Community & Praxis


Community Portal—also known as BAK’s Civic Praxis program—is a steady stream of events, relationships, publications, and field work concerned with making publics. Its activities are distributed within and outside of the walls of the institution.
Design: Sean van Steenhoven
Design: Sean van Steenhoven
6 July 2024
The Lands Testimony

BAK Young Fellows cohort 2, 2024 invites you to experience The Lands Testimony—an exhibition where land is listened to and sprouting seeds are investigated.

Felipe Vivero, Old New Suns, inspired by
Felipe Vivero, Old New Suns, inspired by Octavia E. Butler, There is nothing new under the sun but there are new suns, image, 2024
3 July 2024
Utopia*Art*Politics Sessions

From 3–5 July 2024, the Urban Futures Studio and Community Portal at BAK convene 30 artist-researcher-practitioners to explore this question. Three moments of the event are open to the public and free for registration below.

Stills from They Shoot Horses by Phil Co
Stills from They Shoot Horses by Phil Collins, video, 2014
9 June 2024
DAY FOR PALESTINE

With and by artist Phil Collins, Tabaria Café, Print for Palestine, and b.ASIC a.CTIVIST k.ITCHEN. All proceeds go to fundraisers for Palestine: Palestine Humanitarian Response and Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP).

Bring your own fabric (t-shirt, bag, bandana, pillow case) to screen print on!

Design: Sean van Steenhoven. Still from
Design: Sean van Steenhoven. Still from Reluctantly Queer by Akosua Adoma Owusu, film, 2016
2 June 2024
Pride at BAK: Queer Film Program

During Utrecht Pride, BAK presents a queer film program as part of Wild 'n Sweet Festival at TivoliVredenburg on 1 June from 21 to 3 hrs. A second presentation takes place at BAK on 2 June from 12 to 18 hrs.

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30 May 2024
The Indonesian Dialogues

The Indonesian Dialogues (2024), an international co-production between There Will Be Film, Landholz Productions and ROXY Birsfelden by There Will Be Film, Landholz Productions and ROXY Birsfelden is a multidisciplinary performance featuring video installations, live painting, and music.

Marwa Arsanios, Usufructuaries of earth,
Marwa Arsanios, Usufructuaries of earth, installation view BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, 2024, photo: Tom Janssen
24 May 2024
Chapter three, convention

The convention in the context of the project Usufructuaries of earth is a two-day gathering that summons different practices of non-expropriative userships in relation to land, housing, social reproduction, agriculture, and knowledge.

Marwa Arsanios, Usufructuaries of earth,
Marwa Arsanios, Usufructuaries of earth, exhibition opening BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, 2024, photo: Tom Janssen
24 May 2024
Convention: public program

Chapter three of the project Usufructuaries of earth is a two-day convention that gathers artists, as well as other thinkers and social actors, to share and learn on usufruct as a way of undoing property.

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8 March 2024
Yallah Sabaya

Join us on 8 March 2024 at BAK, Yallah Sabaya is happening again! All women of different cultural backgrounds are welcome to dance, chat, and connect with others also through movement and celebration.

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22 October 2023
BAK at the Sint Maarten Parade 2023

For Sint Maarten Parade 2023, Tools for Action—a non-profit organization that develops artistic interventions for political actions—collaborates with Utrecht-based members of Filipino, Caribbean, and other communities to collectively dream a parade compartment.

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13 March 2023
European Forum for Advanced Practices

Interested practitioners and scholars from across disciplines are invited to join Zone Collective for a weekend of character development workshops devised within the "Zoning Play Complex", a diverse series of projects undertaken as part of the collective’s long-term research toward the development of "A Neighbourhood Zoning Play".

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1 February 2023
2.Dh5 Festival – Defeating Dystopia?

The fourteenth edition of the yearly 2.Dh5 festival has the theme “Defeating Dystopia?” The festival is focused on grass-roots campaigns, tactics and methods geared towards a society based on freedom and solidarity.

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28 October 2022
Yallah Sabaya 2022

Yallah Sabaya is an evening where dance and music connect women from different backgrounds. The purpose is to connect through movement, rather than verbal communication, in a safe and welcoming environment.

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13 October 2022
De Voorkamer: Perspectives

Perspectives is a program by De Voorkamer to foster inclusivity and acceptance by creating a safe space for people of all backgrounds to engage in dialogue, share opinions, and develop ideas around topical issues that affect everyone.

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4 July 2022
Symposium: No Linear Fucking Time (videos)

If you missed the closing symposium of the exhibition No Linear Fucking Time or want to rewatch your favorite panels – now you can! The first two videos have already been uploaded on YouTube.

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1 July 2022
Keep an Eye Photography Stipends

The award ceremony of the Keep an Eye Photography Stipends takes place on 1 July 2022, during the graduation festival Exposure. The same evening, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, hosts the opening of the graduation exhibition UPSCALING/DOWNSIZING.

Front: Skylab. Back: “Dagat kay Dagway
Front: Skylab. Back: “Dagat kay Dagway”
20 May 2022
As for Protocols—To Hold Things Together

To Hold Things Together is a two-day symposium focusing on modes of social and institutional nodality and protocols of encounter and solidarity in our hyper-local and hyper-dispersed existence.

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20 May 2022
Symposium: No Linear Fucking Time

BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht proudly presents Symposium: No Linear Fucking Time. Coinciding with the exhibition closing of No Linear Fucking Time, this two-day symposium, taking place on-site at BAK and online, gathers several methods of thinking and practice geared toward equitable and sustainable socio-temporal models.

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12 May 2022
Unite for City Rights!

Undocumented people face many challenges in accessing basic and human rights in European cities. Since 2019, a network of grassroots, migrant-led initiatives and organizations, and cultural institutions have collaborated to co-create a toolkit for inclusive cities.

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21 May 2021
The Postresearch Condition – Conference

The annual EARN Conference was held at BAK, basis voor actuele kunst in Utrecht from 26–30 January 2021.

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23 January 2021
Propositions #13

An online assembly and public forum aligning with the planned closing days of exhibition Tony Cokes: To Live as Equals (which has prematurely closed due to the Covid-19 lockdown measures in the Netherlands) and the ongoing “How to Assemble Now”.

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16 December 2020
Practicing Tactical Solidarities II

This locally-focused second edition of Practicing Tactical Solidarities: A Roundtable on Mutual Aid, Emergency, and Continuous Care features artists, organizers, and activists working in Utrecht, many of whom are current BAK Fellows.

Design: Tyneisha van Veltum
Design: Tyneisha van Veltum
3 December 2020
Manifesting Systemic Change

A collaborative open call by Stichting Nederland Wordt Beter, The Black Archives/New Urban Collective, Black Queer & Trans Resistance NL, Kick Out Zwarte Piet (KOZP) and BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, for artists and writers to manifest the Manifesting Systemic Change Through Creative Waves manifesto.

The BAK 2019/2020 Fellows dreaming of ti
The BAK 2019/2020 Fellows dreaming of time travel with the particle accelerator at the University Museum, Utrecht, 2019, photo: Whitney Stark
12 September 2020
Propositions #12

BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, proudly invites you to Propositions #12: Waves Breaking Walls, Futures in Movement, a culmination of the BAK 2019/2020 Fellowship Program in the form of a sonic science fiction transmission.

Jeanne van Heeswijk, Freehouse Radicaliz
Jeanne van Heeswijk, Freehouse Radicalizing the Local, 2008–2013, installation Trainings for the Not-Yet at BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, 2019–2020, photo: Tom Janssen
29 April 2020
Practicing Tactical Solidarities

Coordinated communitarian responses to this crisis have abounded, with individuals and groups around the world organizing virtually overnight to provide response and support to many suddenly without shelter, food, or protection, or facing new personal, health, and economic instabilities.

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7 March 2020
BAK, basis voor Yallah Sabaya march 2020

On Saturday 7 March 2020 BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht hosts a special International Women’s Day edition of Yallah Sabaya!

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20 December 2019
Yallah Sabaya December 2019

After the success of the first editions, Yallah Sabaya is back. Yallah Sabaya, meaning in Arabic ‘Come ladies! Enjoy yourselves!’, is a special evening just for women, an evening where dance and music connect women from around the world.

Unrestricted Sociality, dance party with
Unrestricted Sociality, dance party with performative intervention organized by Joy Mariama Smith, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, 5 October 2019, photo: BAK
5 October 2019
Unrestricted Sociality
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27 September 2019
Yallah Sabaya September 2019

Yallah Sabaya (“Come, ladies! Enjoy yourselves!” in Arabic) is a special evening just for women, an evening where dance and music connect women from around the world. All women, from every country or culture, are welcome to meet, chat, and dance.

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21 June 2019
Yallah Sabaya June 2019

Yallah Sabaya (“Come, ladies! Enjoy yourselves!” in Arabic) is a special evening just for women, an evening where dance and music connect women from around the world. All women, from every country or culture, are welcome to meet, chat, and dance.

Sander Breure & Witte van Hulzen, Seven
Sander Breure & Witte van Hulzen, Seven Addresses, 2019, installation exhibition The People Are the City by BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht at The Utrecht Archives, 2019, photo: Tom Janssen
18 April 2019
Special Viewing: Seven Addresses (2019)

BAK, basis voor actuele kunst organizes a special viewing of a new work Seven Addresses (2019) by artist duo Sander Breure & Witte van Hulzen, co-commissioned by BAK and Centraal Museum Utrecht and presented in the exhibition The People Are the City.

Forensic Architecture, The Killing of Na
Forensic Architecture, The Killing of Nadeem Nawara and Mohammed Abu Daher, 2014
4 January 2019
Forensic Justice: Talk by Maria Hlavajova
Design: Mevis & Van Deursen. The book co
Design: Mevis & Van Deursen. The book cover features a detail of the artwork by Július Koller, Question Mark Cultural Situation (U.F.O.), 1992, white latex on ready-made textile, collection mumok, Vienna, courtesy of Július Koller Society, Bratislava an
31 May 2017
Book Launch of Former West: Art and the Contemporary After 1989
27 April 2010
Artists Beyond
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29 January 2008
WomenSpeak!