ABOUT THIS SITE >>> This site is a blog as well as an archive: It gives visibility to the continues working of radical_hope & radical_house and holds documentation of the research projects Distraction As Discipline and OTÇOE - works for passers-by.
radical_hope (since 2010) creates and holds frameworks for artistic research/es & co-creation/s.
radical_house (since 2020), next to being a long term project on notions of ownership, privacy and privilege, provides a physical place in Brussels: here people can tempralrily cohabit with the permanent users of the house in order to work, rest or find shelter.
Distraction As Discipline (2015 - 2019) is
an investigation into enactivist principles in art and education
(research trajectory at KASK School
of Arts Ghent 2016-19). It considers the potential of performance art and
pedagogy in general, in resisting the current and massive
desubjectivation, by critically reclaiming both, attention for the moment and participation in a process.
OTÇOE - works for passers-by (2012 - 2014) was the development of radical_hope's artistic practice in the city and questioned how and by whom this practice (and its bodily, social and economical aspects) is perceived. The title refers to the public of a city and to how we encounter and register most things on our way through the city: Out of The Corner of Our Eyes. OTÇOE.
SEASONAL REFLECTIONS
NEWSLETTERS
TIMELINE
MAIN PRACTICES
CO-CONSTRUCTED CONVERSATIONS
SHOP SHOP Group Talk III
The group gathered at Heike Langsdorf’s place to discuss if the empty shop in Rue Delaunoy 109 was still wanted as a location for Shop Shop.
[read more about Shop Shop here >>>]A list of criteria was made as a guideline for the participants who planned to search for another possible space. Next to that, a list of the individual interests, desires and concerns was composed. Both lists you can find hereunder.
People present:
Elke van Campenhout-Bureau dEspoir, Varinia Canto Vila, Nicolas Y Galeazzi, Sébastien Hendrickx, Heike Langsdorf, Ariane Loze, Lilia Mestre, Christoph Ragg, Michiel Reynaert, Miriam Rohde, Raquel Santana de Morais, Einat Tuchman, Michel Yang.
SPACE-CRITERIA
(1) the presence of a shopwindow
(2) monthly rent: +/- 500 euro
(3) the presence of a local economy addressing basic needs
(4) a mixture of different communities
(5) a city zone cut through by several lines of conflict (monoculture, difficult relation men-women, gentrification,…)
(6) a city area without the presence of a ‘creative class’ (artists, architects, designers,…)
(7) ugliness, ‘unidealness’ of the shop space
(8) a shop space big enough (?) to house a wide range of activities
(9) a shop space small enough (?) to guarantee a continuity of activity (so we don’t have to be there all the time with ‘enough’ people)
(10) a good relationship with the owner: trust, clear agreements and, at best, a small bit of interest in our experiment
(11) a space where we can / want to stay from the beginning till the end of the project
(12) ...
INTERESTS / DESIRES / WISHES / CONCERNING 'HOLDING THE SHOP AS A GROUP'
* bridging the gap between artistic research and social concerns
* being concious about the making of an image: the shop will be also an 'image'.
* reflecting on alternative economies
* playing non-static roles: commercial-social-artistic-organizational-…
* hierarchy between the individual and the communal
* the durational aspect: a year-long project
* creating a hybrid, flexible, multifunctional space
* the relation between an artisanal and an artistic practice (trying to unite the different economies: matière première > production > gaining visibility > sale)
* ‘group mind’: how to function as a group without a fixed hierarchy, what kind of hierachy?
* non-subsidized art production
* personal financial survival: making money
* reflecting on what’s the difference between a ‘real’ shop and an ‘as-if’ shop?
* localizing artistic practice in urban conflict zones
* becoming part of a functioning local economy (becoming an economy only addressing a local community?)
* the functioning of informal, marginal economies / resources (collecting bottles, metals, etc)
* creating experimental chain reactions within the existing local economy
* thinking while walking the street
* dynamic between the group of shopkeepers and the owner of the space
* immaterial economy
* risk
* the cooperative idea
* ...