Janis Rafa: Feed me. Cheat me. Eat me. Solo Exhibition at Eye Filmmuseum

Eye Filmmuseum presents a solo exhibition by artist and filmmaker Janis Rafa, exploring the tension between care for and exploitation of animals and landscapes through human inventions and desires. The exhibition, titled 'Feed me. Cheat me. Eat me.', delves into themes of power, domination, and interspecies relations, focusing on the silent presence of non-humans.

Eye Filmmuseum presents a solo exhibition by artist and filmmaker Janis Rafa, titled 'Feed me. Cheat me. Eat me.'. Rafa's visual language is filmic and seductive, yet her work is disquieting, prompting viewers to consider pressing questions about human relationships with each other and the world. Her latest works focus on the tension between care for and exploitation of animals and landscapes, driven by human inventions and desires. Spoken language rarely features in her evocative films and video installations; she prioritizes the silent presence of non-humans, allowing them to become the leading force within her poetic compositions. Her narratives emphasize animalistic instincts, untamed behaviors, and the inability to coexist, alongside human fears, expectations, and failures. Rafa’s new work verges on playful eroticism and physical contact, utilizing wordplay and the re-appropriation of utilitarian objects designed to restrain animals. The exhibition title encapsulates the underlying sense of melancholia and whimsicalness evident throughout her oeuvre. Rafa’s subjects are positioned within unusual cinematographic compositions that blend the fictional with the mundane. In these timeless spaces, she highlights structures of power, domination, and control. The locations she chooses lie on the urban fringes, post-industrial sites, abandoned buildings, and decaying agricultural landscapes. Among the ruins of these worlds, she explores themes such as affection for the non-human body, interspecies relations, and dealing with loss. Her work forms a wordless ode to stray and domesticated dogs, roadkill, hunted prey, animals in factory farming, and other victims of late-capitalist society. Born in 1984 in Greece, Janis Rafa studied at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam and was awarded a PhD in Fine Art from the University of Leeds. Her work 'Lacerate' was presented at the 59th Venice Biennale. She has had previous exhibitions at institutions such as Centraal Museum, Utrecht, and her work has been featured in Manifesta 12 and shown at Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Kunsthalle Munster, and MAXXI. Rafa's works are held in the collections of Eye Filmmuseum, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and others. Eye Filmmuseum has a history of collaboration with Rafa, including her work in the exhibition 'Close-Up – A New Generation of Film and Video Artists in the Netherlands' in 2015, and her short film 'Waiting for the Time to Pass' in 2020. Her debut feature film, 'Kala azar', was screened at Eye in 2020. The exhibition is accompanied by an extensive programme of public talks and film screenings, and an educational programme.

The exhibition is accompanied by an extensive programme of public talks and film screenings. Visitors can book tables at the restaurant online. Specific exhibition ticket information is not detailed on this page, but the exhibition is part of the museum's programming.