Exhibition at B32 Artspace, Maastricht.
12.10.2024-24.11.2024
Public programme on 26.10.2024
The residential neighbourhood of De Ravelijn finished its
construction in the fifties. It originated as a “woonschool,’
or dwelling school, a district with the goal to re-educate
those that were deemed to be antisocial. As lines drawn
on paper became roads, pavements and houses, different
blocks were split up into A, B, C and D. The last category
was meant for larger families, while B and C houses were
reserved for people deemed most antisocial. The A category accommodated inhabitants with the greatest chance
of reintegration, and were therefore located closest to the
inner city.
This correspondence between the letters A, B, C and D, and perceived social status is a clear example of how acts of division and measurement not only organise space, but also inform ways of living. This logic is reflected in De Ravelijn’s urban planning. The homes are arranged along a horseshoe-shaped street, encouraging self-surveillance. At the heart of the neighbourhood sits the former community centre of the woonschool, now B32. Numerous activities were organised to instil a sense of community and to focus on cultural and religious education. By means of activities and house visits the woonschool taught the residents how to live properly, focusing on domestic habits, marriage, the wife’s housework, the husband’s work ethic, and child-rearing.
The organisation of space as a tool for behaviour control is a well-established practice. We see that the first enclosures of land in England are historically tied to the witch-hunts. Those not conforming to the values of patriarchy and economic profitability were burned at the stake. Thus the logic of measurement, which divides a whole into serial units to be (re)combined at will, does not only reduce once vital land into exploitable patch; It also instils a view that everything, and anyone, can be categorised, measured and exploited in favour of capitalist success. “Yellow brick, blue brick, perpetually” is an inquiry into these mechanisms. How do these permeate different facets of society, and—in often invisible manners—shape our lives? As such, the exhibition connects the specific context of De Ravelijn to a broader idea of enclosure—not just of land, but also of knowledge, bodies, our relationship towards nature and one another.
The invited artists respond to these themes in various manners. Samuel White uses unconventional measurement units, such as footsteps, iPhones, and even trousers, to explore the architectural space through a series of draw- ings. This playful approach to measurements and scale forms the foundation of their investigation into how we experience and perceive constructed environments. Hele- na intervenes with a flock of wax-cast pigeons, placed at intervals on ventilation ducts, inhabiting cages, and scat- tered throughout the building. This discarded companion species becomes a lens through which she questions how we share space, examining how power relations mediate our movement through both urban and exhibition spaces. Mounir Eddib uses materials prevalent in the decommis- sioned mining sites of Genk to bring marginalised stories to the center, while forging connections with the Moroccan diaspora. These materials, once tied to industrialisation, are repurposed to bring alternative knowledges to light. He explores intimate relationships to the land through folk ritual practices—understandings which run against the modern logic of measurement and extraction.
On October 26th, the public programme will unfold. Alaa Abu Asad will present a performative reading, based on his research with invasive plant species. He investigates the language used to define which plants are “wanted” and which are “invasive,” questioning how language structures shape the perception of what, or who, is considered a rightful inhabitant of an environment. Assuming the role of the troublemaker, Angelina Nonaj creates an environment that invites dialogue with the local community and other visitors. On the day of the public programme a set of language-based games and scores seeks to stimulate unlearn- ing, and collective reflection on ideas of community and conviviality. In the past, the ‘woonschool’ of De Ravelijn claimed to educate individuals in becoming good citizens. Today, the artists activate this historical site as a space for unlearning the imposed structures, to question the politics of space and to mend the connections severed by enclosure.
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
This correspondence between the letters A, B, C and D, and perceived social status is a clear example of how acts of division and measurement not only organise space, but also inform ways of living. This logic is reflected in De Ravelijn’s urban planning. The homes are arranged along a horseshoe-shaped street, encouraging self-surveillance. At the heart of the neighbourhood sits the former community centre of the woonschool, now B32. Numerous activities were organised to instil a sense of community and to focus on cultural and religious education. By means of activities and house visits the woonschool taught the residents how to live properly, focusing on domestic habits, marriage, the wife’s housework, the husband’s work ethic, and child-rearing.
The organisation of space as a tool for behaviour control is a well-established practice. We see that the first enclosures of land in England are historically tied to the witch-hunts. Those not conforming to the values of patriarchy and economic profitability were burned at the stake. Thus the logic of measurement, which divides a whole into serial units to be (re)combined at will, does not only reduce once vital land into exploitable patch; It also instils a view that everything, and anyone, can be categorised, measured and exploited in favour of capitalist success. “Yellow brick, blue brick, perpetually” is an inquiry into these mechanisms. How do these permeate different facets of society, and—in often invisible manners—shape our lives? As such, the exhibition connects the specific context of De Ravelijn to a broader idea of enclosure—not just of land, but also of knowledge, bodies, our relationship towards nature and one another.
The invited artists respond to these themes in various manners. Samuel White uses unconventional measurement units, such as footsteps, iPhones, and even trousers, to explore the architectural space through a series of draw- ings. This playful approach to measurements and scale forms the foundation of their investigation into how we experience and perceive constructed environments. Hele- na intervenes with a flock of wax-cast pigeons, placed at intervals on ventilation ducts, inhabiting cages, and scat- tered throughout the building. This discarded companion species becomes a lens through which she questions how we share space, examining how power relations mediate our movement through both urban and exhibition spaces. Mounir Eddib uses materials prevalent in the decommis- sioned mining sites of Genk to bring marginalised stories to the center, while forging connections with the Moroccan diaspora. These materials, once tied to industrialisation, are repurposed to bring alternative knowledges to light. He explores intimate relationships to the land through folk ritual practices—understandings which run against the modern logic of measurement and extraction.
On October 26th, the public programme will unfold. Alaa Abu Asad will present a performative reading, based on his research with invasive plant species. He investigates the language used to define which plants are “wanted” and which are “invasive,” questioning how language structures shape the perception of what, or who, is considered a rightful inhabitant of an environment. Assuming the role of the troublemaker, Angelina Nonaj creates an environment that invites dialogue with the local community and other visitors. On the day of the public programme a set of language-based games and scores seeks to stimulate unlearn- ing, and collective reflection on ideas of community and conviviality. In the past, the ‘woonschool’ of De Ravelijn claimed to educate individuals in becoming good citizens. Today, the artists activate this historical site as a space for unlearning the imposed structures, to question the politics of space and to mend the connections severed by enclosure.
To Weave a Story
short residency programme and public exhibition,De Verffabriek, Gent~March, 2024
Conventional modes of storytelling revolve around the singular male Hero. Other characters, non-human life and the environment become intelligible only in their value as instruments for the Hero in his quest to overcome the conflict named plot. Firmly cemented in the idea of survival of the fittest, these conventions reaffirm the separation between man and nature, and with it the total mastery of the former over the latter. The natural environment becomes a backdrop for the Hero, ready to be used. In this manner, storytelling fails to portray the urgencies of the looming climate catastrophe meaningfully. At the same time, this separation anchors the idea of the gendered division of labour. Woman are relegated towards nature's side, in which they are comprehended based on their reproductional value. The triumph, or success, of the Hero, reflects the success of heteronormative society.
The story in which everything is instrumentalized is the story we inhabit today. As life is reduced to abstract units—such as atoms, organs, numbers or binary language—truths that cannot be comprehended by the quantified measure of success, fail to become intelligible. The queer subject, who is epistemologically interwoven to nonsense, antiproduction and unintelligibility does not fit within the typical Hero story. To become intelligible in this manner would mean to be translated to fit into the capitalist, heteronormative definition of success.
To Weave a Story sets out to find a diversification not only in the subjects of our stories, but to diversify the very way in which stories are formed, and told. Artworks form props, fictional characters, natural life and backdrops. These deconstructed elements of a story become building blocks in a workshop aiming to queer modes of storytelling. The outcomes of this workshop become the foundation for performance and oral storytelling sessions, through which the narrative of the exhibition keeps changing throughout the day. Each hour unveils a fresh narrative, weaving together the deconstructed elements in new ways, defying the conventional and illuminating the rich tapestry of plural perspectives.
(Sjoerd Beijers)
Co-produced and curated by
Natalija Gucheva & I
Artists
Aidan Abnet
Justine Grillet
Guillaume Jannes
Jochem Mestriner
Samuel White Evans
& Natalija Gucheva
Writers
Isa Vink
Jule Köepke
Jesse Kempkes
Babette Lagrange
& Sjoerd Beijers
This project is supported by Alles Kan & Stad Gent.
Photography by Johan Poezevara
Home Sweet Home
Workshop and exhibition moment, SecondRoom, Antwerp~November, 2023
What are some rituals that make us feel at home? What is inherently a home? And what does it consist of? Is it material or immaterial, a space or a body? What kind of ingredients constitute a home? Memories, people, emotions? Is it a shelter, or a sanctuary? Is it something we run from or confide in when things are difficult?
Within Western cultures, homes and houses are closely linked together. With the enclosure of the common land, communal structures have been replaced by private homes. This binary between the public and the private also encloses our relationship with others, to nature and knowledge.
In this workshop—with room for eight participants—we will explore different notions of what a home could be and what a home means to them. Ultimately seeking alternative kinships towards the essence of what a home is. By playing with the common signifiers of what constitutes a home, we aim to collectively imagine alternate views on what a home is, or could potentially be.
Through performance work and edible sculptures, the invited artists will help us rethink the communal aspect of the home. Paired to this, there will be a reading, in which we collectively reflect upon the material and seek new knowledge and conceptions to emerge. Through a combination of objects brought by the participants and materials we prepared, we will ultimately use these new ideas to build our home collectively.
This collectively built home will later open to the public in the form of an exhibition, further breaking this binary between public and private. Temporarily the cultural norms are subverted within the space and the home becomes an open place, a meeting ground and a place for collective reflection.
Co-produced and curated by
Natalija Gucheva & I
Performance by
Adriana Joëlle
Contributions by
Lorenço
Kyra Nijskens
Abel Hartooni
Beljita Gurung
Lizzy Jongedijk
Seppe-Hazel Laeremans
Jessica Marlieke van Egmond
Photography by Isaac Ponseele
Cosmovisions
Exhibition and performances,Medusa Offspace, Brussels~August, 2023
In the shared temporality of ecological mutation, humanity as a whole is forced to talk about the interdependencies of cultures on a global scale. As our realities become increasingly entangled, the Western urge to divide and classify becomes more and more incompatible with what is needed to tackle these urgent issues.In this group exhibition sculpture and performance interweave throughout the evening. New propositions are put forward and new relations between the works are established. Exploring alternative imaginaries around the Western division between man and nature, and the former's complete mastery over the latter.
A mysterious white figure stares into a mirror. Sharp white fangs, clinging around a poem. A tail—reminiscent of that of a horse—wagging slowly, as they delicately step through space.
Throughout the evening, the perceived linearity of time and progression is rejected—in favour of a reading in which future, present and past act contemporaneously—by reconnecting to forgotten practices and rekindling knowledges of spirituality, magic and natural worlds. The artists find themselves in a position analogous to that of the shaman. Negotiating with the invisible and seeking ways to restore the disrupted order through mediation with the realms of animals and nature. Through this, they seek, even if it is temporary, to unveil what is generally oppressed by the current cultural paradigm.
Awakening, delicately. A passage of rite, an offering, under treelike plastic structures. A heart-shaped pendant. The sound of dry branches, snapping. Dissonant spinal movements—mimicry.
(text by Sjoerd Beijers)
Co-produced and curated by
MaggZ & I
Artists
Che Go Eun
Tristan Bründler
Kyra Nijskens
Natalija Gucheva
Benjamin Schoones
Aidan Abnet
Alexis Gerlach
Adriaan de Roover
Anca Bârjovanu
MaggZ
DJ
kn1ps
This project is supported by the Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommisie (VGC) & À Fonds
