From 30 September until 1 October, a modern hotel in Brussels will transform into a temporary art fair. During this weekend, Moxy Brussels City Center will be more than just a place to stay: it becomes a stage for video art. During AROUND VIDEO Art Fair, the variation within the medium is highlighted in the presentations of 40 galleries from all over the world (from Paris and Venice to Istanbul and New York) in addition to the work of seven guest artists. It results in a fascinating mosaic of diverse perspectives and themes. The fair also includes three presentations from galleries that are represented on GalleryViewer: AKINCI, Josilda da Conceição Gallery and FRED&FERRY.
FRED&FERRY x Thomas Verstraeten
FRED&FERRY presents a very personal video artwork by Thomas Verstraeten, who recreated the street where he lives in life-size from cardboard. He had his neighbours reenact thirty-five true events from 2020 - an exceptional year after all - in a six-hour performance. The video artwork is based on this performance and shows us life in this street, spread over four seasons.
Verstraeten: "In September 2021 I created 'Familiestraat'. Familiestraat was about the truly extraordinary, but also perfectly normal street where I live and work in Antwerp, Belgium. This unremarkable street is located right in the heart of the Seefhoek, one of the most vibrant and diverse parts of the city. During the bizarre year 2020, I tried to inventory and describe everyday life in Familiestraat. In order to then seek out the relationship between what is happening in the street, and what is going on in the world at the same moment. Does the butterfly effect really exist? Someone who drops a flowerpot from their window may unconsciously be setting in motion another worldly event. For this performance, I built a life-size replica of Familiestraat in cardboard. At the head of it was a grandstand. Spectacular theatrical resources - lighting, sound, music, scenery, special effects, rain - were deployed to turn humdrum occurrences into drama, thereby juxtaposing the little human being with a big, majestic, uncontrollable environment. Together with 250 local residents I created a six-hour performance in which a whole year passed by. From cold winter nights to sultry summer evenings. Familiestraat was a performance about the influence of the big on the small and vice versa. A poetic and fragile attempt to understand life."
At AROUND VIDEO Art Fair, AKINCI will show the video work "Rolling Mountains Dream" by Lungiswa Gqunta, whose work was recently on display at the Centraal Museum in Utrecht and during the Liverpool Biennial. She was also shortlisted this year for an installation on New York's famous High Line. The South African artist explores the elusive world of dreams in her work. She considers these dreams to be a place where significant knowledge can be gained, knowledge that is overlooked or excluded in other places. The video work "Rolling Mountains Dream" refers to remembering and learning from dreams.
Tip: her work can also be seen in the gallery in Amsterdam until 7 October, in a remarkable solo exhibition that we previously wrote about, and until 15 October in a group exhibition at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin.
Josilda da Conceição Gallery x Quintus Glerum
Josilda da Conceição Gallery brings the video artwork "Don't Add Grapefruit" by Quintus Glerum to AROUND VIDEO Art Fair, an animated film series that presents life as an animated series, simplifying human complexities into cartoon characters.
Glerum: "Ever since I could remember I have adopted this cartoon duplicate of life. I could endlessly recycle old memories through a cinematic lens, not just for the sake of nostalgia or trauma, but to act out what could have happened. Reality twisted into a cluster of possibilities. The overwhelming amount of storylines distorted my grip on reality. The impact of small events could extend to such extremes that it quickly becomes too much to bare. How can one be more aware of its surroundings and yet be completely disconnected from it simultaneously? ‘Don’t Add Grapefruit’ is a series of animated films in which I process said experiences. The videos follows the daily life of a cartoon character. While displaying excerpts of his daily life, he seems unable to connect with his environment. Hyperawareness locks him into the moment, reshaping him from a protagonist to a passive side-character."
Tip: also take a look at the presentations of Dürst Britt & Mayhew and JOEY RAMONE.
Opening hours AROUND VIDEO Art Fair (free admission)
(Friday 29 September 14.00-22.00 — invite only)
Saturday 30 September 14.00-19.00
Sunday 1 October 14.00-18.00