Benedict Vandaele
Sharing enthusiasm
Somewhere in Between
From 20 June to 19 August 2018, the exhibition Somewhere in Between ran in BOZAR. As a student of Curatorial Studies, I had an opportunity to participate in this project.
‘The exhibition brings together the multiple realities of art practices from all over Europe. It is both a meditation on Europeanness and an attempt to gather stories, experiences, relations and encounters from a wide range of artists, curators and other engaged individuals. BOZAR gives carte blanche to five artistic constellations: Brussels-based art spaces Etablissement d’en face, Komplot and La Loge; KASK School of Arts (Ghent) and its Kunstenbibliotheek and students of Curatorial Studies; and the Orient project presented in collaboration with Kim? Contemporary Art Center (Riga) and Bunkier Sztuki (Kraków) curated by Michal Novotný. Together they engage in a journey seen from a point in space and time, constructed with artists chosen not upon nationality but via relation. Somewhere in Between provides a unique window on today’s artistic hotbeds of Europe, it’s developments and conversations across the continent, from Brussels to Riga, from Prague to Athens, from Kraków to Lisbon, from Tbilisi to Rotterdam,… These alliances are indicative of today’s European art scenes where artists roam freely, without the geographic restrictions or institutional constraints that once defined the continent.’
As my contribution to this project, I carried out an archival research on the historical Triennales of Bruges. The selected fascinating objects and archival materials were later displayed in BOZAR under the title The Historical Triennales of Bruges: Souvenirs from the Archive
‘The first three Triennales of Bruges (1968, 1971, 1974) presented an overview of emerging tendencies in Belgian art. The Triennale played a crucial role in informing the public about these new developments, in the near-total absence of museums for modern and contemporary art in Belgium at the time. Through catalogues, photographs, printed matter and a significant artwork on loan from a private collection, this presentation reminds us of a turbulent, fascinating and key moment in Belgian art history.’
ARTIST
Raoul De Keyser, Pol Mara, Roger Raveel, Balder, Willy Plompen
CURATOR
Benedict Vandaele
PRACTICAL
Somewhere in between
The historical Triennales of Bruges: souvenirs from the archive
20 Juni - 19 August 2018
Bozar
Brussels
MEDIA
