Birds of a Feather - Currents #7

Z33, Hasselt, 2020

Co-curated with Melanie Deboutte

Artists: Israel Aten, Myrthe Baptist, Justine Court, Jonathan De Maeyer, Jonas Dehnen, Leroy Meyer and Naama Roth

Birds of a Feather presents works by seven recent fine arts graduates: Israel Aten (US), Myrthe Baptist (BE), Justine Court (FR), Jonathan De Maeyer (BE), Jonas Dehnen (DE), Leroy Meyer (BE) and Naama Roth (IL). Each of them attempts to grasp a strange and confusing reality. The result is a confrontation of seven separate but harmoniously interwoven stories in a cross-over of painting, installations, sculptures, ceramics, photography, film, and graphic design.

In his ‘Mal d’Archives’ (1995), the French critic and philosopher Jacques Derrida describes the archive as an entity that absorbs, protects, conceals, but also reveals the things that connect us. We alternatingly desire or fear the flood of information with which we are confronted daily. In the eye of this visual and textual storm, the physical, mental or digital archive appears to offer a moment of repose. The same goes for the artists who test their collection of images, symbols and stories against that mass culture. It is this shared exploration that connects their work. Or as the English proverb has it: birds of a feather flock together.

Currents is an annual group exhibition displaying the works of young artists who have just graduated from fine arts programmes in Belgium, South-West Germany or the southern Netherlands. They are given time and space to explore and develop their artistic practice. Networks and professionalization initiatives are also central to the coaching trajectory. Marres, House for Contemporary Culture in Maastricht and Z33 – House for Contemporary Art, Design and Architecture in Hasselt, are working together on this project and alternate as exhibition venues.

Photos: Kristof Vrancken