Giovanna Silva captured the long gone glory of Palmyra, a legendary hotel in Baalbek, Lebanon. She leads us through old and charming rooms that breathe out the once decadent soul of the hotel. Pale colours, wall cracks, the smell of old wooden furni-ture and Persian rugs take you on a journey into the past. At the same time, we feel the current presence of war and decay. Out of the windows of the Palmyra one can see the ruins of the ancient Roman temple of Heliopolis. For this reason lots of tourists and academics visited the hotel since its opening in 1874. The hotel has not closed for a day since that time. Its popularity attracted international figures such as Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Jean Cocteau and Charles de Gaulle, but due to impact of the war on the border with Syria and an economic depression in general, the hotel now stands empty.
The books included in the series Choreography as Conditioning are rooted in a cycle of work sessions entitled CASC at KASK, in which students work together with invited guests. They explore the notions of choreography, understood as ways of organizing subjects in their surroundings, and conditioning in both art-making and society-making. Where, how, and by whom are things organized and what kind of landscapes of experience are made (im)possible by the practices we enact and encounter?_x000D__x000D_The Orphans of Tar - A Speculative Opera answers the question posed in the second book by transforming life into voices and presenting possible mindsets through co-authoring a factual fiction. As such, it constitutes a mental space in which fictitious characters find an almost disturbing expansion of their thoughts. Accordingly, the book can be considered as an allegory of human thoughts as (possible) actions: what could happen becomes what does happen. For better and worse.
"I met Lilly when I was working at the Foire du Midi fair in Brussels," says Claude van Halen of his late partner, Liliane Maes. "I met her on the 14th of July 1995. The boss of a bar asked me, ' Claude do you want to go with her because her man is beating her? ' I said yes. I even left my job for her. I went with her and and we stayed together for so long, for 23 years. "Lilly passed away on 6th June 2018, Claude by her side till the end. The romance between them is kept alive through Vincen Beeckman's pictures of Claude and Lilly. They are pictures of love, small sequences of affection, of touching, holding, kissing and being together in each other's company.
In The Member of the Wedding, a 1946 novel by the American author Carson McCullers, the twelve-year-old protagonist Frankie Addams sighs: 'They were the two prettiest people I ever saw. Yet it was like I couldn't see all of them I wanted to see. My brains couldn't gather together quick enough and take it all in. And then they were gone. You see what I mean?' That Stief DeSmet 'understands' what Frankie means like no other, how could it be otherwise? What he invariably presents in his work, and again in Paradise, Prototypes & Other Deconstructions, is the fragmentary representation of something that is too agile and too fleeting in its totality - far too agile and fleeting - to be fully grasped. Paradoxically enough, that 'something' cannot be equated to what we often call the 'unreal' beauty of supremely attractive people, or to colourful skies filled with billowing clouds, or even with artistic masterpieces. Nor is it related, in a non-aesthetic sense, to the type of incident that is often characterised as 'too good to be true'. That 'something' is unambiguously real - the absolute reality, namely, of an animal. More specifically: a creature that is wild and non-domesticated. In DeSmet's work, this reality appears to be inherently flawed, or rather, it is too fleeting and agile to be seen and experienced, since we are such imperfect, torn and flawed beings. Our brains don't work fast enough, that is true, and furthermore, a new moment dawns with every blink of the eye, each one of which is diametrically opposed to its predecessor. When reality chooses, above all else, to reveal itself in the form of an animal, it perpetually eludes us - 'you see what I mean?' - and to such an extent that it no longer seems to exist. It is this fact that Stief DeSmet seeks to impress upon us with his work. (extract from the text of Christophe Vekeman)In collaboration with Be-Part Waregem
The books included in the series Choreography as Conditioning are rooted in a cycle of work sessions entitled CASC at KASK, in which students work together with invited guests. They explore the notions of choreography, understood as ways of organizing subjects in their surroundings, and conditioning in both art-making and society-making. Where, how, and by whom are things organized and what kind of landscapes of experience are made (im)possible by the practices we enact and encounter?Thinking Conditioning through Practice, the first book in this series, addresses the question of how these practices destabilize and (re)constitute the concept of conditioning through six writing processes performed by Alex Arteaga, Julia Barrios de la Mora, Julien Bruneau, Laetitia Gendre & Miram Rohde, Heike Langsdorf and Kristof Van Baarle.
"The lasting one, that didn't last, that still lasts" is an overview of Hannelore Van Dijcks most recent work. Van Dijck works with charcoal on paper and in situ. With text contributions by Michael Newman, Laura Stamps and Christophe Van Gerrewey. "When Van Dijck brings a new 'skin' to a space, by completely covering the walls with a drawing, or sometimes the floor or ceiling, she confounds expectations by doing the very opposite of what might be expected in a regular-sized drawing. As certain properties of the walls come to the fore, others are automatically hidden. She 'distorts' space. Time and time again, she will execute a tour de force that allows us to see what she sees, to view what she deems important. When, charcoal in hand, she finds her rhythm, she can draw for days, and long into the night. It is a form of craftsmanship and, with it, she brings the space to life. She is present even when absent. Her hand is, indeed, everywhere. By allowing us to share her unique perception of space, she confronts us with what we think we see. " (Laura Stamps)"Van Dijck's drawing is not the work of the day, but rather a nocturnal work, whether carried out during the day or not. Its light is not solar but lunar. " (Michael Newman)
This publication is a collaboration between the authors Bart Janssen, Koen Peeters and visual artist Dirk Zoete. This art project is based upon "Langs de wegen", the first novel of Streuvels. This publication is made in response to the residency of Janssen en Peeters at the writers residency "het Lijsternest" at Ingooigem, and of the residency of Zoete at Be-Part, platform for contemporary art in Waregem. Dit boek is een samenwerking tussen auteurs Bart Janssen en Koen Peeters en beeldend kunstenaar Dirk Zoete. Aan de basis van dit kunstenproject ligt Streuvels' debuutroman Langs de wegen. Het boek verschijnt naar aanleiding van het verblijf van Janssen en Peeters in de schrijversresidentie van het Lijsternest in Ingooigem, en van de residentie van Zoete in Be-Part, platform voor actuele kunst in Waregem. In collaboration with Be-Part en Lijsternest.
"After the Midst" is a multi-layered visual and textual interpretation of HOOGTIJ/laagtij, Gouvernement's performance-festival on rituals of celebration. Authors Jelle Martens and Raimundas Malaauskas started from the idea of "simultaneity" to observe, registrate & fictionalise all possible events that happened during those 10 days in July 2017 . "After the Midst" is anything but a factual report of an arts festival. Martens and and Malaauskas created their own stories, in which they allowed small details, fleeting moments and interactions with people, objects and performances. All possible ingredients were treated as of equal value. Just as the festival gradually transformed into a Gesamtkunstwerk of blending festive evidence, so the publication unbinds itself from disciplinary or chronological boundaries. Layer after layer, it seeks new interpretations, new possibilities, new connections. HOOGTIJ/laagtij Participating Artists: Joris Van de Moortel, Rutger De Vries,, Charlotte Adigéry, Nicole Twister ???????, Bert Jacobs, Micha Volders, Jaak DeDigitale, Pieter Ampe, Sibran Sampers, Nienke Baeckelandt, Boris Van den Eynden, Borokov Borokov, De Zwarte Zuster Fanfare, Gamelan Voices, Matthieu Ha, van Twolips, Sachli Gholamalizad, Sebastiaan Van den Branden, Lotte Vanhamel, Kim Snauwaert, Anyuta Wiazemsky. HOOGTIJ/laagtij & "After the Midst" became possible with the support of Stad Gent, Vlaamse Gemeenschap, Kunstencentrum Vooruit, Provincie Oost-Vlaanderen, SMartBe.
The Maasai tribe is one of the most photographed tribes across Africa, but pictures of them that cross the world are almost always from Western photographers who show a cliché like vision of the traditional jumping Maasai. 'My Maasai' is a photo publication in which photographers from Eastern Africa show their vision on the Maasai. It shows pictures of a rapper Maasai, a pilot Maasai, a lesbian Maasai, Maasai architecture, a female Maasai God and much more. This books fights the stereotype image of the jumping Maasai and shows at the same time why African photographers are so much better in photographing the topics in their own region. 'My Maasai' is an initiative of Jan Hoek, in collaboration with Kenyan based photographers; Sarah Waiswa (Uganda), Joel Lukhovi (Kenya), Mohammed Althoum (Sudan) as well as students of the De-Capture Limited School of Photography.
Mastering the Curtains is the result of an intensive research of 2 perspectives in the Islamic Republic of Iran: on the one hand the public and transparent, on the other hand the hidden. The first approach focuses on the content and implementation in the public space of the old popular and politicized street theatre Tazi'yeh. The second approach explores the hidden world of the Sufis and their political difficulties within the current policy. Originally, these seeming opposites have common ground in Iranian collective memory through a rendition of social and spiritual resistance. The four-year research process involved continuous oscillation between exploration and self-reflection. Reflections on religion, other and I, position and opposition, private and public, transparency and control are combined with series of images as in a 'flow of consciousness'. The social potential of secular mysticism is distilled from this research. With the support of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp.
Thorsten Brinkmann (1971, Herne (D)) calls himself a serial collector. In the storeroom at his studio you can find the most varied objects. He finds these objects on flea markets, in thrift shops, on the street, at refuse dumps, etc. They are part of middle-class domestic culture. He uses these objets trouvés to show how we relate to the objects that surround us. Objects define our identity and inform our culture, and as a result what belongs to us is of considerable importance. We shape and design the objects that surround us and in turn they shape us and the lives we live. The Great Cape Rinderhorn is a word-play which on the one hand refers to a monumental bull's horn, to a cape (a sleeveless garment) and Cape Horn at the southernmost extremity of Chile. Apart from a lighthouse, a house and a chapel, Cape Horn is a barren landscape. The Great Cape Rinderhorn has been shown at the Rice University Art Gallery in Houston, Texas (US) and Be-Part, Waregem (B). This publication is made with images from these two exhibitions and acts as a new chapter for this installation. With the support of Be-Part (Waregem) and Rice Gallery (Houston).
EN Why copy an album of postage stamps from the former Belgian Congo, page after page, stamp after stamp, and so precisely in terms of dimensions, illustrations and colours? Despite the initial confusion about Tuur and Flup Marinus' project, when confronted by the materiality it soon becomes clear that there's something interesting going on here. We see perfectly reproduced sheets; sets of exotic stamps in soft hues, protected by a transparent strip of varnish, and framed by an intrusive black background. Go on looking and this painterly appropriation becomes the magnifying glass and the mirror which unmask the colonial rhetoric. When we look at colonial collections some 60 years after decolonization, we are struck first and foremost by what is missing in those collections: the real world of colonial subjects and their relationships with Belgians (and other Westerners) and the structural inequalities between the two categories which made the passion for collecting possible. In some of his best stories Jorge Luis Borges showed the absurdity of attempts to create an imaginary world which corresponds fully to the reality or even to another imaginary world, such as Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote. Flup and Tuur Marinus' artwork does something similar: the patience and diligence with which they toiled to create it reminds us how absurd it was to try and collect the complete colonial world through collections and by extension how absurd it was to try and control and dominate politically an area as large as Western Europe through colonial rule. (Bambi Ceuppens)
A questioning of the role of the camera as obstacle between the photographer and reality continually enters into young Belgian photographer Tom Callemin's artistic process. This inquiry is translated into haunting images that are usually created in the studio, requiring long periods of preparation. His work therefore reads as an ode to slowness. Meticulously constructed black-and-white compositions are contrasted with Callemin's ongoing exploration of the portrait, resulting in a selection of enigmatic and refined images. This book is published on the occasion of a solo exhibition of Callemin's work at FOMU Antwerp and includes a text by Taco Hidde Bakker.
Idiosyncratic Machine is a shape-generating drawing method developed by Kristof Van Gestel in the context of his visual artistic practice. The space in between everyday objects become the basis from which unexpected abstract shapes are systematically derived. The artist then uses these abstract shapes in the creation of networks. Tis is how this publication Idiosyncratic Copy Machine was conceived. In collaboration with Niek Pladet, a new procedure was developed that applies the logic of the Idiosyncratic Machine in the graphic realm. Two shapes were placed on the plate glass of a photocopier, copied and cut out. The resulting remainder then became the original for a new copy, again yielding a reminder to be worked with. These steps were repeated 30 times. This publication is the documentation of that process.
Every conceivable object-from an ordinary thing to a readymade that is presented in an artistic context or an intentionally constructed artefact-once probably had a photographic pendant, either as a document or an artistic interpretation. On the one hand it's a lovely and even comforting idea that things are given a second life, but on the other hand it's a depressing thought that reveals something about our obsession to portray.
The latest episode in F&R R&F's artistic course is tangible and real. Dealing with killing hardware and all its social, political, economical, cultural and sexual ramifications, the Guns?project (2014), which consists of 400 hand?made wooden weapons, leaves no room for ambiguity. It is distinctly about guns, yet the project offers a productive lead to reflect upon a broad set of issues, from the production and distribution of fire weapons, to the guns' presence in our everyday lives and social imaginaries. Not only does the Guns?project reflect the global omnipresence of fire weapons (be it in the media, in the film industry or in our direct environment), it equally touches upon some recent questions concerning the DIY?manufacturing of armory. The Guns?project comes at a time when designer Cody Wilson has conceived the first 3?D printed gun, now owned by the V&A in London, the world's largest design museum. In 2014 a New York Times article indicated how the rise of open?source education has smoothed the path for Al?Qaida militants in distant lands to carry out smaller?scale solo attacks by virtue of hand-?made artillery. And one shouldn't forget how easily child militias living in the Third World craft their homemade guns from scrap metal at junkyards. Yet, for some, guns are closer to home than we'd sometimes want to believe. Guns are the comfort objects hidden underneath the thousands of pillows in American homes. Guns are the means through which children, for the first time in their lives, learn to enact power dynamics and hierarchies when playing racist Cowboys and Indians games. Guns are the symbols of patriarchy: hard and erected, the guns impertinently point at human flesh, ready to explode. Guns are the tools of oppression and control, the instruments of brutality and domination of the police state. Why have in F&R R&F decided to devote one month of their artistic practice to the creation of a wide collection of harmless weapons made of wood? The answer is very simple. "Weakness is provocative", President Rumsfeld famously observed, "It entices people into doing things that they otherwise would not do. " When your power is weak, you give power to your weakness. With vulnerability and humor as their weapons, F&R R&F happily play the game?and they play it quick and with a slight twist. (Laura Hermann)
Contributions by Elvia Wilk, Graham Harman and Adrian MackenzieIn 1959, the American engineer Paul Baran was charged by the RAND Corporation with the task of designing a telecommunications network resilient enough to survive a nuclear attack. A year later Baran published his proposed solution: a network of distributed nodes without a centralized core. He argued that a distributed network would be indestructible because the connections between its nodes were redundant; multiple connections safeguard a system from total destruction if individual nodes are damaged. A decade later, Baran's distributed relay node architecture formed the conceptual framework for the first system of inter-networked computers, which would become the basis for today's decentralized wireless internet. - Elvia Wilk
019 was never going to remain the only place we worked in. From the start, it's been a laboratory that swings us into unknown directions, constantly sharpening our sense of improvisation and reinvention on the spot. For three years, from 2013 onwards, we made that old welding factory at Dok Noord in Ghent the focal point of our activities. People even started to identify the entirety of our collective, Smoke & Dust, with what was basically only the name of its nineteenth project. We became 019. The whole project turned us upside down. But in doing so, we became aware as well. We understood that the act of occupying and taking possession of the site was not the goal of our work at all. From the inside out, starting with a wooden construction in its interior and up to the billboard at an outside wall and a series of flagpoles on the roof, we gradually developed the place into an assembly of undergrounds for public and artistic encounter, an emerging space for collaboration that was grounded on the premise that all media at our disposal were common grounds to be rediscovered. That's when the work began. That's when things began to move, for real. That's when we realized-artists, architects, designers and the like-we had all turned into scenographers, regardless of our discipline: co-authors of a scene that was constructed out of margins and constraints, participants in a game of give and take that we endlessly play around a display we like to recycle. In the end, that's how 019, our handling of its space through appropriation and dispossession, became the site of a moving practice, a collaborative way of working ready to be moved, reproduced and reinvented elsewhere.
"The Cabinet of Traces" is a collection of 73 traces that were left behind by various artists in residency at Air Antwerp from 2012 onwards. The traces presented in this publication form a diverse collection of objects, drawings, little art works, letters, and clothes. Likewise a catalogue of an ethnographic collection, this publication provides all standard technical details with each trace: material, dimensions, title and the artist who created it. Each trace bears its own story. "The Cabinet of Traces" remembers these stories, while feeding new ones. Memories are constructions and the traces in the publi-cation form the basis from which these memories can be created. "The Cabinet of Traces" is a tool that feeds the imagination. It will be passed on to future artists in residency in order to evoke a reaction. New artists will extend the collection.
Dutch artist Jan Hoek engages with the nasty, funny, painful or touching things that happen when photographing people. His work reflects the often tricky ethics involved in the relationship between the photographer and model. Hoek saw the Masai people photographed time and again in the same way: jumping in a natural setting while wearing traditional clothing and jewellery. Nowadays, however, more Masai are living in towns with all the modern conveniences that entails, like mobile phones, cars and trendy sneakers. For this photo series, he gathered seven urban Masai in an attempt to find a new way to photograph them. The resulting portraits are both personal and absurd.
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