Born in the layered, cross-cultural spirit of Amsterdam in 2009, 7 Hills Foundation was established to explore the shifting landscapes of identity, contemporary art, and society by curator Ipek M. Sur. At the heart of our work lies a deep commitment to continuous dialogue especially through the lens of a nomadic experience. We are inspired by multiplicity, contradiction, and connection.
We work across contemporary disciplines such as visual arts, film, performance art, design and interdisciplinary practices, creating new contexts for artists and audiences to meet, question, and co-imagine. Our projects are not bound by geography, medium, or expectation, they are shaped by the urgency of the now, and the complexity of our shared futures. Always with care!
We create, support, and curate projects that:
Challenge orientalist and auto-orientalist narratives
Use performance and embodied practice to open space for dialogue and transformation
Foster critical exchange across disciplines, identities, and borders
Reflect the grey zones of daily actualities, identity, belonging, and representation
Whether through a film, a performance lab, a curatorial framework or a speculative exhibition, we ask: What does it mean to speak across cultures, without translation? How can contemporary art disrupt and reframe dominant narratives?
We do not believe in building “bridges” we believe in creating shared spaces. Our work is rooted in a refusal to exoticize the “other,” and a commitment to art that is as global as it is personal.
We stand for a language of art that transcends binaries West and East, tradition and innovation, past and present and instead reveals their entanglement.
We are interested in diasporic narratives, not as static stories of migration, but as living, dynamic sources of imagination and resistance.
From our home base in Amsterdam, we cultivate a hive of creative exchange. Amsterdam’s layered multicultural fabric, its tensions, energies, and openness continues to inspire our approach. But our network and collaborations stretch far beyond.
We work with artists, thinkers, performers, producers, and communities from across the world who share a commitment to openness, experimentation, and critical reflection.
