Katrina Palmer’s Kafkaesque Demolition at A Tale of A Tub

Katrina Palmer’s exhibition at A Tale of A Tub in Rotterdam proposes a ten-step demolition of the institution’s heritage-listed front wall, outlined on a Demolition Billboard. The wall, part of the 1922 Justus van Effencomplex housing estate, has protected status, making the proposal absurd yet politically charged. Palmer stages Consultation Meetings for stakeholders, questioning participatory art’s assumption of consensus. Other works anticipate approval: Another Way is Possible blocks the main entrance with a metal screen; Institution Door lays the removed door flat as sculpture; Props are nine builders’ props supporting the ceiling. Free entry and drinks nod to relational aesthetics. On the mezzanine, chairs face away from the wall, and copies of Notes Towards a Paranoid Construction tell a story of artist K (a Kafkaesque Palmer) and resident Michiel, sharing the architect’s first name. K carries a desk into Michiel’s home, but the institution insists it stay; Michiel’s complaint letter morphs into a tale of bomb enthusiasts targeting walls. The video Paranoid Construction shows Palmer’s desk, handwriting, and redacting, merging with the fiction. Demolition remains imagined, but institutional tensions materialize. The exhibition runs 21 February – 24 May 2026.