Niet Normaal INT (NNI) is a Dutch foundation that creates large exhibitions on the topics of art and technology, founded by curator and activist Ine Gevers.
Exhibition Niet Normaal (2009-2010) Niet Normaal INT was launched in 2010 with the exhibition Niet Normaal, Difference on Display in Beurs van Berlage, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The show featured works by over 80 artists, including Donald Rodney, Marlene Dumas, Marc Quinn and Viktor & Rolf a.o. The exhibition was opened by then princess Queen Maxima of the Netherlands on 15 December 2009, the exhibition and ran for three months.
The show aimed at uncovering normalization strategies in Western society. It advocated an inclusive, pluralistic society and offered the floor to a large diversity of artists. The liberating character of the show was praised by various critics from The Netherlands and abroad.
Niet Normaal, Difference on Display traveled to Berlin and Liverpool in 2012. It was part of the Olympic Games Cultural Program in the summer of 2012.
Controversy
The communication campaign for the show, by ad agency KesselsKramer, included a poster that was banned by the Dutch Railways. The image on the poster was the sculpture Stuart Penn by British artist Marc Quinn. The sculpture is a cast of British stuntman Penn, who is missing his left arm and right leg. The Dutch Railways deemed the poster offensive, and refused to hang it in the stations for fear that travellers would complain.
Exhibition Yes, Naturally (2013) The second art exhibition organized by Niet Normaal INT was titled Ja, Natuurlijk (‘Yes, Naturally’). Opened on 15 March 2013 on the premises of Gemeentemuseum The Hague, the Netherlands, the exhibition again featured over 80 artists, and lasted for six months. Participating artists included Olafur Eliasson, Peter Fend, Fischli & Weiss, Natalie Jeremijenko, Marjetica Potrc, Tinkebell and Ai Weiwei.
The preservation of the earth was the theme of the manifestation. It showed how innovations can cooperate with humans and nature to save our planet in the context of the climate crisis. The show presented partnerships between humans, nature and technology. Visitors could design their own pet, open a bee savings account, create new coral reefs and taste ant eggs as well as grilled seagulls.
Exhibition Hacking Habitat (2016) The following exhibition was Hacking Habitat. Art of Control, which ran from 26 February – 5 June 2016. The name of the exhibition refers to the concept of life hacking. The exhibition was set up in the former Wolvenplein prison in Utrecht, The Netherlands, that until 2014 held delinquents. The show gave an artistic interpretation of how, as humans, we are controlled by high-tech systems, and how to restore our relationship with machines.
Dutch artist Melanie Bonajo made a video for the exhibition titled Progress vs Regress. It depicts elderly people taking a selfie for the first time in their lives. Spanish artist Fernando Sánchez Castillo bought the last thing left of Franco's dictatorship: his pleasure yacht Azor. He pressed the ship into 40 pieces of scrap: Guernica Syndrome (2014).
In the former prison's gymnasium ran William Kentridge's The Refusal of Time, a 5-channel video installation with kinetic sculpture exploring time in its various manifestations, through various media, including dance, film, music and spoken word.
Exhibition Robot Love (2018) Robot Love took place during Dutch Design Week 2018, in the former Campina milk factory in Eindhoven, The Netherlands from September until December 2018.
The show explored the relationship between humans and robots through a series of interactive art, design and engineering installations. The starting point of the exhibition was the question: what if we approach robotization from the perspective of love and empathy?
Works included Annelies, Looking For Completion – a crying, human-like robot by art duo L.A. Raeven, an AI-robot in the form of a pink kitten that narrated a possible future history of the world created by Pinar Yoldas; and HellYeahWeFuckDie by artist Hito Steyerl – after the most popular words in American pop songs – with video footage of high-tech companies testing out robots that fall and stumble.