Curatorial Studies

The temporary organisation Bodies of Work is coming to life in Kunsthal Extra City's chapel. During the summer of 2022, it will fill the space with six different exhibitions and events co-curated by the students of the Curatorial Studies class of 2022 at KASK & Conservatorium/ School of Arts.

Participating artists Kristina Sedlerova Villanen, Franciska Khamis Giacoman, Yuri Leiderman, Hamed Dehqan, Eva Giolo, Eva L’Hoest, Mélanie Peduzzi, Alise Anna Dzirniece & Jānis Dzirnieks (in order of appearance).

Curated by Josue Aliendre Carvani, Natalia Barczyńska, Valentina Bianchi, Myrna D’Ambrosio, Minne De Meyer Engelbeen, Amanda Hakoköngäs, Arno Huygens, Anna Laganovska, Yasaman Tamizkar, Alexandra Tryanova, Adriënne van der Werf, Bas Verwaetermeulen, 2021-22 class of the Curatorial Studies postgraduate programme at KASK & Conservatorium in Ghent.

Bodies of Work is a collaboration between Curatorial Studies at KASK & Conservatorium in Ghent and Kunsthal Extra City.

What does it mean for bodies of water to hold other bodies of water? Should this holding and gestating be considered forms of labour? In what ways can the experience of maternity be lived today?

Following the poetics of hydrocommons proposed by Astrida Neimanis and Sophie Lewis’ amniotechnics, the workshop explored the environmental significance of motherhood and the political ramifications of gestation. Through the reading of relevant texts, and the screening of video works by Eva Giolo, Eva L’Hoest, and Mélanie Peduzzi, the participants were invited to reflect upon contemporary questions about pregnancy and caregiving and share their own experiences. Some of the themes that emerged were: being a mother to other bodies of water, posthuman gestationality, care, motherhood, and the concepts of holding and of gestation.

The final output of the workshop manifested as a zine made from excerpts and fragments of the conversations that emerged during the process. Remnants of the workshop were displayed together with the three aforementioned films and the zine. By visiting the exhibition and flipping through the zine the public was able to enter the same atmosphere that welcomed the first participants ideally.

Curated by
Valentina Bianchi, Natalia Barczyńska

Scenography
Minne De Meyer Engelbeen

Graphic Design
Bodies of Work

Biographies

Eva L’Hoest (°Liège, 1991) produces films and installations about our ancestral connection with water and the human collective memory. L’Hoest graduated from the Master approfondi ULG-ESAVL, Liège (Belgium) in 2015, and her work was recently been shown at Centre d’Art Contemporain de Meymac (France) and at the Rivus, Biennale of Sydney (Australia).

Eva Giolo’s (°Brussels, 1991) is an audio-visual artist working in film, video, and installation. Her work focuses on the female experience, employing experimental and documentary strategies to explore themes of intimacy, permanence and memory, along with the analysis of language and semiotics. Her work has been exhibited at Sadie Coles HQ, WIELS, MAXXI, GEM, M HKA, Kunsthalle Wien and major film festivals like Rotterdam, FIDMarseille and Cinéma du Réel. She is a founding member of the production and distribution platform elephy.

Mélanie Peduzzi (°Brittany, 1989) is a Belgian artist, who graduated from ENSAV La Cambre in 2013, and works between writing, performance and photography. She develops work protocols that question imposed norms and the power of representation in contemporary, unequal society through actions and images based mainly on her own body. Peduzzi has co-created Les Habitant. e.s des images, an active platform between art, society and politics.