Hold still, please
Hold Still, Please is a multidisciplinary collaboration between dance artist Anna Raiola, photographer Isabel Martín, and filmmaker Yasemin Kevser. The project explores the tension between movement and stillness between body, image, and time.
It began with archival research into classical sculptures from Dutch art collections, including the Rijksmuseum and the Rotterdam City Archive. These historical images formed the foundation for an artistic exploration of how stillness can be reinterpreted through dance, photography, and moving image.
Anna Raiola — Performance / Dance
Anna Raiola explores stillness not as a static state but as an active condition. In doing so, she confronts a fundamental contradiction: the human body is never truly still. Our hearts beat, lungs expand, and muscles contract, making complete stillness impossible. As she holds these poses, inspired by the sculpture archive, what emerges is not stillness but a charged moment of tension. Her body becomes a vessel for attitude, for memory. This gives rise to a central question: How does the memory of stillness shape the moving body? Guided by this research question and inspired by the completed video and photo series, she has created a solo dance performance, which premieres at the exhibition opening and on select dates.
Isabel Martín — Photography
Martín’s photographs reflect on the tension between bodies and time: the desire to hold still just a little longer, and the inevitability of movement. Through portraits and intimate frames, she captures the body not as fixed, but as ever moving with energy, restraint, or collapse. The original sculptures that sparked the research are presented throughout the exhibition, offering insight into the project’s source material.
Yasemin Kevser — Video / Montage
Kevser’s video installation reworks the footage of Anna’s explorations into posing to emphasize the body as a deconstructable object. Much like a sculptor who cuts, slows down, and layers material, she uses montage techniques to reveal the sculptural qualities of the moving image and the instability of what we call “a pose”. By projecting the work across three screens, new meanings emerge as images begin to interact.
On the 31th May we will come together to explore the layered conversation of “Hold Still, Please”, where stillness is translated through body, camera, and movement is experienced as something physical and ever-changing.
Openingevent this Saturday from 16:00 till 22:00.
Text by Ailen Meester
Soundtrack by Ben Kult
Curation by Diewertje van de Wier
Artistic Direction by Tahsin Karakas
Graphic design by Rasheed Vlijter & María Rivero González
This exhibition is supported by Cultuur Concreet, Rotterdam Subsidie and Keep an Eye Foundation.