Artists: Karolina Halatek, Helmut Stallaerts, Chloé Op de Beeck, Meiro Koizumi, Ante Timmermans, Hanne Lippard, Molly Soda, Annette Messager, Tino Sehgal, Kyoko Scholiers, Cécile B. Evans, Atsushi Watanabe, Daria Martin, Mehtap Baydu, Pilvi Takala, Liana Finck, Lauren McCarthy & Kyle McDonald, Ephameron, Hans Geyens, Ief Spincemaille, Bisser, Siemen Van Gaubergen.
There are so many things that art can’t do. It can’t bring the dead back to life, it can’t mend arguments between friends, or cure AIDS, or halt the pace of climate change. All the same, it does have some extraordinary functions, some odd negotiating ability between people, including people who never meet and yet who infiltrate and enrich each other’s lives. It does have a capacity to create intimacy; it does have a way of healing wounds, and better yet of making it apparent that not all wounds need healing and not all scars are ugly. – Olivia Laing. (2016)
The lonely city. Adventures in the art of being alone, p.280
In February 2020, Artefact: the exhibition and festival focusing on contemporary art, current events, and societal challenges, will zoom in on ideas of solitude and togetherness in contemporary society.
Under the title Alone Together, the exhibition aims to look into questions such as: What does contemporary solitude mean? How does it relate to feelings of loneliness? Can we consider loneliness not in individual terms, but as the result of more structural forces, be they social, cultural, economic, technological or architectural in nature? How do we connect in today’s society? What is the quality of our interactions / connection, and which role do (social and communication) technologies play in this?
The exhibition aims to shed light on these sensitive questions. The works presented might potentially be confronting, though they might also offer hope, and maybe offer some consolation even if it is only momentaneously.
Artefact is more than an exhibition. A diverse program of concerts, club nights, talks, films and workshops allow you to discover the themes and topics of Artefact in a different way.
Valley is a part of “Alone Together”, a new edition of Artefact, an exhibition and festival on contemporary visual arts, current events and societal challenges at STUK – House for Dance, Image & Sound, Leuven, Belgium.
Valley is a large scale installation that invites the viewer to the pure space that recalls a glacier crevice or the passage between skyscrapers. Two white parallel walls create an inclusive dimension where the perspectives are shifted and directions simplified. This new space enables the viewers to experience light in an abstract form. Upon entering the work alone, it can be used as a tool of mindful exercise where attention to the here and now increases or evokes new ways of seeing; a transformative experience. But you might possibly collide with others, generating a meeting between strangers known in urban settings. The title of the work refers to the Valley of Shadow and Death described in Psalms, however, Haletek reverses it by creating the Valley of Light where the white narrow gate optically expands the space inviting the viewers to a surprising dimension of the light.
Karolina Halatek is a visual artist working in sculpture and installation. Using light as the central medium in her practice, she creates experiential site-specific spaces that incorporate visual, architectural and sculptural elements. Her installations have strong experiential and immersive characteristics, and are often the result of collaborations with scientists, a.o. quantum physicists, founders of the superstring theory and precision mechanical engineers. With her work, Halatek seeks a visual language that evokes feelings and emotions of virtually unknown phenomena. Karolina Halatek has exhibited her work internationally, most recently in a.o. CCA Ujazdowski Castle (Warsaw), Laumeier Sculpture Park (St. Louis, USA), De School (Amsterdam, Netherlands), A4 Art Museum (Chengdu, China), Daejeon Museum of Art (Daejeon, South Korea), Morcote Public Art Biennial (Switzerland) and Kunsthalle Bremen (Germany), Print Screen Festival (Holon, Israel).