ABOUT THIS SITE >>> This site is a blog as well as an archive. It gives visibility to the continues working of radical_hope, its current move to radical_house, the research project Distraction As Discipline (2016 - 2019) and the process of OTÇOE - works for passers-by, a working trajectory (2013 and 2014).
radical_house is a long term project and has a threefold nature: it presents a physical place, a framework and a logic. When in 2013 teaching and mentoring became an extension of Langsdorf's artistic practices now radical_house stems from her pedagogical experience where 'being in dialogue' with others is her main principle.
Distraction As Discipline 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 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
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
* ...