R.S.O.L.
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Room for the Study Of Loneliness : space for contemporary art
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2025
Study and support group Radical Softness as Resistance:
Translating Critical Theory into Social Action
16.07.2025 Deventer – At a time when efficiency, market thinking and investments in the arms industry prevail, a different voice can be heard in Deventer. In R.S.O.L. Art Space, a remarkable study and support group has recently begun to gather: Radical Softness as Resistance. Participants explore how vulnerability, empathy and caring can serve as an active form of social resistance – inspired by the philosophical insights of Herbert Marcuse.
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The group is reading One-Dimensional Man by the German-American philosopher Herbert Marcuse. In this work, which appeared in the 1960's but proves to be strikingly accurate today, Marcuse sees a society emerging in which people are trapped in an apparent freedom. According to him, we are so governed by technology, consumerism and mass media that we are hardly capable of true criticism or change anymore.
“Marcuse describes how our economic system absorbs and incorporates all forms of critical thought and action into the dominant process of production and consumption. |
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Critical practices in this system are forced to adapt to market thinking,” explains one of the participants. “For us, this means pausing to consider our own roles and patterns, creating space for softness, for caring and giving – something that is often seen as weakness in the current economic system.”
Softness as a Counterforce
The group was initiated by artist and philosopher Ton Kruse. According to him, opting for kindness and quality is not the same as losing in the “rat race”, or the “race to the bottom”, but rather an act of resistance within the prevailing market system.
At the meetings of the study and support group in R.S.O.L. Art Space – a space for contemporary art – the portion of Marcuse's book that was read at home is discussed and related to participants’ own lives. All the time, the question is asked what the text means for the participants’ daily existence. How do we relate to work pressure, social exclusion and ecological exploitation?
Practical as well as Philosophical
The atmosphere is accessible and inviting, yet the conversations run deep. There is room for personal experiences and perspectives, in relation to critical reflection on social structures. The study and support group thus seems to fit within broader movements in the country that focus on slowing down, care and change, as alternatives to the dominant thinking in terms of growth, profit and competition. Many participants are artists, but other cultural sector professionals also take part.
Join In!
The study and support group meets monthly at R.S.O.L. – on the edge of Deventer’s city centre and the Zandweerd neighbourhood. Participation is open to anyone who, in whatever way, feels burdened by the darkness of the current era and who feels involved with contemporary art, or is interested in it. “It is precisely the diversity of the participants that makes the discussion so valuable,” according to one participant. Anyone interested is invited to get in touch via the R.S.O.L. website.
At a time when resistance seems to have to be loud, assertive and 'in your face', this group offers a different approach. Softness as an act. Listening as a counterforce. Standing still as a movement.
Softness as a Counterforce
The group was initiated by artist and philosopher Ton Kruse. According to him, opting for kindness and quality is not the same as losing in the “rat race”, or the “race to the bottom”, but rather an act of resistance within the prevailing market system.
At the meetings of the study and support group in R.S.O.L. Art Space – a space for contemporary art – the portion of Marcuse's book that was read at home is discussed and related to participants’ own lives. All the time, the question is asked what the text means for the participants’ daily existence. How do we relate to work pressure, social exclusion and ecological exploitation?
Practical as well as Philosophical
The atmosphere is accessible and inviting, yet the conversations run deep. There is room for personal experiences and perspectives, in relation to critical reflection on social structures. The study and support group thus seems to fit within broader movements in the country that focus on slowing down, care and change, as alternatives to the dominant thinking in terms of growth, profit and competition. Many participants are artists, but other cultural sector professionals also take part.
Join In!
The study and support group meets monthly at R.S.O.L. – on the edge of Deventer’s city centre and the Zandweerd neighbourhood. Participation is open to anyone who, in whatever way, feels burdened by the darkness of the current era and who feels involved with contemporary art, or is interested in it. “It is precisely the diversity of the participants that makes the discussion so valuable,” according to one participant. Anyone interested is invited to get in touch via the R.S.O.L. website.
At a time when resistance seems to have to be loud, assertive and 'in your face', this group offers a different approach. Softness as an act. Listening as a counterforce. Standing still as a movement.
- Info
The study and support group studied: ‘The One-Dimensional Society’ by Herbert Marcuse, part 1 of ‘One-Dimensional Man’. The study and support group consisted of ten people from the Deventer/Zwolle region, and from Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Vlissingen, ranging from twenty-somethings to sixty-somethings.