CC Strombeek magazine 2021 - 2022

Sam Durant, Nel Maertens, An Roovers, Hadassa Ngamba, Elen Braga & Sadrie Alves, Obi Okigbo, Jurgen Ots, Michel François & Douglas Eynon, Shirley Villavicencio Pizango, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Louise Lawler, Yi Zhang, Noah Latif Lamp, Rachel Rose, Lumbung Film, Michael Dean, Nástio Mosquito, Bárbara Prada, Filip Van Dingenen & Hélène Meyer, Emile Rubino, Performing Objects, Sandra Hauser, Kristien Daem

© photo by Rachel Rose

CC STROMBEEK | 2021 – 2022

Similarly to the public librar y and the neighbourhood’s swimming pool, cultural centres are the beating heart of local communities, rays of artistic enlightenment and social advancement for the many different layers of the population.

Indeed, far from being the pompous and pretentious premise of, say, a museum or a contemporar y art galler y, cultural centres fulfil the crucial mission of making culture accessible to all, irrespective of origin, class, age, gender, or geographical location, striving for social cohesion through the arts.

The undisputed unsung heroes of the neighbourhood, these beacons of cultural empowerment remain a crucial and necessar y function of the social landscape, one that, despite increasingly brutal budget cuts, continues to ser ve both the countr y and its people.

from THE WORD Magazine, Neighbourhood Heroes: Best for cultural centres, 2018

CC Strombeek enables space for nurturing and harvesting artist’s ambitions, creating compelling exhibitions with impact for current and future generations.

CC Strombeek’s arts programme is the result of trustful relationships and a long-standing dialogue with the contemporary arts community.

CC Strombeek wants to move emotions, within the pace of everyday life. We believe in the power of slowing-down and long-lasting meaning by sharing radical artists’ voices.

CC Strombeek is an art space celebrating risk taking, intimacy, successes and failures in artists’ practices on the periphery of Brussels, Belgium.

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CC STROMBEEK MAGAZINE ISSUE 1

2021—2022

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Foreword It is no exaggeration to say that we are bearing witness to a pivotal moment in the world of contemporary art. In the wake of the Covid pandemic, Vincent Carry, among others, describes the added value today of the software in the hardware, the importance of solidarity among actors, of the decentralisation of the arts to the periphery, and better care for the public. We believe that CC Strombeek, at odds with the white-cube format, fosters a more holistic experience of art. Likewise, its peripheral location and hybrid nature, provides a prime cradle for alternative kinds of productions, methods, and audiences.

Our visual arts programme is embedded in the cultural centre of Strombeek, one of more than 166 local cultural centres located in Flanders and Brussels.

The centre, conceived by architect Walter Steenhoudt as a multi-facetted building in 1973, houses an exhibition space, a theatre hall, a library, a cafeteria, and initially also served as a police station and city hall.

CC Strombeek arose from utopian-leftist thoughts to bring “culture to the people.” Now, 50 years later, CC Strombeek still carries this idea of “bridging” at the core of its mission.

Peripheries are ambiguous. A border is the place (like the periphery) where a fixed structure turns into something else. It is a place where lines/things become blurred, often creating opportunities and possibilities. Within the globalised field of arts, peripheral

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geographic regions, such as Strombeek, constitute valuable environments for experimentation, development, and ideas situated at the margins of the dominant discourse. We want to work towards an understanding of the periphery as a strong identity that is multi-voiced and changeable, rather than homogeneous and fixed, emphasising non-linearity and fluidity.

Following on from its progressive history, today CC Strombeek hosts an ambitious programme within an accessible context. We offer a unique platform for contemporary art through which we create opportunities for development and experiment with a strong focus on new productions, radical projects and long-term dialogues and processes. We offer an intimate space where there is time to slow down, try out, make mistakes, and learn from that process. In the same spirit, we are developing a residency programme in collaboration with the nearby School of Gaasbeek, and, since 2023, with Jester located in Genk.

At the same time, we are deploying the visual arts programme in the historically rich area around Strombeek, where an array of exceptional heritage sites are located, including the 1940’s modernist aircraft hangars of architect Alfred Hardy, the Meise Botanic Garden, the former Douwe Egberts coffee factory, the historical Prinsenbos and the Abbey of Grimbergen.

In dialogue with the artists, we explore the historical importance and significance of this heritage today and allow a new public to experience our programme.

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This magazine is published on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of CC Strombeek. It covers the exhibitions and activities of the past two years under the artistic direction of Charlotte Crevits. The period 2021-2022 marked dynamic years where in total 8 major exhibitions were realised, with Sam Durant, Nel Maertens, Obi Okigbo, An Roovers, Hadassa Ngamba, Michael Dean, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Noah Latif Lamp, Rachel Rose, and Performing Objects. In addition to which numerous other presentations, residencies, and activities took shape both in and around the vicinity of CC Strombeek.

Designed by Atelier Brenda, the magazine deliberately avoids the format of an exhibition catalogue with academic texts and installation shots. Rather, the magazine seeks to provide insight into the dynamics of its organisation, projects, and artists in an open-ended manner. We encourage the readers to wonder, to get lost or to gain insight through interviews, portraits, quotes, and reflections, in addition to other types of images such as snapshots taken in the studio by the curator, images from behind the scenes during production and install, photos from the opening, reference images or close-ups.

2021

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Sam Durant

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Birdcalls, 1972-81 10.10.21 – 14.01.22 Meise Botanic Garden Extra Muros

Proposal for Non-Aligned Monuments, Free Movement 19.03.21 – 19.05.21

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Nel Maertens

A Green Charade 3.09.21 – 3.10.21

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An Roovers 108

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Hadassa Ngamba CONFIGURATIONS 23.10.21 – 23.01.22

Shirley Villavicencio Pizango

Michael Dean

10.05.21 – 6.06.21 De School van Gaasbeek Residency

Unfuckingtitled 23.10.21 – 23.01.22

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Jurgen Ots The stolen eye and the schlaftabletten 5.06.21 – 27.06.21 Encounter

Obi Okigbo

Planting new Mbari’s 3.09.21 – 3.10.21

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Wunderkammer Yi Zhang, Elen Braga & Sadrie Alves, Obi Okigbo 30.09.21 – 1.10.21

Tranquility in Time 3.09.21 – 3.10.21

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Louise Lawler

Michel François & Douglas Eynon Yawning Stones, 2021 10.10.21 Prinsenbos Grimbergen Extra Muros

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2022

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Noah Latif Lamp

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Open Source 18.02.22 – 1.05.22

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Rirkrit Tiravanija Another Sunny Afternoon 18.02.22 – 1.05.22

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Filip Van Dingenen & Hélène Meyer

Appropriation & Reappropriation 1.10.22 – 2.10.22 Wunderkammer

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ZEEOOR & MOSSEL The SEASPAGHETTI Dinner 18.02.22 – 18.03.22 Encounter

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Emile Rubino

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Kristien Daem Documenting the work of Louise Lawler, a mise en abîme 11.05.22 – 19.05.22 Encounter

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Sandra Hauser I Would Prefer Not To 11.05.22 – 19.05.22 De School van Gaasbeek Residency

Nástio Mosquito THEY THE THEM ARE WE, Speak Like You Talk 01.10.22 – 30.10.22 Wunderkammer

Rachel Rose Cave of Time 14.10.22 – 14.12.22

Bon public 1.04.22 – 1.05.22 Encounter

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Bárbara Prada

Performing Objects Enough Room for Space 14.10.22 – 14.12.22

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Lumbung Film Documenta 15, curated by Subversive Film 2.12.22 – 4.12.22 Den Douwe Grimbergen Extra Muros

Sam Durant, Trope (still), 2020, two-channel video projection with sound.

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Sam Durant

Proposal for Non-Aligned Monuments, Free Movement

In the 1990s, the American artist Sam Durant (b. 1961, Seattle, lives and works in Berlin) won international acclaim with his outspoken politically and socially engaged work. His artistic practice explores contemporary social, political and cultural issues in a continuous dialogue with history. His focus on tumultuous or forgotten events from the past casts a new light on the dynamics that define our time.

Through often extensive research and in a wide range of media - drawings as well as collages, photography and large-scale installations, Durant essentially centres on injustice.

The artist grew up in the 1970s near Boston, in a context that was characterized by a radical pedagogy, anti-war protests and the rise of civil rights movements. According to Durant, this immersion in a culture that honoured democratic ideals, constituted the basis of his artistic outlook.

Sam Durant, Trope (installation view), 2020, two-channel video projection with sound.

Sam Durant, Proposal for Non-Aligned Monuments, Free Movement (installation view), 2020, wood, foam rubber, acrylic.

Hadassa Ngamba, NKETU-TUNGU, 2018, photo noir et blanc sur Hahnemühle photoRag ultrasmooth sur Dibond.

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Hadassa Ngamba CONFIGURATIONS

Le train entre lentement en gare de Bruxelles-Midi. Un complexe de bureaux apparaît sur la gauche, encore à peine visible. Derrière chaque fenêtre, comme encadrés, de majestueux sansevierias forment un poste d’observation. Hadassa Ngamba (née en 1993, Kizu, le Kongo Central, vit à Bruxelles) m’a parlé de la plante et m’a raconté comment, lorsqu’elle est arrivée en Belgique, elle a été étonnée d’en voir sur tant d’appuis de fenêtre : « Il y en a vraiment partout. Au Congo, c’est une plante d’extérieur. Ici, ils sont dans des pots à l’intérieur, telles des plantes domestiquées. Ça m’a choquée ! J’envisage à présent de leur donner une place dans mon exposition CONFIGURATIONS, mais à l’envers. » Pour ce texte, nous avons eu deux longues conversations dans son atelier (entre la maquette de l’exposition, ses photos et ses peintures) sur les matières premières et les minéraux, les histoires de famille, un plan, le contexte et le contour de toute une série d’éléments isolés… qui s’avèrent être tout sauf isolés.

En réalité, ils étaient profondément son œuvre multidisciplinaire toute fraîche et sa recherche artistique.

La plante continue de hanter mon esprit et ressurgit de temps à autre, sans pour autant devenir agaçante. Au contraire. Elle respire et se développe tout en racontant une histoire coloniale. « La dernière plante, un sansevieria, a été retirée du musée en 2013 “pour des raisons d’humidité, de sécurité et d’hygiène1.”

Banni d’un musée ? Le début de l’histoire remonte à il y a bien plus longtemps, au Stedelijk Museum d’Amsterdam. Entre 1945 et 1983, 102 plantes individuelles ont parcouru les salles d’exposition. C’était une idée du directeur de l’époque, Willem Sandberg (1897-1984). En 1946, il a placé un monstera, ou philodendron, à côté des tableaux Boogie Woogie de Mondrian.

Il voulait relier l’intérieur et l’extérieur, rendre le musée plus accueillant et l’art plus accessible, “dans l’espoir que les visiteurs voient d’un meilleur œil l’art moderne et son côté choquant 2 ”. » Dans le catalogue de l’exposition « moderne kunst nieuw + oud », Sandberg commence son texte d’accompagnement en parlant prosaïquement de la pensée des poissons et de leur paysage : « Ils se souviennent de chutes d’eau d’avant, où

gauche > à droite: Le décor de Hadassa Ngamba, IDENTITY SIMULACRA, performance à Agora, Quadriennale le park de Sonsbeek, 2021; Hadassa Ngamba, A green house(vue d'installation), 2021, 4 sansevieria trifasciata inversé, vers le sol vert.

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Noah Latif Lamp Open source

Een kunstenaar die marihuana zaadjes heeft gestrooid op vruchtbare grond in Amsterdam, het portret van een cherubijn-achtig kind met de titel Baby Hitler heeft geschilderd en zijn eigen huid heeft gebrandmerkt met een logo van zijn eigen naam voor een verrukt publiek als een performance. Politieke, culturele of sociale controverses zijn Noah Latif Lamp (°1990, Amsterdam, woont en werkt in Londen) niet vreemd. In feite zou je kunnen zeggen dat het de brandstof is die hem en zijn werk voortstuwt. Het hele oeuvre van deze kunstenaar wordt doordrongen met een ondertoon die de toestand van onze staat tegelijkertijd bevestigt en veroordeelt. Lamp, zelf een man van gemengde cultuur, ras en identiteit, lijkt het ideale medium waardoor wij onze eigen cultuur kunnen bekijken, want wat naar ons wordt teruggekaatst is tegelijkertijd vertrouwd, maar volstrekt onherkenbaar.

Noah Latif Lamp, Open Source, 2021, NF T bestaande uit persoonsgegevens, projectie, beamer.

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Rachel Rose Cave of Time

How to image the land? That was the question facing Joachim Patinir when he was painting in Belgium, then part of the Low Countries, in the early 16th Century. Art historically, he’s working right when medieval cartography begins to morph into aerial perspective. In the Low Countries, he is the first to clearly pivot away from maps into these new windows to the outside – leading Patinir to be called the “first landscape painter” – the inventor of “world landscape” – of the “metaphysical perspective” . Patinir gives us the world, vast and panoramic and realistically rendered.

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1. Koch, Robert A., Joachim Patinir, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1968

Photographing Rachel Rose, The Rest (1520), 2022, colour pigment, metallic powders and oil on canvas, in the mirror room created for her installation at CC Strombeek, 2022.

Gemeenteplein 1, 1853 Grimbergen, België - Belgium - Belgique www.ccstrombeek.be

Sam Durant Nel Maertens

20 EURO ISBN 978-9-46-451762-0

An Roovers Obi Okigbo Hadassa Ngamba Elen Braga & Sadrie Alves Michael Dean Michel François & Douglas Eynon Louise Lawler Yi Zhang Jurgen Ots Shirley Villavicencio Pizango Rirkrit Tiravanija Noah Latif Lamp Rachel Rose Performing Objects Lumbung Film Nástio Mosquito Bárbara Prada Filip Van Dingenen & Hélène Meyer Emile Rubino Sandra Hauser Kristien Daem