Living Building 
Three channel video installation, developed during residency at CBK Zuidoost Amsterdam
Netherlands / 2024 / three channel 4K video on HD / 10’10"

Living Building is part of the exhibition AIR in Zuidoost at CBK Zuidoost, a group show with all residents of the BijlmAIR residency in 2024. The show, curated by Renske de Jong, opened on December 12, 2024 and lasts until February 15, 2025.

Exhibition text:
Video installation Living Building is based on the experimental music performance Bijlmersymfonie. The performance took place on Sunday July 7, 2024 in the idyllic courtyard garden of the Geldershoofd honeycomb flat in Amsterdam Southeast. The 'symphony' was a final chord for the building which is to undergo an extensive renovation, as a result of which residents will move out. In Living Building, the performance was edited into a new mix, a medley of the songs provided.
Su Tomesen developed Bijlmersymfonie with residents of the flat. She got to know people at Geldershoofd, gained their trust, made every effort to involve them in her project, collected music that was close to the residents' hearts. She layered the suggested songs in an editing programme and experimented with them, until a composition sounded appealing to her taste. The ambition was to find magic in the mix.
During the performance at Geldershoofd, there were 4 speakers and 14 residents spread over four balconies. Together with conductor Hurvy Howard, the artist made sure that whoever's turn it was pressed ‘play’ at the right time. Every song, every part of the score was manually deployed. There was a 100-strong audience that got carried away, literally and figuratively, by music by Dutch, Surinamese, Antillean, Malian, Ghanaian, Afghan, Tajik, Iraqi, Polish, Palestinian-Chilean, English and American artists.

Su Tomesen: "With the work I staged a reality in the Bijlmer. On summer days, windows are open and music from different cultures blares between flats and people hang around on the street with a boombox."

Residents Geldershoofd: Shaima, Margret, Firouze, Renata, Mariusz, Benjamin, Julia, Lina, Bonsu, Roger, Humphrey, Chalala, Ramfis, Brit
Conductor: Hurvy Howard
Sound engineer on location: Ryan Weibolt
Camera: Isaac Owusu, Elvis Fresh, Naomi Rijkaard, Su Tomesen
Sound recording: Greg Macousi
Editing: Su Tomesen
Thank you: Renske de Jong, Rowan Torres Rey, Arzenio Sumter, Prospect 11, Empowercentrum, Neumine Marshall, Amsta, St. Hoop Voor Morgen, Lesley Adu, Lada Hršak, Hector Wijnbergen, Lard Buurman, Joke Ballintijn, Lucy Hooft, Myriam Vandenbroucke, Janneke Küpfer, Barbara Visser
Supported by: CBK Zuidoost, Amarte Fonds, Cultuurfonds, Stadsdeel Zuidoost, Stichting Niemeijer Fonds, Mondriaan Fonds and Rochdale