Moving Backwards to Go Forwards
Ilke Gers
Performance
2023
This action, titled Moving Backwards to Go Forwards, took place on Sunday, December 10, prior to the match between Oemoemenoe and Feanster. During this one-time action, Gers drew a specific line in chalk on the rugby field. This line was inspired by the rules of rugby, where the ball may only be passed backward, and never forward.

Photo: Anda van Riet

Photo: Anda van Riet

Photo: Anda van Riet

Photo: Anda van Riet

Photo: Anda van Riet

Photo: Anda van Riet

Photo: Anda van Riet
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Commissioned for
Persons
Ilke GersSeries
For Vleeshal’s site-specific series Oemoemenoe [An expression from Zeeland for “how should we proceed now?”], artists are invited to develop a project in collaboration with local associations and businesses in Zeeland, such as a sports club, an airport, or a farm. Contemporary art is connected to various special places in Zeeland, where artists provide possible directions on which way to go.
Vleeshal is an internationally oriented center for contemporary art, rooted in Zeeland. In Zeeland Focus, Vleeshal highlights regional artists, takes part in and celebrates local contemporary art and culture.
In 2015 Vleeshal kicked of its Nomadic Program, as an extension of its existing exhibition program in Middelburg. In its Nomadic Program Vleeshal goes on tour, organising exhibitions and other events in collaboration with venues in the Netherlands and abroad, such as Art Rotterdam, Amsterdam Art Weekend, the Spring Performance Festival, WIELS Art Book Fair, Brussels and Poppositions, Brussels.
This project is supported by the Mondriaan Fund, the municipality of Middelburg and the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.
