A BEGGARS BANQUET
GALLERY GALLERY organises 'A Beggars Banquet', a group show curated by Rens Cools with Ian De Weerdt, Isabel Fredeus, Arne Jochems, Yen Proesmans and Christiaan Huybrechts.
The project poses the question what the future of GALLERY GALLERY as a "non-profit artist-run initiative" could look like. This question is prompted by the end of a long during renovation and Covid-19 and in the context of the ever-shrinking project funding and the deliberate absence of commercial intentions. As a result, Rens Cools developed the idea to browse through the entire GALLERY GALLERY mailbox, and list every artist who took the initiative to contact GALLERY GALLERY. Out of these contacts he selected his finalized list of participants, using these cornerstones of GALLERY GALLERY as a starting point: performative, time-based, ephemeral, intangible, in situ, (post) conceptual, multidisciplinary and participatory. What better way to question the future of a non-profit artist-run initiative than through a group show with the requesting parties?
Poster: Jeroen Los
Title: Michaël Van Remoortere
Concept: Rens Cools
IAN DE WEERDT, °1996
Ian De Weerdt recently marched through the art institutes of Antwerp and currently resides at HISK, Gent.
‘Regressor’ - 2021
A process which started out with the physical presence of an idea as a beggar. Caught in rain and drought. Past an action, without a body.
CHRISTIAAN HUYBRECHTS, °1950
Christiaan Huybrechts lives and works in Loenhout, Belgium. He shortly describes himself as a “graphiste, socialiste antisocial et poète du dimanche’. His practice mainly consists of etching and silkscreen, but he also experiments with sculpture and video.
‘Angst I’ - 2018
‘Angst II’ - 2018
‘Angst III’ - 2018
‘Angst IV’ - 2018
‘Angst V’ - 2018
‘Anger is in the world’ - 2020
Huybrechts want to draw poetry. A manifestation of his difficult relationship with society, a critical view of what is happening in the world.
ISABEL FREDEUS, °1991
Isabel Fredeus obtained a Master in Fine Arts and a Master of Research in Art & Design at St Lucas School of Arts, Antwerp. Fredeus works with installations, sculptures, video and interventions. She is mainly interested in materials that are elastic, manipulative and flexible. Within her artistic practice she tries to follow signs, investigate the origin of their attraction and search for alternative meanings within them. In her practice Fredeus is mainly occupied with natural processes, physical laws and the symbolism they create.
‘Acid Trip’ - 2021
The time-based installation “Acid Trip” is nothing more nor less than a chemical reaction where seashells (some are souvenirs with sentimental value) are dissolving in acid. The shells disappear within hours, losing their brown outer-skin first, followed by disfragmentation revealing inner structures and in some cases the fundamental swirling backbone that defines the outer form. Finally the compromised shells are reduced to muddy waters. The work represents an accelerated chemical process of the sad reality in ocean waters all over the world. Acidification of the oceans is an ongoing chemical process caused by pollution and climate change. It prevents sea life from creating qualitative exoskeletons which makes survival tougher. Due to the energy lost by the extra effort needed for producing a shell in water where the acidity level is disrupted, less energy can go into reproduction, which creates a drop in future populations.
ARNE JOCHEMS, °1999
Faced by uncertainties that have their origin in a previously owned vision on fine arts, Arne Jochems is currently in search of a more truthful understanding. His visual work translates an interest in the conceptual potential behind observations and/or objects. The meaning of his work tends to impose itself onto the spectator through the ambiance it creates.
‘Sea/Highway’ - 2019
Sea/Highway consists of the continuous noise of the sea, surrounded by its romanticized perception, and that of polluting and always present cars passing by. A natural ambiguity emerges quite hastily and at the same time suggests itself as the meaning. Yet the sounds are almost exactly the same, only by close examination there is a difference noticeable that hides in the rhythm of the waves breaking on the shore or the harshness with which tires move over asphalt. By placing the two boxes where the noises separately originate from opposite to each other, an ambience is introduced that enhances the conflict of both natures coming together. Likewise an invisible wall is created that is meant to be walked through and parts the space where it is exhibited, contributing to its spatiality.
YEN PROESMANS, °1993
Yen Proesmans received his Master in Fine arts in 2019 from LUCA, School of arts Brussels and Ghent. His work is characterized by an inner search of how it can create a temporary state of wonder. Proesmans’ work is always in a fragile state. A state that is merely created for his own purpose, once entered, you carefully see a defined world which ponders between reality and fantasy, utopia and dystopia.
‘Bright Walker, the stove of men’ - 2019
The Bright Walker is a nameless figure, one that is dedicated to his task. The task is his and his alone. He is the sacrifice without purpose. He drove forth, poked the flames and carried the warmth. It was all his and yet it was none of it at all. The Bright Walker is the wanderer with the heat, he who kept it warm.
A MAN STERNLY CLEARING HIS THROAT (2020-2021)
Oscar Hugal
Next to the short- term projects that have taken place in recent years, GALLERY GALLERY launched a new concept. Each year, one artist will be invited to install a work that will be exhibited for one full academic year. The work will be on continuous display spanning all other projects and can be visited by appointment. Oscar Hugal had the honor of being the first to kick off this new series. He presents A Man Sternly Clearing His Throat (2020 - 2021), a single-channel sound installation which distributes the sound of “a man sternly clearing his throat” once every minute throughout the exhibition space. The installation equally addresses the visitor’s presence as it attempts to draw attention to itself and its surroundings.