Invited curator |

Belgium owes its existence in 1830 to a compromise aimed at neutralising territorial conflicts among the surrounding powers France, Holland, England and Germany. It's an artificial concoction, the seed of a confrontation between the Latin and the Germanic worlds that subsequently developed into an unseemly cultural hybrid. After 170 years of inter-cultural confrontation, conflict and compromise Belgium however has long ceased to be artificial. It has a distinctive history. It has a fully-fledged, distinctive culture that would not exist where it not for such idiosyncratic citizens as Hergé, Margritte, Brel or Broodthaers. Yet, even more to the point, without the "historic accident" that is Belgium, that culture would never have seen the light. The Belgium hybrid is simply a culture in its own right and one that is very much alive. The video scene testifies that. It's a hybrid art where most diverse forms, approaches or strategies meet. Nor proper codes, nor a proper language were ever developed. One of the reasons is that video in Belgium never had a smooth relationship with the institutions. Since there are no specific subsidisation-channels for this kind of activity - nor state or region supported production centres - the history of Belgian self-willed, renewing production has always been written by the more adventurers' artists from a variety of backgrounds. It's impossible to pigeonhole video from Belgium into a single common term. The present programme, a cross selection of works produced over recent years, illustrates this eclecticism.

The multitude of cross-overs with other art-disciplines is typical: contemporary visual arts (Albers), dance (De Bemels, Meyer & Schaerf), electronic music (Hänzel & Gretzel), architecture (D'Haeseleer)...

Characteristic about the Belgian production is the particular, inalienable universe each of these represent. In "Lost Nation" Johan Grimonprez ironically defies the notion of globalism. In "File" Kurt D'Haeseleer destratifies reality and evokes society as a flow of matter-energy. In "Scrub Solo 1" Antonin De Bemels scratches and re-works in a DJ manner slow motion images of dancer Bud Blumenthal. With moving mirror elements Eva Meyer and Eran Schaerf play out in "Record I love you" play out against each other spatial and video codes. If you really want to point out a characteristic linking up all these productions, then it must be their deeply rooted rejection of academism in all its forms combined with a disdain for mass media - often translated in a subtle perversion of these media. By standing out with their imaginative ideas and their zest to create unconventional ideas Belgian video makers created a labyrinth of poetic survival in its own right. Video in Belgium is one of the countries most animated sections of art-production of the last decade.

artists

Works

Curator's text

LABYRINTH OF POETICAL SURVIVAL: RECENT BELGIAN VIDEO

Belgium owes its existence in 1830 to a compromise aimed at neutralising territorial conflicts among the surrounding powers France, Holland, England and Germany. It's an artificial concoction, the seed of a confrontation between the Latin and the Germanic worlds that subsequently developed into an unseemly cultural hybrid. After 170 years of inter-cultural confrontation, conflict and compromise Belgium however has long ceased to be artificial. It has a distinctive history. It has a fully-fledged, distinctive culture that would not exist where it not for such idiosyncratic citizens as Hergé, Margritte, Brel or Broodthaers. Yet, even more to the point, without the "historic accident" that is Belgium, that culture would never have seen the light. The Belgium hybrid is simply a culture in its own right and one that is very much alive. The video scene testifies that. It's a hybrid art where most diverse forms, approaches or strategies meet. Nor proper codes, nor a proper language were ever developed. One of the reasons is that video in Belgium never had a smooth relationship with the institutions. Since there are no specific subsidisation-channels for this kind of activity - nor state or region supported production centres - the history of Belgian self-willed, renewing production has always been written by the more adventurers' artists from a variety of backgrounds. It's impossible to pigeonhole video from Belgium into a single common term. The present programme, a cross selection of works produced over recent years, illustrates this eclecticism.

The multitude of cross-overs with other art-disciplines is typical: contemporary visual arts (Albers), dance (De Bemels, Meyer & Schaerf), electronic music (Hänzel & Gretzel), architecture (D'Haeseleer)...

Characteristic about the Belgian production is the particular, inalienable universe each of these represent. In "Lost Nation" Johan Grimonprez ironically defies the notion of globalism. In "File" Kurt D'Haeseleer destratifies reality and evokes society as a flow of matter-energy. In "Scrub Solo 1" Antonin De Bemels scratches and re-works in a DJ manner slow motion images of dancer Bud Blumenthal. With moving mirror elements Eva Meyer and Eran Schaerf play out in "Record I love you" play out against each other spatial and video codes. If you really want to point out a characteristic linking up all these productions, then it must be their deeply rooted rejection of academism in all its forms combined with a disdain for mass media - often translated in a subtle perversion of these media. By standing out with their imaginative ideas and their zest to create unconventional ideas Belgian video makers created a labyrinth of poetic survival in its own right. Video in Belgium is one of the countries most animated sections of art-production of the last decade.

(13th Videobrasil catalogue) ASSOCIAÇÃO CULTURAL VIDEOBRASIL, " 13º Festival Internacional de Arte Eletrônica Videobrasil" [13th Videobrasil International Electronic Art Festival]:19 to 23 September 2001, pp.187, São Paulo, SP, 2001