there is ice in justice.
there is row in growth.
…and there is my artwork „Code 1.1“ on a gallery wall in Antwerp right now:
The exhibition is „CCO1“, in Tique gallery. My work is the first on the left side in the photo, in the frame.
I am excited about it, but also a bit melancholic. This is the note I wrote on instagram on the day of the opening:
„Happy and sad… is my mood today. Happy that one of my works is part of the „CC01“ exhibition at Tique Art Space in Antwerp. Sad that Antwerp is far from here. So it’s not really possible for me to be there. I hope to see some pictures of the exhibition in the next days. It feels somehow unreal today, our digital/real/long distance/small world. Sending good vibes and thanks to the @multipliedopencall team from this corner of Europe :)“
The really nice thing is that the multiplied team shared a series of photos from the exhibition. Here’s another, from the opening:
And here’s more about the exhibition and the „C/ODE“:
„../CC01 thrives to connect artists who use writing as part of their artistic practise … writings will be on showcase and audiences will be invited to copy, modify, adapt, appropriate, comment, and leave behind another version of the modified text“
That is the concept of …/C01 (Carbon Copy), an art project by Multiplied from Belgium, inspired by samizdat, an underground self-publishing network that originated in Soviet Eastern European countries. It draws a parallel to those censored times that leadt to hand-copied texts, which blurred the traditional role of the author, reader, editor, publisher and bookseller and today’s literary climate which on one side still sees a very traditional take on these roles in the offline world. Yet there is the other side: „online there is a similar shift happening: once published on the worldwide web content can be easily copied, modified, and circulated in ways beyond our control.“
When I read the call, it struck a note in my mind and my thoughts kept circling back to it. They had a set of prepared layout pages to start with, and one of them had a cross-word like touch, which brought the impulse to „C/ODE“ – a play with words and slogans, with the double meaning of a text when you alter just some single letters.
I submitted „C/ODE“ via snail mail as requested. Some days later, they had a photo up on their insta page with the pile of letters of submission, followed by another post: „First selection, the yes pile“ – and looking at it, I spotted my letter there.
Sometime snail mail is just fab, adds a layer of real-life-happening to things.
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And two museum moments:
This week our photo group went on a local artt trip to Stuttgart, to see the Kubus photo exhibition / art prize – 4 photographers on 3 floors,from sky to meta photography, more about the photography and the prize: Kubus Kunstpreis.
Earlier this month I visited the „Good Spaces“ exhibition in the gallery Villa Merkel, which itself definitely is a good space itself, and gave the impulse for some photo experiments.
From art to nature: I went on a forest walk, and now keep returning to it. Walking there feels like this is a nature installation with all the green light.
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