home

Amsterdam artist Su Tomesen focuses on the inexhaustible potential of everyday materials, ingenuity in public space and informal economies outside the over-regulated Western world. Her work consists of videos, installations, interventions and photographs, the development of which was supported by Mondriaan Fonds between 2017 and 2022, thanks to their Stipend for Established Artists. In 2023 she realised in Alkmaar the permanent work in public space Hoef van Eden. Currently she is working on the long-term sound and community project Bijlmersymfonie in Amsterdam Southeast, and Parade in Yogyakarta. Tomesen lives and works in Amsterdam and since 2011 part of the year in Yogyakarta. Read more in the Artist statement.

Since May 2024 I have a new studio on the ground floor of ZEEB, the Zeeburgerdijk Artists' Studios in Amsterdam, at Zeeburgerdijk 25, studio M1. Welcome!

Amsterdam newspaper Het Parool announced performance Bijlmersymfonie on July 7 with Een monument voor en door bewoners van de Bijlmer, an article by Frederike Berntsen, and national NPO Radio 1 Journaal sent their reporter Vincent van Rijn who realised Bijlmersymfonie vanaf balkons van flat Geldershoofd. Next to that housing association Rochdale published a series of interviews on their website Ons Verhaal. All in Dutch.

Plastic tapestry Color Bar (Belgrade, 2007) has been selected for the 3rd edition of Limburg Biënnale. The exhibition shows 500 works in two art spaces: Marres, Maastricht and Odapark, Venray. My installation - selected by curator and artist Anouk Kruithof - is exhibited at Marres, and for sale via mo-artgallery. Limburg Biënnale takes place from June 29 till August 25. On the final day a selection of artists tell about their works, I am one of them. Between 1 and 5 PM, welcome!

This year's edition of the CBK Zuidoost Zomersalon, with the theme Time, I'm again chairman of the professional jury, which consists of Merel Jansen, Raul Balai and myself. The exhibition opens on Saturday July 20 and lasts until Saturday August 31, with the announcement of the winners at 1 PM.

After creating Hoef van Eden in Alkmaar I am investigating the possibilities to realise an artwork in public space, on a square in Amsterdam East, in a participation trajectory with elementary school children.

The outcome of performance Bijlmersymfonie at Geldershoofd in July 2024, a new video installation, is part of BijlmAIR in Zuidoost 2024, a group show with the harvest of all residencies at CBK Zuidoost in Amsterdam Southeast in 2024. The show is on from December 2024 until February 2025. Next to CBK Amarte Fonds, Cultuurfonds, Stadsdeel Zuidoost, Stichting Niemeijer Fonds, Mondriaan Fonds and Rochdale support Bijlmersymfonie and the video installation Living Building (working title).

Open Studios at ZEEB, Zeeburgerdijk Artists' Studios, will come up in May 2025 during Amsterdam Art Week. On that occasion I also plan to realise Warung Makan, if we manage to get funding. Other artists include Irina Birger, Anika Schwarzlose, Esther Mugambi a.o. More information closer to the date.

Early 2023 I was able to work again with ambulant street vendors in Yogyakarta on Parade. It had been three years since my last visit. In Amsterdam during Covid I wrote a composition with the sounds of the vendors i.c.w. composer Sinta Wullur. Back in Yogya, assisted by a local producer and conductor, I found the vendors and rehearsed the composition. The Development Budget of Amsterdam Fund for the Arts made the project possible until now. We also prepared for Parade as an actual performance which is planned to take place in 2025. For this we need new funding.

Bijlmersymfonie (2024) is an experimental concert based on a music composition with existing songs submitted to me by residents of Geldershoofd, a high rise building in Amsterdam Southeast. The piece is performed by the residents themselves and can be heard from speakers at four balconies in the courtyard of the building. The concert will take place on Sunday July 7 at 3.30 PM. The work lasts 33 minutes and will be filmed. Bijlmersymfonie has partly been developed during the BijlmAIR residency of CBK Zuidoost. Next to CBK Amarte Fonds, Cultuurfonds, Stadsdeel Zuidoost, Stichting Niemeijer Fonds, Mondriaan Fonds and Rochdale are supporting the project.