Performing Objects is one of the many projects of Enough Room for Space (ERforS): an independent arts initiative with a project space in Drogenbos, Belgium, that since 2005 has been introducing and coordinating events, residencies, research projects and exhibitions worldwide. ERforS acts as freely as possible, putting context and idea above medium and challenging the barriers between different disciplines (artistic, scientific or activist). ERforS aims to expose, manipulate and invent different ways of being part of our rapidly changing world. Most projects are initiated by one or more individuals/organisations and further developed by all participants involved.
The Performing Objects project was started in 2014 by a group of artists who each experiment with objects in their own way. In recent years, in a changing line-up, they have worked around the performativity of “things,” the materiality of the world around us and meanings of objects in social and artistic processes. To this end, the members created various experimental situations testing our human relationship to objects. Among other things, they have organised group sessions, constructive feedback moments, workshops, lectures, site visits, meetings with invited guests, exhibitions, and publications.
The exhibition at Cc Strombeek, which also marks the final stage of this project, brings together for the first time the results of this years-long research in Studio S. Rather than a final exhibition, the artists have chosen to use Studio S as a performative space. The exhibition is constantly in transformation: some artworks will disappear or change, whilst others will be added. Cc Strombeek will present work by Alice De Mont; Marjolijn Dijkman with Toril Johannessen, Henry Vega, Jan Willem Troost; Sarah van Lamsweerde with Dada Stella Kitoga, Esther Mugambi; Pauline Hafsia M’barek; Bie Michels with Liantsoa Rakotonaivo; Rune Peitersen; Kristof Van Gestel; Dimitri Vangrunderbeek with Wouter Krokaert; and Guy Woueté.
In line with their methodology based on exchange, connection and feedback, a public programme is organised concurrently. One Saturday a month, members activate their work through performances, talks, lectures or workshops. Each evening, the programme is ritually concluded with a “Soup Conversation”: a public conversation moment with the artists where visitors are invited to participate with a bowl of homemade soup. Marjolijn Dijkman’s work LUNÄ (since 2011), a copy of the original table used by the eighteenth-century Lunar Society, is the central meeting place for these moments.
Enough Room for Space was founded by Marjolijn Dijkman and Maarten Vanden Eynde. Read more about ERforS and their projects on their website: Enough Room for Space.
This exhibition was made possible by the generous support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Belgium, Stiftung Kunstfonds, Die Biennale für Aktuelle Fotografie and the Mondriaan Fund.
