OPENING
6 May 2022
6 May 2022
To devise a Game
and cast a Spell
conjuring up
the Roar
in the Shell
Serotonin, or why it is so easy to open browser tabs,
but so much work to close them…
and cast a Spell
conjuring up
the Roar
in the Shell
Serotonin, or why it is so easy to open browser tabs,
but so much work to close them…
Once, I wished for the sky to split open. I wished, but the sky did not split. In my hatred of a selfish solitude I demanded my own loss in ecstasy and took the immensity of the sky by the throat, because it must bleed and cry out. Then, like a latch secreting a door, I realised that the earth is continually bombarded by the sun…
And so here we are, softly sheltering from it, veiling ourselves, with the secrecy of a paramilitary sect whose tacit mission is conveyed by it, like missiles staring out of our roguish eyes. Roaring Shelters are open tombs exposing intestinal labyrinths with vertiginous twists and convulsive turns, reminiscing the writhing of squashed earthworms wistfully crying the cry of powerlessness that is a prelude to the deepest silence.
Useless as a guide to the night sky the Poeticon Astronomicon is an important source for some of the more obscure Greek myths. In close relation to this exhibition for instance, it revealed that Triton became associated with possessing a conch shell, which he blew like a trumpet to calm or raise the waves. Its sound was so cacophonous that when loudly blown, it made the giants take flight, who imagined it to be the roar of a dark wild beast. Let’s have it served up here as a clear reminder of how the oceanic serves as a cypher for capitalism. Wink.
Through dissecting a few cadavers, we have learned that the ability to roar has an anatomical basis. It often involves modifications to the larynx and hyoid bone and enlarged internal air spaces for low-frequency acoustic resonance. To roar, you may want to stretch out your neck and elevate your head to increase the space for resonance. Be warned though that when you roar, others might feel intimidated. The roar is essentially the sound to make to reclaim animalistic sexuality, but no one wants to hear that. Instead appreciate that the roar is a mad laughter that condemns itself iin an attempt to constrain its direct environment.
Make sure not to distil eroticism to sexuality and discard the dregs like dirt under a finger nail. Like Antonia you can use Caput Mortuum (dead head, worthless remains) as a pigment. Magnificent! Let’s at least attempt to be involved in acts of pleasure that offer no return to the restricted economies of societal significance that are driven by utility and the mandate of closed, concise, clear endpoints.
Text by Timmy van Zoelen
* Roaring Shelter |ˈrɔːrɪŋ ˈʃɛltə| 1 [erotic] resisting to be an “Encapsulated Sale Target” • Interminable bureaucracy of periodic self-assessment; compulsion – repulsion – impulsion – spasmodic conflation and retraction: they were tired after another day of work in the field. 2 [spiritual networking] “Erosion of Leisure” • timelines echoing before the lapse: ~ it allows me to shape my addiction and be wrought by my surroundings as I focus on ~ my efforts/dominant stimuli desensitised (all is dull). 3 [obsessive restricted] acknowledging the restrictive patterns of repetitive behaviour in an attempt to being recognized by a specific other (also objects and ideas) or others (in assembly) as generically distinct and its own separate genus • domestic cathexis or cathectic domesticity • “Lust Undiced”.
And so here we are, softly sheltering from it, veiling ourselves, with the secrecy of a paramilitary sect whose tacit mission is conveyed by it, like missiles staring out of our roguish eyes. Roaring Shelters are open tombs exposing intestinal labyrinths with vertiginous twists and convulsive turns, reminiscing the writhing of squashed earthworms wistfully crying the cry of powerlessness that is a prelude to the deepest silence.
Useless as a guide to the night sky the Poeticon Astronomicon is an important source for some of the more obscure Greek myths. In close relation to this exhibition for instance, it revealed that Triton became associated with possessing a conch shell, which he blew like a trumpet to calm or raise the waves. Its sound was so cacophonous that when loudly blown, it made the giants take flight, who imagined it to be the roar of a dark wild beast. Let’s have it served up here as a clear reminder of how the oceanic serves as a cypher for capitalism. Wink.
Through dissecting a few cadavers, we have learned that the ability to roar has an anatomical basis. It often involves modifications to the larynx and hyoid bone and enlarged internal air spaces for low-frequency acoustic resonance. To roar, you may want to stretch out your neck and elevate your head to increase the space for resonance. Be warned though that when you roar, others might feel intimidated. The roar is essentially the sound to make to reclaim animalistic sexuality, but no one wants to hear that. Instead appreciate that the roar is a mad laughter that condemns itself iin an attempt to constrain its direct environment.
Make sure not to distil eroticism to sexuality and discard the dregs like dirt under a finger nail. Like Antonia you can use Caput Mortuum (dead head, worthless remains) as a pigment. Magnificent! Let’s at least attempt to be involved in acts of pleasure that offer no return to the restricted economies of societal significance that are driven by utility and the mandate of closed, concise, clear endpoints.
Text by Timmy van Zoelen
* Roaring Shelter |ˈrɔːrɪŋ ˈʃɛltə| 1 [erotic] resisting to be an “Encapsulated Sale Target” • Interminable bureaucracy of periodic self-assessment; compulsion – repulsion – impulsion – spasmodic conflation and retraction: they were tired after another day of work in the field. 2 [spiritual networking] “Erosion of Leisure” • timelines echoing before the lapse: ~ it allows me to shape my addiction and be wrought by my surroundings as I focus on ~ my efforts/dominant stimuli desensitised (all is dull). 3 [obsessive restricted] acknowledging the restrictive patterns of repetitive behaviour in an attempt to being recognized by a specific other (also objects and ideas) or others (in assembly) as generically distinct and its own separate genus • domestic cathexis or cathectic domesticity • “Lust Undiced”.
ARTIST
STATEMENT
Jacopo Pagin
The elements that animate my environments are orchestrated to formulate enigmas. Visually, painting plays the central role, while sound forms the magical and invisible backbone of the scene. Both my performances and sound sculptures have a distinct musical feature. Dilated Trance and Ambient soundscapes host spoken word poetry. The text is interpreted by digitally altered voices that draw the audience into an immersive listening experience. Costumes, dance and stage structures tactfully reconnect the dialogue between sound and painting. In my visual language, I am initially inspired by nature, then I am intuitively drawn into psychological investigations. During this process, I try to overcome the personal and autobiographical dimension in order to establish symbolic ties with collective temporality and spirituality. In this perspective, the unconscious dimension is combined with images from my research. I view painting as a formidable device, like a time machine, through which I can reuse and reinterpret the gestures and techniques of the past to continually re-identify myself through diverse means. Mimicry, disguise and the exercise of impersonation have led me to embrace and internalise contradictions connecting abstraction and figuration, expression and mannerism, illusion and decoration, religion and mundanity. The opportunities for a mise-en-scène lay the foundations of the narrative within my settings.
Untitled
Untitled2022
Oil and sand on canvas
19 x 27 cm
Modern Crush2022
Oil painting and lacquer on canvas
100 x 130 cm
The ear doesn’t hear outside2022
Oil painting and laquer on canvas
50,5 x 42,5 x 11,5 cm
ARTIST
STATEMENT
Antonia Brown
Antonia Brown is an artist based between Cape Town and Brussels. Her practice develops mainly in sculpture, though she at times works with film and writing. In her practice she uses distortion as a device, to find a position of interembodiment or inhabitation.
She holds a BA in Fine Arts from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, and a MA in Fine Arts from the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam. She has partaken in various art residencies including Fondazione Ratti in 2016 and Cite International des Arts, Paris in 2017.
In 2013 she was the recipient of the Martienssen Prize and the Newwork Prize in 2014. Her work has recently been shown at SB34 (Brussels, 2021), Pracownia Portretu (Lodz, 2021) Het Archief (Rotterdam, 2021), Unterholz/ Understorey at Oberes Heustadlwasser, (Vienna, 2021) and EMAF (Osnabrück, 2021). Her past shows include, among others, Again, and then again, as well, too, in 2014 at Wits Art Museum, Johannesburg and Fictitious Legacies in 2018 at Island, Brussels.
She holds a BA in Fine Arts from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, and a MA in Fine Arts from the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam. She has partaken in various art residencies including Fondazione Ratti in 2016 and Cite International des Arts, Paris in 2017.
In 2013 she was the recipient of the Martienssen Prize and the Newwork Prize in 2014. Her work has recently been shown at SB34 (Brussels, 2021), Pracownia Portretu (Lodz, 2021) Het Archief (Rotterdam, 2021), Unterholz/ Understorey at Oberes Heustadlwasser, (Vienna, 2021) and EMAF (Osnabrück, 2021). Her past shows include, among others, Again, and then again, as well, too, in 2014 at Wits Art Museum, Johannesburg and Fictitious Legacies in 2018 at Island, Brussels.
A latch that secreted the door I2022
Silk organza, dye, pigment, oil pastel steel, thread, shell
51 x 33 cm
A latch that secreted the door II
2022
Silk organza, dye, pigment, oil pastel, steel, thread
38 x 52 cm
A latch that secreted the door III
2022
Silk organza, dye, pigment, oil pastel steel, thread, shell
34 x 57 cm
The stain was a thinking (Moon flower) I
2022
Steel, rice paper, caput mortum, oxide, manilla copal, gum arabic
100 x 112 x 133 cm
W.O.L.U II (After the Book of Repulsive Women)
2022
Silk, caput mortum, linen cord, shell
33 x 192 cm
The stain was a thinking (Moon flower) II
2022
Steel, rice paper, caput mortum, oxide, sienna-manilla copal, gum arabic
90 x 91 x 109 cm