2022 TABLEDRESS AMSTERDAM                                                  Coronation of an Orphan girl



With Tabledress Amsterdam (2021), ‘The Coronation of an Orphan Girl‘,  Painted Series participated in the exhibition ‘Artists and the Golden Coach’ at the Amsterdam Museum.

Artists from different generations with various cultural backgrounds were commissioned to create artworks in which they reflect on the rituals that encompass the royal coach, the materiality and craftsmanship of the vehicle, and the colonial past and its impact on the present. Participating artists are: AiRich, Arahmaiani, Berend Strik, Bernard Akoi-Jackson, Brian Elstak, Danielle Hoogendoorn, Erwin Olaf, Iswanto Hartono, Naomie Pieter, Nelson Carrilho, Painted Series, Raul Balai, Sarah van Sonsbeeck, Serana Angelista, Sharelly Emanuelson and Sithabile Mlotshwa

Tabledress Amsterdam is inspirited by the orphan girls that used to live in the Burgerweeshuis, now the Amsterdam Museum. It is an ode to them and to the many anonymous hands that embroidered the cushions for the Golden Coach at the time. The orphan girl of 1898 steps out of the shadows and is crowned by hands of today, each of them leaving their own handwriting on the Tabledress Amsterdam.

A Tabledress by Painted Series, in collaboration with an inviting ‘house’, is a large tablecloth continuing into the bodice of a dress. This bodice is based on traditional, site specific dress, translated into the now. The robe will, as a new white canvas, be embroidered by local people in several gatherings on site; a lively dialogue of hands occurring through the embroidery. The people at the table connect and learn from each other. Crafts techniques are passed on and applied in a contemporary way.

The Tabledress was revealed and presented in a performative Table Speech Amsterdam, featuring the outcome of the workshops.