Tonight at the Maxalot Gallery in Amsterdam, artists like Parra, Geneveive Gauckler, Marcos Chin, Florence Manlik and Superdeux are auctioning off their original pieces at "Imagining Mozambique," a gallery show to raise money for ASEM (Association en faveur de l'Enfance Mozambiquaine), an organization that helps the children and orphans of Mozambique, who continue to experience strife after their country's 25 years of war, natural disaster, colonization and economic instability.
W+K Amsterdam's Jamie Kim and local creative community help to Imagine Mozambique

Imagining Mozambique was conceived by W+K Amsterdam interactive producer Jamie Kim, who is a board member of the ASEM and wanted to come up with a more dynamic way to generate interest and raise funds for the cause. "It was around December of last year, around that time when you start thinking about New Year's resolutions," she says. "I wanted to do something relevant and fun and create a sense of awareness, and also net out money I could send to Mozambique."

The idea never really took root until Kim moved to the Netherlands from San Francisco last year. "It took being in Amsterdam," she says. " It had to do with the creative environment I've been exposed to and contacts I'd been making." Kim's friends and associates helped to hook her up with various artists and also lent their time and manpower. Amsterdam-based Cartelle created the show's website, which helps to educate visitors on the plight of the Mozambican children and features and sells the artists' works.

The exhibit goes from today until September 10 at the Maxalot Gallery in Amsterdam. Kim says the show will then hit New York in late October, and then makes stops to Portland, Tokyo, London and then back to Amsterdam in the coming months.
