In an effort to add to the debate on contemporary art, Witte de With organized lectures and debates. In these lectures and debates, the exhibitions, the work of the artist(s), and the underlying concepts or reactions which they produced, were commented upon. The lectures and debates were published every year, in an effort to permit fresh consideration and evaluation of the whole exhibition program.
The publication The Lectures, 1990 was published in 1991, right after Witte de With’s first year of operation, and includes a complete reproduction of the readings organized by Witte de With during that year. The publication is an aid-memoire for all those interested in keeping an eye on the practice of Witte de With, and on developments that Witte de With is keeping an eye on. These developments are celebrated by a continuing discussion that the center both initiates and encourages.
Witte de With is not specifically Dutch, and is only a partial reflection of Rotterdam. The image of art that Witte de With disseminates is a universal and autonomous one. It is a dissemination that should prevent the construction of a framework which can tell us, for example, something about the glamour of art from beyond Europe or North America, or about the terror of current events.
Witte de With is like a shore that the waves of the sea of art lap against, and on that shore, stimulating events take place; not only exhibitions, but also readings and debates; A place for the placement of question marks. The program of Witte de With displays a healthy desire for a more heterogeneous culture of divergence.