lang

Kata Kovács and Tom O’Doherty

Minute/Year 2022 at Lely

January 1, 2022
Filed under: · · · ·

The seventh annual iteration of Minute/Year begins today. As in previous years, the change of the year also brings a change in location. In 2022, Minute/Year is installed at Lely, in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. Throughout 2022, from the beginning of January until the end of December, the work will record and layer one minute of audio, at 8:22pm—or, 20:22—each day.

Minute/Year at Lely, Amsterdam
Minute/Year at Lely, Amsterdam
Minute/Year at Lely, Amsterdam
Minute/Year at Lely, Amsterdam
Minute/Year at Lely, Amsterdam
Minute/Year at Lely, Amsterdam
Minute/Year at Lely, Amsterdam
Minute/Year at Lely, Amsterdam
Minute/Year at Lely, Amsterdam
Minute/Year at Lely, Amsterdam
previous arrowprevious arrow
next arrownext arrow
 

Lely is a building in western Amsterdam, designed by modernist architect Ben Ingwersen, and constructed between 1963 and 1969. It was initially a school (the Christelijke scholengemeenschap Pascal, later renamed Calvijn College), and then subsequently a temporary refugee accommodation centre.

Since 2016, the building has had the status of being an ‘incubator,’ branded as Broedplaats LELY (generally translated as LELY Incubator)—with living space, artists’ studio space, and mixed-use space combined in one structure. There is some disagreement as to what exact name to use to refer to the building (so much so that a book has been written on the subject), but the structure is almost universally referred to by its inhabitants simply as ‘Lely,’ and so we follow their example.

Minute/Year is installed in the main stairwell that runs up the northern side of the building. This is the first time that the work will be installed in a stairwell, and in what could be called a socially-transient space. It’s also the first time that the work will exist in a space which has official status as an architectural monument. We’re curious to see what this will mean for the sonic and visual index created by the work over the upcoming year.

Installing Minute/Year at Lely, December 2021
Installing Minute/Year at Lely, December 2021
External view of Lely, Amsterdam, showing stairwell
Installing Minute/Year at Lely, December 2021
Installing Minute/Year at Lely, December 2021
External view of Lely, Amsterdam, showing stairwell
previous arrowprevious arrow
next arrownext arrow
 

Throughout the coming year, we are planning for there to be occasional events—interventions, micro-concerts, open minutes, and more—organised around the work. As with last year, this will all be pandemic-dependent, of course, but more details about these events will hopefully be coming soon.

All events will be curated by Agnė Auželytė. Agnė is a Lithuanian dance-maker and interdisciplinary artist, currently studying at SNDO in Amsterdam, and currently living in Lely, and we’re very excited at the prospect of her shepherding the work through the year, and eager to see what might result.

The process of installing and testing Minute/Year for 2022 would not have been possible without the help of Stephen Doyle, Lisa Simpson, and Kris Slyka. Thank you all.


Minute/Year is a durational, process-based work, ongoing since January 1., 2016. The daily archive of traces created by the work is available online, and can be followed on Twitter, Vimeo, or Telegram. The recordings are also available as a weekly podcast (via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts). A full overview of the work is available here.