Nasma Al Shutfa: I am Grateful (?!)
About this activity.
Nasma Al Shutfa
: I am grateful (?!)
May 30 to June 20
A place to share.
A moment to understand.
Imagine a space where time stands still – not for minutes, but for months or years. A space where stories remain untold and where waiting becomes a way of life.
I am Grateful (?!)* is an installation born from these lived experiences as a refugee and asylum seeker in the Netherlands. Developed in close collaboration, it brings together miniature worlds, collected testimonies, and deeply personal fragments of life in transit. This work is necessary to step out of the space – not as a detached spectator, but as someone willing to pause, observe, and ask questions. A space consisting of rooms – rooms of waiting, of paper, of memory and emotion.
We invite you to seek visible and invisible boundaries and to listen attentively to stories that are rarely seen, but that are all around us.
*Note:
Nasma Al Shutfa (Yemen) graduated from the KABK Master’s in Interior Architecture in The Hague in 2024.
During her two-year asylum journey in the Netherlands, Nasma Al Shutfa had to travel between five different asylum seeker centers. For her graduation project, she recreated the rooms of the five camps as scale models: Ter Apel, Wassenaar, Luttelgeest, Wageningen & Amsterdam.
The project I am Grateful (?!) mentioned above is an extensive follow-up to this, allowing more people to contribute.
Exhibition period May 30 – June 20
Over the course of three weeks, the installation will continue to grow. Visitors, local residents, and experts by experience are invited to contribute reflections, reactions, and fragments. These contributions will slowly transform the space, turning the installation into a living archive of essential experiences.
DINNER Friday 5th of June 17.00 hrs. I am Gratefull (?!) Come join us for Eats & Talk! Subscribe via signnl@gmail.com
Workshop / Roundtable discussion Saturday, June 12 by MOHA Olivia Reschofsky (HU) Alice Pons (FR)
INFO: see blog https://sign2.nl/websign/wp-admin/post.php?post=19691&action=edit
Walk-in 1:00 PM with lunch. Subscribe svp via signnl@gmail.com
Workshop: 1:45 PM – 4:30 PM. A gathering of policymakers, geographical organizations, the Groningen community, and experts by experience brings people together. Together, we reflect personally and collectively and explore how these reflections can be amplified into meaningful action.
Finissage June 18-20
With DINNER Friday 19th of June 17.00 hrs. I am Gratefull (?!) Come join us for Eats & Talk! Subscribe via signnl@gmail.com
. On the final days, we invite you to return and see how the installation has grown. What began as a number of spaces has expanded through input from the community, experts by experience, and synthetic reflection. The finissage offers a moment to come together, look back, and reflect on what is changing.
I am grateful (?!) this project is made possible with contributions from Dona Saroor, Wafa Al-Attas, Hadi Zadeh, Buthina Osama, Hadir, Osman mjd, Ibtehal Al-dholay, Samira, MOHA (Alice Pons & Olivia Reschofsky), Yara Alsaleh, and many participants with expertise gained through experience in asylum seeker centers throughout the Netherlands, whose voices and perspectives are visibly shaping this work.
Your contribution is also very welcome
With thanks to: Creative Industries
SIGN.
SIGN is een levendige en experimentele projectruimte voor actuele interdisciplinaire kunst op nationaal niveau. Zij biedt jonge kunstenaars een podium voor verdere profilering, ontwikkeling en intensivering van hun kunstenaarschap. Daarbij wordt nieuw werk geïnitieerd in bijzondere contexten en wordt de nodige reflectie gegeven. Presentaties zijn er in SIGN, op allerlei locaties, en in openbare ruimte met een variatie aan omstandigheden, invalshoeken, disciplines.
SIGN wordt ondersteund door Mondriaan Fonds Kunstpodium Basis 2025-2028 en door de Gemeente Groningen voor dezelfde periode.
Location.
SIGN
Winschoterkade 10
9711 EA Groningen
tel 050-3132651 of 0623631796
www.sign2.nl