In this second edition about skin, AbsurdBeings introduced a lecture programme and talks to stimulate the discourse around the themes touched upon by the exhibited works. Especially with a subject as charged as the topic of skin, the curatorial team felt the need to give a voice to a broad spectrum of people who would enrich the works on show with their own experiences, expertise and view.
The round space of the Kunstkapel, once a fully operating chapel, is also reminiscent of an amphitheatre which, apart from being a location for entertainment, is historically known as a place of learning and reflecting on life.
By locating the place of discussion in the middle of the exhibition space, in the eye of the storm if you will, the surrounding works became silent witnesses to the conversation while embodying and forming the backdrop to the discourse. This format enabled the exhibited works to enrich the discourse and vice versa. The climax of the discourse took place during an open conversation between the invited speakers, exhibiting artists and the visitors in which a unique culmination of different voices resulted in interesting encounters such as: a blind man and a person practicing bondage having a conversation about consent and touch, a writer and a photographer addressing the private and public aspects of skin and a black woman and a blind man talking about color of skin.
Elena Braida, Krisztina Czika, Laura Dubourjal, Vita Evangelista, Elizaveta Federmesser, Madelief Geus, Sjoerd Houben, Anne Lakeman, Daan Muller, Bodil Ouédraogo, Mirre Yayla Seur, Margherita Soldati, Emma Walch, Meret Zimmermann
Rita Ouédraogo
Piet Devos
Clement Gagliano
Dieuwertje Hehewerth
Bear Silver
Carly Rose Bedford (Moderator)
“I am a tool of gentrification”, experimental documentary series by Lyuba Matyunina