PLATFORM for ALGAE DIPLOMACY

Reading room / Roots in hot tub Eggwrack & Déjeuner sur Ostend Plage entre la Colonie de phoques gris

Filip Van Dingenen & Hélène Meyer

Saturday 16:00-18:00
Sunday 12:00-14:00

Together with Waldburger Wouters.

In collaboration with Monokino, Pleasure Island will host part of the SHHH Film Festival for the second time.

03, 04, 05.09.2021 & 10, 11, 12.09.2021
10:00 – 18:00

In the original Pleasure Island (Nieuwpoortsesteenweg 133) an exhibition will be highlighting the EXPRMNTL festival back in 1960-1970 organised by Ledoux. The exhibition is curated by Xavier Garcia Bardon and will be showing works by Tony Conrad, Marcel Broodthaers, Philippe Van Snick, Paul Sharits, Boris Lehman and Eric Andersen.

In the new Pleasure Island (51°13'30.3"N, 2°53'48.7"E) a sound installation will be presented by Erien Withouck.

MOLLIFY, JOLLIFY, OSSIFY: joint drawings by Lysandre Begijn and Floris Hoorelbeke

This series of about thirty drawings is the result of a collaboration between Lysandre Begijn and Floris Hoorelbeke through correspondence via Bpost during and between lockdowns in 2020. One set of drawings was started by Begijn, while another set was begun by Hoorelbeke. Improvising onto the drawing that was done first, while paying attention not to become too overwhelming in the process, allowed for a natural balance to occur. There was no preconceived design. One only had to follow his or her own intuition.

Before this artistic encounter both artists had never met in real life. They followed each other’s work through social network platforms such as Instagram. It is only after the completion of the series that a first personal encounter emerged. This artistic dialogue took place purely on the terms of a reciprocal fascination for each other’s visual language and an intuitive approach.

The sheet of paper is a meeting place, an arena where two intuitive worlds meet. These collective drawings are the result of an investigation into a visual tension between two opposite poles. While a soft, feminine touch predominates in Lysandre Begijn’s drawing, Floris Hoorelbeke’s drawing is characterised by repetitive speed and a kind of asemic writing, a wordless open semantic form of writing. Nature and human condition are central to the work of Begijn. In her drawing often a face, drafted by squiggles and a soft touch, seems to take shape. The sheet of paper becomes a mask, investigates a metaphysical quality. Nervous repetitive jitters dominate in the drawing of Hoorelbeke who works fast and energetically. His scratchy scribbles, which are not without evoking the obsessive drawing of Henri Michaux, seem to whirl outside the paper’s border in some kind of frenzy. Elements of outsider art are detectable in a vocabulary that can be associated with the écriture automatique reminiscent of Christian Dotremont. Hoorelbeke also makes experimental music, pointing into the direction that his drawings can be read as experimental music scores.

The more concrete formal input of Begijn makes that portraits or faces seem to appear. Yet, the metaphysical aspect transcends the physical. The subconscious is present in the personae of her masks, her faces. The exploration of the subconscious in Floris Hoorelbeke’s drawings hides in the scratched staccato. It is on this subconscious level that both artists meet.

While Begijn’s formal language is more restricted to the page, Hoorelbeke’s opens up the page. Out of this tension the drawings receive their own identities. The rhythm and the energy that freely flows between the feminine form and the male gesture, and the continuity of repetition and movement, has a conjuring effect. A fusion or symbiosis between two visual languages occurs. It are two stories told simultaneously or a joint story told by two narrators.

What is of interest here is the chemistry that occurs between two visual languages. Both artists develop as they go their own ‘writing’ style in drawing, which leads to a collaborative form of visual poetry.

— Georges Petitjean

With manners of the ghost, we read this sentence as follows: it is the cargo who drives from the corner of the window frame to end up just behind the curtains – this sentence does not stretch in proportion towards his own length. In a trice, the car still shimmers in the windows of the marketplace, so to speak about the car... – it won’t get any further. Vehicle? Do you already have a plan?

Welcome to the New Rituals spa retreat where our purpose is the creation of harmonious moments of pure joy and peace through interaction with stimulating artworks. Our program is specially tailored to pay hommage to the world’s age-old traditions and colourful rituals. To make your experience as comfortable as possible a structured spiritual guide is in place to direct you through this mediative experience. You will be guided through five rooms by our in house guru, each room representing a spiritual element carefully selected by us.

Voor Gorge, result of a a short residency of a number of masters' students and master's promoters at Sint-Lukas Visual Arts Ghent (LUCA School of Arts): Kiki Abels, Eline Adriaensen, Nico Couwels, Roel Kerkhofs, Zoé Lejour, Jelle Martens, Ingrid Raymaekers, Pauline Vandersypt.