02.12.17 – 05.12.17, 11:00, STOCK #7 - Lisa Vantorre & Wim De Pauw

Swimming an Itch is an exhibition featuring new work by British artists Matt Antoniak (b. 1991, Nottingham) and former student Phil Frankland (b. 1991, Isle of Man). The exhibition is the result of an ongoing dialogue between the two artists – about painting traditions, material encounters and everyday ephemera – and brings together paintings, drawings and textile works created over the past year. The works are presented in an installation at Convent and at various locations in the city of Ghent.

From Friday 16th May to Friday 6th June, Het Paviljoen presents But I’m a Cheerleader, a solo exhibition by Sacha Rey.

But I'm a Cheerleader explores the challenges for equitable conditions in the creative arts. The documentary, presented at Het Paviljoen as a video installation speaks to different statuses and modes of remuneration, and collectively reflects on the state of working conditions in the sector.

Each protagonist-artworker embodies the character of a cheerleader while practising a physical activity: trampoline, dance, climbing, rollerblading, or running, ice-skating, simultaneously sharing their professional experiences of discrimination. The installation brings to discourse the exploitative nature of the creative industry and the post-scholarship/study experiences that young art practitioners face. Through the reflective nature of this installation, this exhibition prompts a conversation within the context of an art school that addresses contemporary concerns and invites a critical examination of the arts.

The project takes its name from Jamie Babbit's 1999 lesbian comedy of the same name, “But I'm a Cheerleader”.

Sacha Rey (b. 1991, FR) is a visual artist and filmmaker living in Marseille. He is a graduate of the Beaux-Arts de Paris and the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (Paris, France). Sacha practices what he calls “documentary dance” to question physical memories. In his video work, he uses the performing arts as a support for the narrative, intending not to reactualise the traumatic memories of the people who tell their stories.

From Thursday 24th April to Sunday 11th May, Het Paviljoen presents that slab of outlaw time, a group exhibition with works by Zeynep Kayan, Amel Omar and Reinier Vrancken.

When endured, waiting is akin to a lethargic state, a prolonged watch where everything seems to stand still. Inwardly, thoughts are racing, reality is being revised. After the hospital was evacuated from the Bijloke site in 1983, Het Paviljoen was used as a storage area. For many years, it lay dormant, out of sight and out of mind before being transformed in 2006 into an exhibition space, a vitrine for all to see, a glass stage. The works of Zeynep Kayan, Amel Omar, and Reinier Vrancken speak to the tension and boundaries between exterior and interior, the outer shell and inner fullness. They disrupt the gestures of vision and the rhythm of one’s perception, drawing attention to blind spots, to the periphery.

Zeynep Kayan’s (b. 1986, TR) practice focuses on exploring the repetitive structural setup of the variations she creates by using video, photography, sound and performance. Through experimentation and chance, the artist articulates a personal vocabulary of the “self”, or of the “human condition”, but rather seems to escape categorization.

Amel Omar (b. 1995, NL) is a multi-disciplinary artist focusing on (site-specific) installation and video. Her practice is grounded in an object-oriented approach, exploring the displacement of objects and spaces and the intrigue of their transitional, liminal states. Through spatial and material interventions, she reimagines conventional functions, inviting new readings of the familiar.

Reinier Vrancken (b. 1992, NL) moves in and out of material and immaterial worlds through oblique connections and poetic leaps. His installations, interventions, objects, and books lyrically test the shifting contours of physical and conceptual bodies—their diffusion and plurality being central to his artistic practice—and become entry points to articulate their underlying relationships.

On Thursday 6th March at 18:00, the duo exhibition of Soraya Abdelhouaret and Shervin/e Sheikh Rezaei titled Crying could be a solvent, opens at Het Paviljoen.

As the second part of the Eye becomes water programme, the exhibition seeks to explore waiting in relation to the practice of alchemy. Both artists, with their distinct visual languages, draw connections between material transformation and ideas of devotion and love. The exhibition space thus becomes a vessel where the objects are caught up in moments of transmutation, symbolic of the experience of longing.

Soraya Abdelhouaret (b.1998) lives and works between Paris and Brussels. She is a graduate of the Beaux-arts du Nord and the Beaux-arts de Paris. Her work is directly linked to the question of temporality, and her pieces almost always have a self-destructive or even corrosive dimension. Using low-cost scientific experiments, the artist sets up a bi-reality between mineral materials and disparate materials.

Shervin/e Sheikh Rezaei (b.1994, Belgium/Iran) lives and works in Brussels. In her multimedia practice she explores the contrast between the fluidity and invasiveness of nature/humanity and the controlled and impersonal language of technology. An attraction to the irrational and emotional, took her from architecture to the autonomous visual arts.

Eye becomes water

Drawing from the history of Het Paviljoen, which served as the waiting room of the historic Bijloke hospital for pregnant patients, Eye becomes water is an exhibition and public programme that explores waiting not as a passive or neutral act, but as one that engages multiple temporalities, bodily experiences, and power dynamics.

Curated by Daphné Charitos, Natalija Gucheva, Abel Hartooni, Yasemin Köker, Temitayo Olalekan and Jean Watt.

On Thursday, February 27, Radio Svitlo will activate 24 Hour Swan Lake by Sanie Irsay as part of Eye becomes water at Het Paviljoen. The video will be activated with readings by Radio Svitlo, music, zine sales, drinks and more.

The video work is a 24-hour long delayed version of Bolshoy Theatre's 1984 rendition of Swan Lake ballet. Irsay marks three years since the start of the war in Ukraine and uses the instrument used by the USSR in times of turmoil to point out the slow emergencies we live in.

Sanie Irsay (b. 1996) lives and works between New York, US and Amsterdam, NL. Irsay’s practice draws from her heritage as an Uzbekistan-born Crimean Tatar, the indigenous people of Russian-occupied Crimea.

Eye becomes water

Drawing from the history of Het Paviljoen, which served as the waiting room of the historic Bijloke hospital for pregnant patients, Eye becomes water is an exhibition and public programme that explores waiting not as a passive or neutral act, but as one that engages multiple temporalities, bodily experiences, and power dynamics.

Curated by Daphné Charitos, Natalija Gucheva, Abel Hartooni, Yasemin Köker, Temitayo Olalekan and Jean Watt.

On Monday February 24th Het Paviljoen’s Eye becomes water opens with Sanie Irsay’s 24 Hour Swan Lake.

Sanie Irsay’s video work will begin playing at 17:00 and continue for the duration of 24 hours, showing a slowed-down version of Bolshoy Theater’s 1984 rendition of the Swan Lake ballet. Marking three years since the war in Ukraine began and using the tool employed by the USSR in times of turmoil, Irsay signals to the slow emergencies through which we are living.

Sanie Irsay (b. 1996) lives and works between New York, US and Amsterdam, NL. Irsay’s practice draws from her heritage as an Uzbekistan-born Crimean Tatar, the indigenous people of Russian-occupied Crimea.

Join us on Monday 24th February 18:00 for the start of the intervention and on Thursday 27th February when the video will be activated with readings by Radio Svitlo, music, zine sale, drinks and more.

Eye becomes water

Drawing from the history of Het Paviljoen, which served as the waiting room of the historic Bijloke hospital for pregnant patients, Eye becomes water is an exhibition and public programme that explores waiting not as a passive or neutral act, but as one that engages multiple temporalities, bodily experiences, and power dynamics.

Curated by Daphné Charitos, Natalija Gucheva, Abel Hartooni, Yasemin Köker, Temitayo Olalekan and Jean Watt.

The Jumping Fences team is delighted to announce the launch of a publication exploring the questions, processes and experiences that emerged from the event and exhibition project held at Het Paviljoen. The publication serves as an interpretive logbook, offering readers a window into the different dialogues that defined this six-month residency in the first half of 2024.

While the residency offered a physical and collaborative environment for creative exploration, the publication translates these experiences into a medium for retrospection. Through interconnected chapters, it probes the questions raised in this shared setting, documenting how each participant navigated the fluidity of their practice and, in turn, contributed to shaping Het Paviljoen.

To celebrate the launch, we invite you to join us for a talk event. This gathering will offer a space to revisit the dynamics of the residency, explore key moments, and discuss the interplay between individual agency and collective influence. Together, we will delve into topics such as the elasticity of artistic roles, the impact of Het Paviljoen’s space on boundary-pushing practices, and how cross-disciplinary collaboration can foster new, hybrid forms of expression. 

Jumping Fences, which ran from February till June 2024 at Het Paviljoen, was presented as an exploration of artistic identity in a historically rich space marked by transitory periods. Het Paviljoen has long hosted a diverse spectrum of artistic practices, and during the residency it became a lively site for artists and designers to examine the boundaries separating art from design. Structured as an open dialogue, this residency allowed participants to engage with one another’s work, question their practices in relation to each other, and reimagine their creative approaches beyond conventional limits. 

Credits

• Curators: Ismini Kyritsis, Manon Laverdure, Justine Mckenna, Karel Op ’t Eynde, Hugo Roger, Paula Swinnen,Camille Van Meenen and Lisa Verhaeghe
• Artists: Haron Barashed & Lore Janssens, Sjoerd Beijers, Céleste Buyle & Quinten Vermeulen, Yawen Fu, Seppe-Hazel Laeremans, Paola Siri Renard and Jan Vandeplancke
• The project andpublication was kindlysupportedbyCuratorial Studies: Curatorial Studies, KIOSK, KASK & Conservatorium, Stad Gent, Vleeshal, Stad Middelburg, Nederlands Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap, Alles Kan and Duvel.

Photographer, psychologist and writer Alaa Mahdi Kudaih presents a series of posters with photos from Gaza at het paviljoen. Alaa will be present for a projection of images from the region, poetry and stories about friends who became martyrs.

What does it mean to be a photographer under siege? To capture the beauty of nature and people—art, love, life, and vibrant colors—only to now face the reality that all that remains is grey? How does it feel to witness Gaza’s past life, with its stunning sunsets and lively streets, then see a photo you took of the same place, now reduced to rubble, labeled with the name of an unknown martyr? How easy is it to be an artist under siege? How important is art in Gaza, and how difficult is it to create? How do you resist through art? In Gaza, art becomes a way to feel free, even when surrounded by tanks, showered by bullets, and facing death every day. Presentation, experiences, stories, and examples of how art survives as a form of resistance amid genocide, destruction, and despair.

• Alaa Mahdi Kudaih

As part of their residency for Jumping Fences at Het Paviljoen, Sjoerd Beijers and Seppe-Hazel Laeremans organize ’To frame, to fail, to surface’, a workshop, on Friday, June 14th, starting at 13:00. 

As part of their residency for Jumping Fences at Het Paviljoen, Seppe-Hazel Laeremans invites painter Abel Hartooni and performance artist Fae Felis for ‘To confuse, to disorient,’ a collective reading with focaccia poems, on Friday, June 7th, starting at 16:00.

Seppe-Hazel Laeremans (they/them) is a graphic designer, artist, writer and editor currently based in-between Porto and Ghent.