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Elian Somers

video , installatie , fotografie , Artistiek onderzoek , Archieven

Elian Somers lives and works in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
With a background in visual arts and architecture, Elian Somers investigates the urban and architectural landscape in relation to ideology and power, politics and law, and war and conflict. In recent years she has been working on projects as L’Ordonnateur (i.c.w. Hester van Gent, 2024-), A Mountain Afar (2023-2026), A Stone from the Moon (2015-2022), One and Another State of Yellow (2013-2017), Border Theories (2009-2013), California City (2010-2012) and Droom als er ooit een was (2006-2008). In these long-term, research-based projects she is in search of multiple realities and truths, hidden and underexposed histories, and the utopian experiment.
The works are presented as spatial photography or film installations and can be perceived as critical tools for understanding and figuring out the present and the future. Through the combination of photography/film, cartography and archival materials - from documented and accepted knowledge sources to their undocumented and underexposed counterparts - new perspectives on reality, truth and history are brought to light and generated.
The works have been shown at various art venues and festivals, a.o. Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam (SMBA), Amsterdam; Foam, Amsterdam; TENT, Rotterdam; Kunsthalle Wilhelmshaven (DE); MK Galerie, Berlin (DE); International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR); and Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam (AFFR). The works have also been regularly published as artist books, and in art, photography and architecture magazines. The book One and Another State of Yellow (Fw: Books) was published in 2017, and the book Border Theories (Fw: Books) in 2013.

Filmstill A Mountain Afar, detail (2023-2026)
Filmstill A Mountain Afar, detail (2023-2026) - The work A Mountain Afar investigates the autonomous theocratic monastic state of Mount Athos. Mount Athos is situated on a 45km-long peninsula of the same name in Greece. On Mount Athos, about 2000 Eastern Orthodox monks, the so-called Athonites, live in 20 monasteries and monastic villages, cut off from the rest of the world. Given the peninsula’s location within EU territory, and the presence of monasteries from several countries, including Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia and Russia, the peninsula has proved to be a geopolitical field of influence over the years. Mount Athos was founded during the Byzantine Empire and has been a theocracy for 1000 years with its own regulations and laws. The most notable law is the Avaton, which prohibits women from entering Athos. A Mountain Afar is a three-channel filmic and musical work about Mount Athos’ monastic ideal in relation to politics, power and gender. Photography, taken from a ship following the border line at sea, reflects the impossibility to enter Athos for persons other than men. Myth and legend reveal Mount Athos’ Roman and Byzantine origins, its patriarchal values and theocratic system of power. As a counter voice, the hymn O Vasilevs tis doxis Christos sheds light on the hidden and forgotten musical oeuvre of the Byzantine nun, feminist and earliest known female composer Kassia.
A Stone from the Moon (2015-2022) - The project A Stone from the Moon (2015-2022) investigates historical, contemporary and future geopolitical power struggles and ideologies, and the role of architecture and urban planning in this context. A Stone from the Moon consists of two works, video installations based on photography, cartography and archival imagery: Ecumenopolis and Capital City.
Filmstill A Stone from the Moon – Ecumenopolis (2015-2022) - The work Ecumenopolis departs from the so-called Cultural Cold War, in which East and West tried to extend their spheres of influence by means of art and culture. In 1967 it was revealed that many western Cultural Cold War activities were funded by the CIA. A similar Cultural Cold War battle took place in the field of architecture, in which East and West tried to extend their spheres of influence by means of export-urbanism. Within this framework, in America, modernist architecture and urban planning - as a counterpart of Soviet social realism - were considered to be a powerful instrument in Cold War poli¬tics, to fight the War on Communism and to spread the American values of freedom and democracy. An important figure in this context was the Greek architect and urban planner Constantinos Doxiadis (1913-1975). Doxiadis planned and built many cities throughout the world, a.o. Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan. Besides playing an important role within the American export-urbanism, Doxiadis worked on his own mission. This so-called ekistic mission was based on his scientific theory ekistics, the science of human settlements, and was eventually to evolve into a blueprint for Ecumenopolis, a world-encompassing city of the future (2150). In the late 1950s, for his ekistic mission, Doxiadis set up an interdisciplinary and scientific field and network, in which the so-called Delos Symposia played an important role. In the summers of 1963 to 1975, twelve Delos Symposia took place, during which Doxiadis and an interdisciplinary network of inspirational fellows, the so-called Delians, sailed the Aegean Sea, and circled the island of Delos and its ancient Greek city. In order to envision the urban future, the Delians were to travel back in time. The work Ecumenopolis (a video installation based on photographic and archival imagery) connects the archaeological setting of the island and the ancient Greek city of Delos with the fictional city of the future Ecumenopolis. As the story unfolds, two different perspectives are interweaved on Doxiadis and his Delians, drawing both on official archives celebrating his architecture as a practice beyond politics, and on alternative sources that trace a more complex context - the context of the Cultural Cold War, an ideological and geopolitical power struggle. The video installation Ecumenopolis was shown at the duo exhibition The Streets Are our Brushes, the Squares our Palettes at Pennings Foundation, Eindhoven, and at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, IFFR 2024.
Filmstill A Stone from the Moon – Capital City (2015-2022) - The work Capital City investigates the evolution of Eurasia as a geographical, political and cultural concept, as well as a city of the future, Capital City, in the heart of Eurasia. The work zooms in on Nursultan Nazarbayev, president of post-communist Kazakhstan between 1991-2019, who cast himself as a Eurasianist visionary and architect. The new capital city he erected from scratch in the Kazakh steppe was not just a nationalist project, but was also envisioned as the Heart of Eurasia, making this idea manifest as a concrete reality as well as a utopian project with much wider ramifications. In the work Capital City, a voice-over narrative connects Nazarbajev’s Eurasian mission with earlier ideas explored by the Eurasianist movement just after the Russian Revolution as well as the Eurasian ideologies that are deeply entwined with the Kremlin today. The cyclical narrative underscores how, over the past hundred years, the idea of Eurasia continues to be resurrected, while the underlying visions and geopolitical implications also reveal significant shifts. The video installation Capital City was shown at the duo exhibition The Streets Are our Brushes, the Squares our Palettes at Pennings Foundation, Eindhoven, and at the Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam, AFFR 2025, at Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam.
One and Another State of Yellow (2017) - The artist book One and Another State of Yellow by Elian Somers studies the interplay between urban planning, ideologies and psychological warfare around two landscapes of ‘war’ in the United States of America: El Paso on the United States-Mexico border and Washington DC, its capital city. Both the landscapes of El Paso and Washington DC are in the grasp of all kind of plans, systems and thought experiments which give various perspectives on reality – both from the field of architecture and urban planning, as from the field of strategic planning. Published by Fw:Books / Design by Hans Gremmen / Texts by Elian Somers, Francien van Westrenen / Edition of 300 / 24×33,5 cm / ISBN 978-94-90119-50-8
A Little World of Peace (2016) - The work A Little World of Peace was commissioned by TENT, Rotterdam. A Little World of Peace is about the city of Rotterdam and its utopian imagination. Rotterdam can be seen as a large construction site and ongoing urban planning machine. Within this framework, one of Rotterdam’s last paradise-like spots, the island Eiland van Brienenoord, has been subjected to all kinds of utopian plans over the years. A Little World of Peace investigates the imagination and realisation of the real estate utopia on and around Eiland van Brienenoord. On the one side of the island the real estate fraud project Solaris becomes visible, on the other side the real estate dream Little Manhattan rises on the horizon. The title of the work refers to a utopian plan for a Disney-like amusement park on the island, A Little World of Peace. This plan for Rotterdam anno 1985, published in 1973 in the newspaper Het Vrije Volk, can also be interpreted entirely different; as manifestation of a real estate utopia. A Little World of Peace was shown at the exhibition Utopian Dreams in TENT, Rotterdam.
Border Theories (2009-2013) - The project Border Theories investigates the Socialist Utopia and the writing and rewriting of history in the (urban) landscape by means of architecture. The work reflects on the historiography and construction of identity in three Soviet urban experiments on the remotest border zones of the former Soviet Union: Birobidzhan, Kaliningrad and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. The experiments originated within the context of enclaves, closed areas, border conflicts and wars, forced depopulation and repopulation. All three experiments have histories that are open to multiple interpretations; the Jewish, Prussian and Japanese history respectively as well as the (virtual) Soviet historical narrative. The work queries the way in which urban planning and architecture are employed as political instruments to write, rewrite and manipulate history in the (urban) landscape. The investigation of three urban experiments in the outer border zones of the former Soviet Union raises many questions. Every question generates new questions. What is reality? What is truth? What happened - and happens - in the wetlands of Birobidzhan, the taiga around Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and the urban landscape of Kaliningrad? The wetlands aren't just the wetlands, the taiga isn't just the taiga. Soviet Kaliningrad was founded in 1945 on top of the ruins of the Prussian city of Köningsberg. Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk was established on the layout of the Japanese city of Toyohara in 1945. Soviet Birobidzhan was founded on formerly Chinese lands, that were designated by Stalin in the 1930's to become a Soviet Jewish Utopia. In the late 1940's Stalin began his war against the Jews, and Birobidzhan was Russified in the process. The installation and publication Border Theories consist of photography, archival materials and fragments from newspaper articles. The texts provide intermingled perspectives on these border landscapes, their architecture, ungraspable identities and layered histories that are open to multiple interpretations. In 2013 the exhibition Border Theories was shown at Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam, besides this the book Border Theories was launched.
Border Theories (2013) - The artist book Border Theories is the result of the artistic investigation Elian Somers undertook into the interplay of ideology, history and urban planning in three cities on the extreme boundaries of Russia. Photographs and texts cast light on the shadowy zone between plan and reality in Birobidzhan, Kaliningrad and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, and the way in which urban planning is employed as a political instrument to write – and rewrite – history in the landscape. Published by Fw:Books / Design by Hans Gremmen / Texts by Elian Somers, Kerstin Winking and Hester van Gent / Edition of 500 / 24x34 cm / ISBN 978-94-90119-19-5
California City (2010-2012) - The work California City can be seen as the starting point of a larger research on the neoliberal utopia and the urban neoliberal experiment. Photography and text unfold intermingling perspectives on a sociologist’s ideological dream on community theory versus the same sociologist’s intentional construction of a real estate bubble. Next to this a compiled cartographic GIS work casts light on a parallel reality stressing California City’s contemporary landownership. On the one hand the map shows an empty desolate community, on the other hand a flourishing landscape of tax income. In the early 1950’s, Mendelsohn, a Czech born sociologist, envisioned a plan to develop a catchment area for the human overflow from Los Angeles and San Francisco. He bought 330 km2 of land in order to experiment with community planning and development theories. Construction of his dream began, with laying out a massive grid with 52,000 plots, highways, cul-de-sacs, street signs and power- and waterlines. A Central Park, a lake, a golf course were constructed and model housing was erected. California City, situated in the Mojave Desert, was incorporated in 1965 and eventually became the 3rd largest city in California in area and the 34th largest in the entire USA. Today, amidst Edwards Air Force Base, two car testing centers, a Space Shuttle airstrip, an open pit mine and a high security prison, Mendelsohn’s city reflects the American Dream as a failure as well as a new pioneers Utopia.
One of a Set of Parallel Lines (2012) - The work One of a Set of Parellel Lines reflects on the utopian models of war that have been developed for the harbour cities of Rotterdam and Wilhelmshaven (DE) since their early years. The work investigates the thinking underlying these models, as well as how concepts of defense and war strategy have been the starting point for urban development throughout the years. Emporer Wilhelm founded Wilhelmshaven in the 19th century as Germany’s future Kriegshafen. In the 1930’s Wilhelmshaven was incorporated in the fortification strategy of the Third Reich. In 1946, the British Allies planned to sink the entire city of Wilhelmshaven, the so-called Flood plan. It became the city’s turning point in history. One of a Set of Parallel Lines was commissioned by Kunsthalle Wilhelmshaven and shown at the exhibition Learning from… Rotterdam at the Kunsthalle Wilhelmshaven in 2012.
Droom als er ooit een was (2006-2008) - The work Droom als er ooit een was / A dream if there ever was one refers to the book L'An 2440, rêve s'il en fut jamais (Louis Sébastien Mercier, 1771). The work questions the post-war utopian, modernist cityscape, which has been (apparently) universally planned all over the world. The starting point in the work is The Netherlands, where, in the early 2000s, the post-war modernist cityscape was being rapidly demolished and scapegoated for the social malfunctioning of these areas. This demolition does not just mean a disappearance of the architectural environment, but also the ways of thinking that underpinned it.

The Legacy of the New Topographics and Landscape Photography Today

Datum:
Locatie: Pennings Foundation

Presentation at mini symposium The Legacy of the New Topographics and Landscape Photography Today, at Pennings Foundation, Eindhoven, organised by Hans Bol and Frits Gierstberg, with contributions by Hans Bol, Tanja Engelberts, Ruben Hamelink, Roderik Henderson, Elian Somers and Philippe Vandenbroeck

Rotterdam in Focus. The City in Photographs 1843 – Now

Datum:
Locatie: Nederlands Fotomuseum

Exhibition Rotterdam in Focus. The City in Photographs 1843 – Now at Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam

https://www.nederlandsfotomuseum.nl

Foundation Stone/Grondsteen

Datum:
Locatie: Pictura

Exhibition Foundation Stone/Grondsteen at Pictura, Huis voor Hedendaagse Kunst, Dordrecht, with works by Mariëlle van den Bergh, Willem Besselink, Daria Khozhai, Ine Lamers, Thomas Meijerman and Elian Somers

Realitiesⁿ - Shifting Dimensions of the Built World

Datum:
Locatie: Nieuwe Instituut
In samenwerking met: Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam, Nieuwe Instituut

Installation Capital City (A Stone from the Moon, 2015-2022), Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam 2025, at the exhibition Realitiesⁿ - Shifting Dimensions of the Built World, Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam. With works by Ugo Arsac, Arif Khan, Pedro Gil Farias & Hugo Pilate, Thierry Loa, Rory Mitchell, Hannah Kersten and Elian Somers

https://www.nieuweinstituut.nl

Resonances from the Void

Datum:
Locatie: De Doelen Art/CBK Rotterdam

Exhibition Resonances from the Void at De Doelen Art, Rotterdam

Ecumenopolis

Datum:
Locatie: Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin 2024 (video library)
https://www.art-action.org

Constructions of History

Datum:
Locatie: West Den Haag
In samenwerking met: West Den Haag, TU Delft

Lecture Constructions of History at Art and Architecture Festival Cherish and Destroy, West Den Haag, Den Haag, with contributions by Eric Bolle, Tomas Dirrix, Gijs Frieling, Erik Hehenkamp, Jelle Hettema, Maarten van Kesteren, Moriko Kira, John Körmeling, Susanna Lindberg, Michiel van Loon, Lidy Meijers, Phoebus Panigyrakis, Jan van der Ploeg, Chris Smith, Elian Somers, Marcel Teunissen, Jacob Voorthuis, Chris de Vries, Anne Wellmer, Wouter Willers

https://www.westdenhaag.nl

Ecumenopolis

Datum:
Locatie: International Film Festival Rotterdam 2024

Installation Ecumenopolis, International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), 2024

https://iffr.com/

The Streets Are our Brushes, the Squares our Palettes

Datum:
Locatie: Pennings Foundation

Discussion event / salon at the exhibition The Streets are Our Brushes, the Squares our Palettes by Ine Lamers and Elian Somers. With contributions by the artists Marjolijn Boterenbrood, Ine Lamers and Elian Somers, and curator, researcher and writer Masha Domracheva

https://www.penningsfoundation.com

The Streets Are our Brushes, the Squares our Palettes

Datum:
Locatie: Pennings Foundation

Duo exhibition The Streets Are our Brushes, the Squares our Palettes, by Ine Lamers and Elian Somers at Pennings Foundation, Eindhoven (NL)

https://www.penningsfoundation.com

Lucy Art Residency Talks Program

Datum:
Locatie: Lucy Art Residency

Discussion event and presentation at Lucy Art Residency Talks Program in Kavala (GR). With contributions by Assaf Hinden, Milo Keller, Marten Lange, Stephanie Moshammer, Elian Somers and Grzegorz Stefanski

https://lucyartresidency.com

The Other Landscape

Datum:
Locatie: ZAP/Stadkamer

Lecture The Other Landscape at Stichting ZAP (Zwols Architectuur Podium), Zwolle (NL)

https://stichtingzap.nl

World of Noon #3 - On Urbanism and the Cultural Cold War

Datum:
Locatie: Berlinische Galerie

Lecture performance and organisation (together with Air Berlin Alexanderplatz, ABA) of the program World of Noon #3 - On Urbanism and the Cultural Cold War, at the Berlinische Galerie, Berlin. With contributions by the artist and filmmaker Lene Berg, ZK/U (Center for Art and Urbanistics) - Olesia Vitiuk, Elian Somers and Carola Hein, professor and head of the History of Architecture and Urban Planning Chair at Delft University of Technology

https://airberlinalexanderplatz.de

One and Another State of Yellow

Datum:
Locatie: Unseen
In samenwerking met: Fw:Books

Presentation of the new book One and Another State of Yellow at Unseen Book Market, Amsterdam. Published by Fw:Books / Design by Hans Gremmen / Texts by Elian Somers, Francien van Westrenen / Edition of 300 / 24×33,5 cm

https://fw-books.nl/

The Guide, the Author and the Scientist

Datum:
Locatie: Het Wilde Weten

Discussion event / salon The Guide, the Author and the Scientist, Disclosed #8, Het Wilde Weten, Rotterdam. With multi media installation by Ine Lamers, lecture performance Was it a Meteorite? by Elian Somers and lecture by guest speaker Raymond van den Boogaard

https://www.hetwildeweten.nl

(In)constancy of Space

Datum:
Locatie: Arti et Amicitiae

Exhibition (In)constancy of Space, with works by Anke Van den Berg, Robbie Cornelissen, Tanja Deman, Darko Fritz, Antonio Grgić, Igor Grubić, Zachary Formwalt, Željko Kipke, Zlatko Kopljar, Margareta Lekić, Ferenc Molnar, Zoltan Novak, Neli Ružić, Sara Rajaei, Sandro Setola, Rik Smits, Elian Somers, Marjan Teeuwen, Rob Voerman, Danijel Žeželj, and curated by Neva Lukić and Vanja Babić

Rotterdam and the River

Datum:
Locatie: TENT

Discussion event Rotterdam and the River, TENT, Rotterdam. With contributions by a.o. John Körmerling, Elian Somers, Reyn van der Lugt, Christine de Baan, Riek Bakker and De Urbanisten

https://www.tentrotterdam.nl

Utopian Dreams

Datum:
Locatie: TENT

Exhibition Utopian Dreams at TENT, Rotterdam, with works by Wim Gijzen, John Körmeling, Claes Oldenburg, Rem Koolhaas-OMA, Utopia, Atelier Van Lieshout; Elfie Tromp, Elian Somers, Richard Hutten, Han Hoogerbrugge, Cookies. The exhibition is curated by Reyn van der Lugt in collaboration with Mariette Dölle and Marjolein van de Ven

https://www.tentrotterdam.nl

One and Another State of Yellow - From the Monument

Datum:
Locatie: Open! Platform for Art, Culture and the Public Domain

Presentation of the work One and Another State of Yellow - From the Monument at Open! Platform for Art, Culture and the Public Domain, as part of the project Culture of Control, a collaborative project of Open! and Stroom, Den Haag

https://www.onlineopen.org/

Air Berlin Alexanderplatz

Datum:
Locatie: ABA

Working period at Air Berlin Alexanderplatz (ABA), Berlin. ABA is a residency program based in the centre of Berlin. ABA hosts international artists, designers, curators, architects and critical writers. Residents work on specific projects related to the city of Berlin with a focus on research-based practice

https://airberlinalexanderplatz.de

Border Theories

Datum:
Locatie: Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam
In samenwerking met: Fw:Books

Presentation of the new book Border Theories at Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam.
Published by Fw:Books / Design by Hans Gremmen / Texts by Elian Somers, Kerstin Winking and Hester van Gent / Edition of 500 / 24x34 cm

https://fw-books.nl/

Border Theories

Datum:
Locatie: Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam

Solo exhibition Border Theories at Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam

https://www.smba.nl

Between de Map and the Territory

Datum:
Locatie: TENT

Exhibition Between de Map and the Territory, with works by Bik van der Pol, Karin Hueber, Maaike Gouwenberg and Joris Lindhout, Anna Okrasko, Elian Somers, Emily Whitebraed, curated by Mariette Dölle

https://www.tentrotterdam.nl

Learning from... Rotterdam

Datum:
Locatie: Kunsthalle Wilhelmshaven

Exhibition Learning from... Rotterdam, with works by Elian Somers, Kim Bouvy, Oliver Godow and Jost Wischnewski, curated by Viola Weigel

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