Photos by Nick Thomas and Philipp ValentaAlbert Heijn is really more than just a grocery store. It is a lifestyle. It is a middle-class religion of constant accessibility. It is a dream come true, a quiet life, a family, a golden retriever in the comfy safe, clean and well-functioning house in the quiet neighbourhood, close to the central station... READ
The plan to create a vibrant administrative centre has not been fulfilled until today. The WTC complex, despite downsizing from eight two three towers, has never reached itâs full working capacity. Even more, around 11% of office space in the district remains empty... READ
David Bernstein, Obsessys: Objects for Touching and Talking, 2018, installation view.Man-made creations of different shapes and textures are accompanying our lives ever since we are born. An intrinsic need of contact with rounded edges, artificial body shapes, skin-like textures or prosthetic objects lies in human early development. Why do we need to keep them close?
Obsessys are small sculptures for touching and talking. They take influence from 'Playing and Reality' a book by a paediatrician and psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott written in 1971. Winnicott provides extensive interpretations based on his observations of relations with possessions manifested by babies and young children seeking for instruments and devices from their early developmental stages.
DAVID BERNSTEIN (*1988, San Antonio, Texas) is an artist based in Brussels and Amsterdam. He combines performance, sculpture, and writing to tell stories through objects. An important part of Davidâs practice is to create haptic objects that become activated through storytelling and touch â
PHOTO by MATHIAS PRENEN, detail © MATHIAS PRENEN, 2017The market has given up the space, inspiring its transformation into a studio. There, a gathering of same-generation artists takes place, using different techniques as they pursue their research. From painting through sculpture and assemblage to video and photography, each artist, rooted in one technique, cultivates an open attitude that cross-pollinates each otherâs media. A constructive emulsion grows up through discussions exchanging invisible waves circulating time by time through the entire garage, as organic treasures in a cave.
GUEST ROOMS invites you to Auderghem, Brussels where four artists âBENJAMIN VERHOEVEN, MARIE-FLEUR LEFEBVRE, MATHIAS PRENEN, WIM DE PAUW â moved their work into a large former Volkswagen showroom and its adjacent garage â
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Marie-Fleur Lefebvre, Untitled (Fausse Alerte), 2017, installation view,-2017,-installation-view.-Courtesy-of-the-artist-©-Guest-Rooms.jpg)
Marie-Fleur Lefebvre, Untitled (Fausse Alerte), 2017, installation view.Loosely set upon a marble fire place. A piece of black cloth and a screen, that lightens them from the other side. They are physical remains of rituals and at the same time escape the connection to another mental dimension created by transparent matter.
The âskin depositsâ as MARIE-FLEUR LEFEBVRE calls her sample works, come from her performative-painting studio practice. We present and rearrange them in the course of reading sessions. The artist works with painting, drawing, sculpture and photography. Her recent work was presented at Waldburger Wouters and Komplot in Brussels. She studied in Ecole Nationale SupĂ©rieur des Beaux-Arts de Paris (studio of Jean-Michel AlberolĂ ) and is the laureate of HISK Higher Institute of Fine Arts in Gent (2014â2015) â
Marie-Fleur Lefebvre, Fighting Is Embracing, 2017âFlyingâ by ADRIAN PIPER (1982) comes as a continuation of reading sessions unfolding in the new temporary location of GUEST ROOMS in the bustling area of Saint Gilles in Brussels. The text follows a previous series âThe Mythic Beingâ created by the artist between 1972 and 1975, addressing multiple issues around race and gender. It is also about the abstraction of the Self, through the embodiment of a stereotype persona. Piper is a conceptual artist and philosopher specialising in Kantâs philosophy, and especially his âCritique of the Pure Reasonâ. Piperâs philosophy and artistic practices are intertwined. After having worked within Conceptual Art, she developed her practice regarding the issues of feminism, race and xenophobia, especially in the United States. âThe Probable Trust Registry: The Rules of the Game #1-3â presented at the Venice Biennial 2015 addressed broader issues of humanist utopias.
The reading is introduced by HĂLĂNE JACQUES who graduated from Curatorial Studies program at KASK School of Arts in Gent following her studies in Art History at the UniversitĂ© catholique de Louvain, where she focused on Adrian Piper, whose body took a central position in the artist's own work since the beginning, and later on, when it increasingly removed itself, giving the space for the spectator's body.
We would extend our thanks to ADRIAN PIPER, APRA Foundation, Berlin â
GUEST ROOMS unfolds in the bustling area of Saint Gilles in Brussels with the series of reading sessions. For this very first meeting, we focus on a text 'Dehumanisation through Decomposition' coming from the recent book 'Necros: An Introduction to the Ontology of Human Dead Body and Remains' by a Polish historian Prof. EWA DOMANSKA (Adam Mickiewicz University at Poznan, Stanford University). Her teaching and research interests include comparative theory of the human and social sciences, history and theory of historiography, ecological humanities, genocide and ecocides studies. In her book, she offers a post-anthropocentric and ecological perspective on life after death, posing questions such as: When a human being ceases to be able to recognise the dead body as a human body? What can the remains, considered as organic collective subjects, tell about the multispecies identity, relational subjectivity and community of organic matter? How do changing social and cultural norms, such as rising ecological awareness, influence the approach towards the remains?
The reading is introduced by a body researcher GAJA KAROLCZAK, alumna of Science of Performative Creativity in Malta and Rome, and a.pass program in Brussels, where she inquired into the nature of phantomic sensation through somatic approach, now dealing with alternative education modalities and communities co-creating meaning. She co-founded Sense of Movement Foundation and co-leads Grupa SamoczytajÄ
ca reading group in Poznan. Currently also a practitioner of Structural Integration.
We would extend our thanks to Prof. EWA DOMANSKA who chose one of her texts for our reading session. â
Hrafnhildur HelgadĂłttir, Millennium Fall, Meet Me at The Metro Station, Amsterdam Heemstedestraat, 2017, exhibition view © GUEST ROOMSStay at home. This is where your job is. Technology made this possible, you lucky one! â says a leaflet lying on the table â Never set a foot out of this palace of leisure labor. No, you donât want Swedish corporate products. You detest the smell of exploitation. It's not what you want to see. You are willing to bring on that extra cash for a more ethical and clean experience. No regrets â