Opening talk: Going Back? October 24 at 19:00 An open talk between Rune Peitersen and Miriam Boolsen about leaving the home country and whether one can ever return. Rune and Miriam met when they both lived in Amsterdam. Miriam has since moved back (home) to Copenhagen – a move that Rune is curious about, but also dreads. Their talk will take outset in the themes of the film and expand into what it means to be abroad and how it is to return. How do you deal with the expectations, fears, different (art) worlds, language, networks, family, friends etc.?

The talk will be Danish and/or English spoken, depending on the audience. The Old Town is a single channel video, stereo, 27 min.

A chance visit to Den Gamle By in 2014 with his daughter leads the artist to reflect on growing older and on how to say goodbye to the world handed down to you from your parents and grandparents. Part documentary, part personal storytelling, the return to this once familiar place sets off a series of visits that leads to questions of representation, authenticity, remembering, change, what we choose to hold on to, and the difficulty of letting go of what we know.

The Old Town was filmed on site at Den Gamle By, the world’s first open air township museum, located in Aarhus, Denmark. Built on the former common fields just outside of Aarhus, the museum is used as a framework for a reflection on the difficulty of letting go of the stories that define us and the worlds we inhabit. The story traces Peitersen’s maternal family’s relation to the area and the museum from the late 1800s into the future. The video features an original score by Marijn Ottenhof.

Supported by The Centre of Expertise Wellbeing Economy and New Entrepreneurship, Economy in Common Rune Peitersen, born in Denmark in 1971, lives and works in Amsterdam (NL) and Brussels (BE). In 1999 he received his BA from the Royal Academy in The Hague and in 2001 his MA from the Frank Mohr Institute in Groningen. Next to his artistic practice, Peitersen teaches at the St. Joost Art Academy, regularly lectures on his work and is a cofounder of several artists’ initiatives among which the think-tank Platform Beeldende Kunst (Platform for Visual Arts). Since 2022 he is a researcher at the Centre of Expertise: Wellbeing Economy and New Entrepreneurship, Economy in Common, at Avans University of Applied Sciences (NL).

Miriam Boolsen er dramatiker, uddannet fra Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten. Hun skriver på dansk, hollandsk og engelsk. Hendes tekster er blevet opført i Danmark, Sverige, Holland, Belgien, Østrig, Australien og Canada.