25.10.24, HOLA!

HOLA! is a multimedia exhibition conceived as a meeting between 13 artists. They don't know it yet, but all of them are compagnons de route. A group that originated in, or on the periphery, of the photography course at KASK & Conservatorium, either as teachers or as students. 

A practice as an artist, as a photographer, but also before that, a study at an art academy, gives the opportunity to rewrite the world. That is simultaneously dealing with ‘things as they are’ and working on their imagined opposite. As we work, we do not know what is on the other side of this transformative process. Wisdom perhaps, grace or inspiration? But equally disappointment and struggle.

In ‘A field guide to getting lost’, Rebecca Solnit's acclaimed essay, (2005) there is a challenging proposition: ‘You have to dare to get lost.’ How do you push your boundaries into uncharted territory, how do you approach the unreadable world? How can you find out those things you didn't know were already inside you? The answer lies in the process of doubting, looking and seeing, of feedback back and forth and of the impulses that emanate from the work itself. From meetings of/between people and ideas. So HOLA!

Teachers Annelies de Mey and Willem Vermoere bid farewell to KASK & Conservatorium after decades of dedication. HOLA! is a stop sign. But hey, no sadness, think of it here mostly a celebration of enthusiasm.

With works by:

• Annelies de Mey
• Bieke Depoorter
• Chantal van Rijt
• Fien Muller
• Freya Maes
• Guilherme Gerais
• Lisa and Clara Spilliaert
• Lucas Leffler
• Max Pinckers
• Stefaan Dheedene
• Sybren Vanoverberghe
• Willem Vermoere*
• Wouter Coolens

*compiled by