Brackish is an ongoing artistic research that explores hosting as a form of art. It researches the history and experience of the Dutch land reclamation project through narrative dinners and food tastings. With Brackish we create a multisensory frame that brings this research to life. Through taste, smell, sound, text and props, the audience is invited to immerse themselves in the unfolding narratives which surround a natural and cultural phenomenon such as the Dutch waterscapes.
Brackish is a collaborative and interdisciplinary project formed by the artists and writers Lila Bullen-Smith (ZA), Megan Hadfield (UK), and Toni Brell (DE).
In the past year we have been invited to host events at KunstHub BinK, Zine Camp Rotterdam, for the launch of Daisyworld Magazine at San Serriffe and for the launch of Simulacrum Magazine at Zone2Source.
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Toni Brell is a visual artist working with scenography, performance and narrative as tools for relation-making. Hosting rather than presenting, Brell likes to create situations, in which an audience can react and relate to what they see. For this, Brell often uses landscapes as a stage or container where this exploration unfolds.
2021 |
MFA, Sandberg Instituut, Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam, NL |
2018 |
BA, Visual Communication, Weissensee Academy of Art, Berlin, DE |
2009 |
BA, Theatre and Media Studies, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, DE |
2023 |
Mondriaan Fonds, Artist Start Grant |
2022 |
Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunst, for the realisation of three events with Brackish, NL |
2022 |
TakeHeart research grant, funding for performance research, with Kati Masami Menze and Daria Nazarenko, DE |
2021 |
Project grant, Student Council, Gerrit Rietveld Academie and Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam, NL |
2020 |
Project grant, Student Council, Gerrit Rietveld Academie and Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam, NL |
2017 |
Project grant, Mart Stam Stipend, Berlin, DE |
2024 |
Upcoming: Platform, Artist in Residence, Vaasa, FI |
2023 |
Research Pavilion #5 at Saari Residency, with Angeliki Tzortzakaki, FI |
2023 |
Participant of In Pursuit of Otherwise Possibilities (IPOP), Queer Performance Pedagogy and Feedback Sessions at DAS graduate school, Amsterdam, NL |
2022 |
Ando Future Studios, Research Residency, with Kati Masami Menze and Daria Nazarenko, TAKEHEART Residency hosted by PACT Zollverein, DE |
2022 |
Østfold International Theatre, Norway, Artist in residence, with Scores for Gardens, NO |
2022 |
Worlds that World, Kunstfort bij Vijfhuizen, Mentorship programme, with Scores for Gardens, Vijfhuizen, NL |
2023 |
Garage Rotterdam, Lore / How close is too close, solo-performance, work in progress, Rotterdam, NL |
2023 |
Sipping Dunes, performance and Installation with Brackish, commissioned by Into The Great Wide Open, Vlieland, NL |
2023 |
A Mouthful of Whispers – installation and performance at Treehouse NDSM, with Brackish, Amsterdam, NL |
2023 |
Drifting Nocturnes, performance with Angeliki Tzortzakaki, at Augusta Gallery, HIAP, Helsinki, FI |
2023 |
Augusta Gallery, HIAP, Research Pavilion #5, group exhibition, commissioned by Uniarts Helsinki, Helsinki, FI |
2023 |
Zone2Source, A liquid performance tasting, curated by Simulacrum Magazine, with Brackish, Amsterdam, NL |
2022 |
Zine Fest Rotterdam, performance, with Brackish, NL |
2022 |
Affect Aliens & Revolutionary Despair, reading at Motto Berlin, curated by Lilly Markaki, DE |
2022 |
Brackish, KunstHub Bink, group exhibition and performance, with Megan Hadfield, Lila Bullen-Smith and Catalina Reyes, NL |
2022 |
Worlds that World, Kunstfort bij Vijfhuizen, performance with Scores for Gardens, NL |
2021 |
Roots and Wings, group exhibition, Het Hem, Zaandam, NL |
2021 |
The Plottery, installation and workshops, at Rietveld Pavilion, Amsterdam, NL |
2020 |
It’s dark, I lie awake again, performance, at The Grey Space in the Middle, Den Haag, NL |
2017 |
Declaring Reason, group exhibition, Museum Meermanno, Den Haag, NL |
2015 |
Bring out your death!, lecture performance at Verein der Gestaltung, Berlin, DE |
2023 |
Design Academy Eindhoven, Fundamentals Tutor, NL |
2023 |
Maschinenhaus Essen, Exercises for Ungrounding as part of “Showcase 2023”, workshop with Kati Masami Menze and Daria Nazarenko, Essen, DE |
2022 |
Fictions and Forecasts: Orbiting a collective body—Workshop with Scores for Gardens, Movement Lab, KABK, Den Haag, NL |
2022 |
Materialising Materials—Storytelling and writing workshop on materiality with Naomi Credé, Sandberg Instituut, NL |
2022 |
Tutor for digital design in the Visual Communication Department, Weissensee Academy of Art, Berlin, DE |
2021/2022 |
Tutor for experimental zine-making for the course Undisciplinary Learning, with District Berlin, Academy of Art Leipzig, Leipzig, DE |
2021 |
Ghosts in the family—Storytelling workshop—with Amy Suo Wu, Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam, NL |
2015 |
Think Twice Before You Think, Co-organiser of the discussion and prototyping workshop on the proposition of setting up a new design school. At Antiuniversity Now, with Sophie Dyer, London, UK |
2015 |
Inside Out School, workshop on critical education at the Glasgow School of Art, with Sophie Dyer, Thom Swann and Rosen Eveleigh, Glasgow, UK |