WAKE
Rental
For rental inquiries contact hello@awake.world
