OFLUXO

Entering the main space, we are confronted with a bizarre and blank architecture. Although anonymous, it has a Flemish feel to it – perhaps because of the fake roof tiles that we find in sheds and garden annexes, and other buildings that might hide ‘the backstage of everyday life’, whether that is our digital or physical lives. The works from the Buffering series are presented on the roof sculptures which mimic the architecture of the exhibition space. The shape of these works reminds us of floral motifs, medallions and of course the buffering sign that pops up whenever there’s a lag between a device and the internet. These large works appear as almost enlarged and updated versions of pilgrim badges, which were bought, taken or even stolen by travelling pilgrims in Christian medieval Europe. Sought after for repentance or healing, this was thought to be accessed through touch or even ingestion. In Jefford’s works, fingerprints, fossil-like forms, and what look like wires are embedded into the grubby and worn surfaces, contending with graphic images and text from various historical and contemporary sources. For example, on one of the first works we see a reference to book VI of Plato’s ‘Republic’, the wood engraving of ‘The ship of fools’ in which the dysfunctional and misgovernance are a central theme.

Time is the common thread running through this complex exhibition: it is as if the artist is viewing the present through the lens of the past. Jefford attempts to pull apart and put back together again recent and not so recent histories using associative thinking. The idea of time is also present in the three works entitled ‘Clock test’, in which the artist uses diagrams made by persons in various stages of dementia. Another work warns us that time is ‘unforgettable, unsanitary, unhealthy’.

The relentless interplay between images and texts reminds us of everyday browsing, that moment when you just wanted to check one message and time slipped away on the screen. Looking at these works we are always distracted by the textured and dirty surface, a reminder that behind this limitless and perhaps directionless wandering is a concealed yet sprawling and nebulous infrastructure. Lose yourself in the many details, the fingerprints in the skin of the works, the countless historical references and enjoy the visual spectacle as you go down the stairs to the former production hall, which now hosts the permanent works. There, on the right you will find Jefford’s edition for Liebaert Projects. In his typical style, he shows the transition from day to night in 20 unique editions that are for sale to support the artist and Liebaert Projects.

Then we have Eva L’Hoest, a young artist from Liège who turns 30 this year. She lives and works in Brussels. At the same time as this exhibition L’hoest is showing her video installation ‘Shitsukan Of Objects’ in the group exhibition ‘Regenerate’ at Wiels in Brussels. L’Hoest’s work has already been shown on several occasions, such as the 2019 Biennale of Lyon and Riga Biennale in 2020.
Next year it will be shown at the Biennale of Sydney. For her show at Liebaert Projects, L’Hoest made ‘Don’t feed the birds’; a new room filling video installation and a new series of sculptures cast in metal. L’Hoest’s solo exhibition inaugurates the basement space of Liebaert Projects, which still has the original floor in bluestone from Tournai and the typical brick arched vaults which make the building a historic landmark. In this new video tryptic, the artist shows us how people dwell between the sobriety of numbers and algorithms and the clinging on to superstition and rituals.
The eternal desire to control and direct the future is something that fascinates people  dark times like these. L’Hoest continues her exploration of the relationship between humans and technology and the impact it has on our behavior. ‘Don’t feed the birds’ contains a multitude of references. Among which the ritual of reading the liver by the Etruscans, the earliest artificial life program and algorithms based on the movement of flocks of birds and the trading of shares on the Paris stock exchange market, where the weather determines the transactions and prices. The artist shifts beautifully between past, present and future with her mesmerizing video that captures the current zeitgeist in a breathtaking way. When entering the basement, we encounter a series of small casted works inspired by the gruma, a measuring instrument used by the Etruscan surveyors, whose shape reminds both a plumb line and the pendulum of a divine. We see people clinging on to the little metal tool, taking a swing. Trying to get a grip on things and events that are probably far beyond their capabilities and powers. A hint of what’s to come?

Leaving the basement, we continue our exploration of the site along the permanent works to the installation of Kamiel de Waal. Born in 1998, this young Antwerp artist recently graduated from KASK in Ghent. His early oeuvre borders between sculpture and photography. Here, de Waal shows ‘An Inflatable left to its own device (or) Must be the reason why I’m king of my castle’. With this huge inflatable ship, the artist surprises us, the work flirts with absurdity and challenges our imagination. Is it art or a one hit wonder? We cannot enter the ship and when it deflates for a brief moment, we see that it has been reduced to a minimal structure on the inside in order to be functional. In this work the artist shows a keen sense of taste and playfulness. Within this project the work functions as the green lung, the piece attracts our attention from afar and keeps it. Is this de Waal’s interpretation of ‘The ship of fools’?

Finally, we would like to give you a heads-up for our next project in September in which we will present two new solo exhibitions with the Latvian artist Daiga Grantina and the Turkish artist Özgür Kar. The exhibitions will run from 11.09 – 24.10.2021 and can be visited on Saturday and Sunday.