turning the negative into positive

detail of 23 DAYS

Next month is the 4th edition of the artists' studio tour in Leuven-Belgium.

This is the third time I join in, I skipped last year to go and visit the studios myself. This years' edition has a surplus. All the participating artists were asked to make a work on the theme 'derailment', works that will be exhibited during a whole month in the many cafes and pubs of this student city.

I am not so good in having to make a work with a theme that is imposed without further explanation of how and why this subject is chosen, a subject that has a negative meaning. On top of that, when I was paying a visit to the pub I was assigned to - to get some inspiration - the owner/barkeeper did not have a clue what I was talking about and did not seem too enthusiastic about the idea. This was definitely a wrong start.

I waited weeks to get the negative feeling out of my head, but there was no escape.

The commission for this work came just after the Gaza war. Still in shock of the disconcerting figures of the casualties, I decided to make my work about this.

23 DAYS

Burned wooden panel (symbolising destruction) 160 cm x 80 cm

a green dot for each killed Palestinian

a red dot for each killed Israeli

---------------------------------------------------------

Many Israelis are against the oppressing politics of their country creating extremists on both sides. We personally know Palestinians and Europeans living in the occupied territories who really want to turn their despair and frustration of daily humiliation into positive actions. Trying to give children - we easily forget that this is the next generation in charge of our future society - a chance to a brighter future and positive self-esteem. With very humble means they run a Circus School for children. One of the results of this positive plan is that children no longer play war in the streets as they used to, but play circus and show their tricks to other children and thus spread a positive vibe.

The following pictures are taken during rehearsals of the show 'Circus Behind the Wall' that teachers of the Palestinian Circus School play while on tour.

http://www.palcircus.ps/
http://www.kunstroute-leuven.be/

kunstmanifestatie - part 3 - sculpture, assemblage

Last Saturday.
Dutch artist Josje Schroot opens her house to the public. She frequently has exhibitions of other artists in her private home. This edition is a festive occasion : it is 5 years now that she has this temporary gallery. Most of the artists that have exhibited here in the past have works displayed.

assemblage by Josje Schroot

Evangelis Cotrotsos

Liesbeth van der Hoek

wooden sculptures by Johannes Kuyvenhoven

I particularely loved these, I could not stop stroking the voluptuous curves on these solid wooden poles

And the chair I made (and bought to get it back) for the chairproject is displayed here. Josje has adopted the project for the Palestinian Circus School and will launch it in the Netherlands.

chairproject - exhibition

Dialoog - Dialogue

the current political situation in Belgium

I wanted a big cactus with huge needles in the center part of the work but I could not find one in such a short time.
SOLD

set in the large stables of the former colony

4 of my chairs are SOLD

more HERE

the chair project supports the Palestinian Circus School

all posts on the art tour Kunst op het Hof : HERE

packed and ready for transport

18 chairs wrapped, packed and sealed ... ready for transport
tomorrow is the setup for the exhibition and these are for the chair project

all posts on the art tour - Kunst op het Hof : HERE

more ... chairs

dessine-moi une chaise

another one for the chair project to raise funds for the circus school, it will be exhibited and hopefully sold during the art tour Kunst op het Hof in July


before the restyling , heavy red laquer - badly painted - and a seat covered in flimsy fabric. It took a whole lot of scraping to get this one into its original state, a heavy, sturdy oak chair in good condition.

chair project continued

Ceramic artist Anita Huybens' chair project, raising funds to finance equipment for the Palestinian Circus school mobilised many other people to join in. Last weekend was the exhibition of Asseoir l'Espoir in Liège - Belgium, the second part of this project in the Walloon part of the country. More information on future Walloon exhibitions is found here (in French).

chair project for circus school

Everywhere you look these days you see deer(s) in interior design. On every blog about interior design or in every magazine you will see them on walls, ceilings, crockery, linen ... in all kinds of material you can imagine....
So here is my contribution to this deermania - a one of a kind chair made by a local artist, for sale at a ridiculous low price : 50 euro.

Chairs made by artists, creatives, students ...

These are only a few from the hundreds of chairs that were exhibited yesterday. Not quality pictures, but then the circumstances are not the best. Lighting is poor, chairs standing close to each other, people walking in between.

The exhibition was a great success, set in a very nice environment.

Asseoir l'espoir - chairproject

Anita Huybens' chairproject continued

info on http://www.pac-g.be/

text will be clearer to read,

I'm not good enough in computer techniques to get this posted in a better way

This chair is NOT one of the chairs that are for sale this weekend, but I don't have any photos available of them. This is one of my chairs I made for the same project last year, it was a BIG succes.

Voor de nederlandstaligen is er HIER nog een extra link i.v.m. het optreden in Antwerpen.

de Palestijnse Circusschool komt naar België

“Circus Behind the Wall” in Europa

De Palestijnse Cirkusschool reist naar Belgie en Frankrijk tussen 2 en 17 februari 2008. Komt dat zien!!

Het hoofd biedend aan de vele obstakels verbonden met onderdrukking van de geschiedenis, identiteit en culturele beleving, geeft de Palestijnse Cirkusschool vorm aan iets geheel nieuws. Ze biedt de Palestijnse bevolking de kans een nieuw artistiek terrein te ontdekken dat daarvoor enkele gekend was van TV of een sporadisch bezoek uit Europa. Een wereld van verwondering en plezier die niet langer een verre droom of een toevallige passage is, maar omgetoverd wordt tot een nieuwe vorm van verzet tegen bezetting en opsluiting. Een medicijn tegen wanhoop en passiviteit. Een nieuwe deur naar leven en het recht op bestaan.
De idee voor de voorstelling "Circus Behind the Wall" is volledig gebaseerd op het dagelijkse leven van de palestijnen waarin scheiding de hoofdrol speelt. Afgesneden van hun land, hun water, hun families, hun geliefden en hun verleden door een apartheidsmuur. Twee zussen die van elkaar gescheiden worden, geliefden die geen weg naar elkaar meer vinden, een volk dat niet terug kan naar zijn land. Maar alle objecten in bereik in het cirkus worden bruggen van communicatie. Jongleeracts, een trapeze of stelten kruipen over de muur heen. Acrobaten of clowns dansen het leven. De muur breekt hun wil om te leven, te creeren, te communiceren, te dromen en te blijven vechten voor een vrij land niet. Circus Behind te Wall vertolkt het geloof dat op een dag de muur zal vallen.

De Palestijnse Cirkusschool opende haar deuren in augustus 2006 en na drie weken werken met 10 studenten was de basis voor Circus Behind the Wall geleverd. In februari 2007 ging de school van start in een eigen zaaltje in Ramallah en kwamen er heel wat kinderen bij. Ook in Hebron en Jenin zijn er ondertussen wekelijkse sessies met een groep kinderen.
In de show:
- Sereen Touqan
- Marah Ashmar
- Mays Yousef
- Majd Yousef
- Adham Nu’man
- Nayef Othman
- Fadi Zmorrod,
- Shadi Zmorrod, oprichter en director van de show
- Atallah Tarazi, voor de techniek

Data en locaties van de voorstellingen


- Zondag 3 februari, om 18u in Momes Circus, Avenue Leray 33, in 7500 Tournai (http://www.momescircus.be/)

- Donderdag 7 februari om 19u30 in De Roma, Turnhoutsebaan 286, 2140 Borgerhout - Antwerpen (http://www.deroma.be/)

- Zaterdag 9 februari om 20u30 in L’ecole de Cirque de Bruxelles, Rue Picard 13, 1000 Brussels (http://www.ecoledecirquedebruxelles.be/)

Voor reservaties / tickets kan u terecht op de respectievelijke locaties.

Ons bezoek aan Belgie wordt gecoordineerd door de Hallen van Schaerbeek (http://www.halles.be/) in het kader van MASARAT, het Palestijnse culturele seizoen; in samenwerking met P.A.C., Progrès Action Culturelles (http://www.pac-g.be/) en ESAC, Ecole Superieure des Arts de Cirque (http://www.esac.be/) en kan rekenen op de financiele steun van de CGRI.

Tijdens hun verblijf worden de studenten verwelkomd voor een stage van drie dagen in ESAC.

Onze voorstelling in Doornik kadert ook in het project van P.A.C.: “Assoir l‘espoir”, een sensibiliserings en fondsenwervende actie voor de Palestijnse Cirkusschool aan de hand van de verkoop van artistieke stoelen in Brussel, Doornik, Luik en Bergen.


Meer informatie over de cirkusschool vind je op http://www.palcircus.ps/
Ons contacteren kan op: info@palcircus.ps

chairs for circus school

The chair project initiated by my neighbour, ceramic artist Anita Huybens, raised funds for the Palestinian Circus School.

Last September, I invited a few very enthusiastic artistic and creative people in my studio to make the first chairs for the project. The vibe spread like a virus, in the end more than 400 artists (500? we lost count) joined the project. The craziest chairs popped up from everywhere. The happening in March where the chairs were for sale was a huge success and it was a memorable day for all the people involved. The last chairs are waiting for a new home.


update 2 february 2008

other enthusiastic, creative and artistic people continue the project

more chairs here