The erasure of class from contemporary cultural discourse has led to increasing difficulty in discussing artistic production and consumption's material and social conditions. This project will create an understanding of what it means to be a working-class artist working with moving images. By linking the historical experience of working-class artists to those working today, the project will develop a language for working-class artists to articulate their experiences around both material and immaterial challenges within the field of cultural production. Through archival research and conversations with filmmakers with working-class backgrounds, the research will explore the role of class within filmmaking, remaining intersectional with other theories of identity, such as race, gender, and sexuality. Further, this research examines the class barriers within art education, offering students and teachers a developed understanding of class issues.
in focus
12.05.26 – 30.05.26,
Rebecca Jane Arthurresearch presentationexpoAgendaOnderzoek"Gossips & Ghosts" is the first chapter of an audiovisual project by Rebecca Jane Arthur that brings together women in a collective reading circle and celebrates citation as feminist memory. Filmed on 16mm, the work weaves together voices, fragmented readings, and gestures. It unfolds through voicing, citing, listening, and gathering – acts that resist isolation and build a collective feminist memory.
Drawing on the writings of Silvia Federici, the project revisits how “gossip” – once meaning close friend or companion – was transformed into a term of ridicule, historically contributing to the erosion of female solidarity. In response, Arthur gathers voices reading feminist theory on silence, storytelling, and resistance, foregrounding the sharing of knowledge as a form of collective power and reclaiming “gossip” as a form of feminist kinship.
Gossips & Ghosts features Kedist Coppejans, Kim Eldarova, Amber Erbezci, Muireann Hillman Allen, Lente IJsendijk, Hana Kiani, Marie Logie, Sofia Roelants, Eva De Vilder, Eowyn Vlaeminck, and the hands and humming of Nina Turina and Céline Sola. It is accompanied by a text by curator Sonia D’Alto.
Gossips & Ghosts is made possible with the support from elephy, the Flemish Community Commission (VGC), KASK & Conservatorium / School of Arts Gent, de Kunstenbibliotheek, and WIELS.