Hello, haven’t we crossed paths in the past? How are you doing? Welcome to Jester, where we present the exhibition Yesterday (when there were no jokes left to tell) by Julie Béna and Kamil Bouzoubaa-Grivel.
Can’t you see me? Well, I see you! (*ÔÔ*)
Allow me to introduce myself: I am the last jester – you might know me as the fool, the trickster, the harlequin, the joker or the shapeshifter – and today, I will guide you through this exhibition. Once bound to royal courts, I have captivated audiences with my artistry; jokes, songs, storytelling, juggling, acrobacy… you name it! But nowadays, I am independently seeking to recruit and empower a new generation of jesters. Who were these jesters of yesterday, you might ask?
We, the jesters, have existed across the globe and throughout the ages. Our role as court jesters was indispensable for the good governance of many countries, as our jokes, antics, tricks and humor would conduct people of authority to relate to the needs and wishes – but also to the frustrations and concerns – of the community. Our adventurous yet subversive tactics would appear to be constructive rather than Machiavellian, manifested through love rather than fear. Crossing nations and eras, we would jest and critique the rulers, allowing them to laugh at themselves, thereby humanizing the apparatus of power. Our position was highly regarded and we were well-loved, as we symbolized the aversion to convention. Our wit disrupted normative order to allow for a fairer society with equal rights, while coming from vulnerable social classes ourselves. We acted as mediators that applied humor and freedom as positive forces that could ease political tensions and social discrepancies between the rich and the poor, the powerful and the disadvantaged, the dominant and the eccentric. Do you wonder where my fellow jesters have gone now?
One thing is for sure: the jesters have left the stage. In these turbulent times, when geo-political, ecological, financial and social crises succeed each other at an unsustainable rate, there is a pressing need for a renewed trust in the future jesters of our world. We must summon the eccentric, critical, non-normative, subversive, creative spirits – those who dwell both at the center and the margins of society. Like the artist, you suggest? Yes, exactly, and that is why I brought these two artists, Julie Béna and Kamil Bouzoubaa-Grivel, to Belgium to present their practices here for the first time.
Together, these artists wield the tropes of mass media to navigate our tumultuous era of technocapitalism, where deep-fake imagery, artificial intelligence, and censorship loom large. Later, you will encounter artworks that reclaim the motives of glitch, halftone, pixel and pictogram from this visual culture. The constellation of different media blurs the border between digital and analogue, metaphor and statement, versatility and immobility, dream and reality, comedy and tragedy, high and low culture. These interstices carve out a space of opportunity for the future jesters to rise above the fatigue, colondrum and hopelessness of today’s existence. With one foot in yesterday and another in tomorrow, the artists try to balance as jesters on a momentum in motion, violated by global and local transitions. These shifts are orchestrated by the universal swing to the right-wing with multiple genocides (taking place across the globe as we speak) and a looming worldwide warfare as a backdrop. In a world yearning for jesters, we find them paralyzed, stifled in a landscape where freedom (of speech, expression and action) is under immense pressure. When there are no jokes left to tell, Bouzoubaa-Grivel and Béna propose as many works as the 24 hours of the day, consisting of deceptive drawings, absurdist animations and whimsical installations to perceive our daily reality differently. They encourage the future jesters (and you?) to leave the polarized nightmare of yesterday behind, and to look forward to the speculative dream of tomorrow. What will this dream of tomorrow be about?
Let us help you, because Julie, Kamil and I have drawn three tarot cards – Wheel of Fortune, The Hanged Man and Death – inviting you to imagine tomorrow’s dream. Each card opens up a dialogue about the polyphonic possibilities to experience the exhibition and its context. Each room mirrors one of the subsequent cards, and allows you to connect past, present and future to address complex questions – both personal and collective – in relation to the artworks. Furthermore, we invited the collective Apparatus 22 (RO/BE/Suprainfinit utopian realm) as jesters-in-residence to formulate questions that you can draw and ponder about. We believe jesters should spark questions rather than provide answers, allowing the exhibition to embody the open-ended spirit of a tarot reading. It is no coincidence that the card of ‘The Fool’ leads the tarot deck (n°0), representing the adventurous mind that roams freely.
Welcome to join Julie Béna and Kamil Bouzoubaa-Grivel on their journey from yesterday to tomorrow, traveling through the dawn of dullness, the light of luck, the shadow of sacrifices and the twilight of transformation!
Text by Koi Persyn
When this image is used in print (magazines, publications, etc.), the photographer must give permission. For print inquiries, contact vandenbussche-vandenbossche via hello@vandenbussche-vandenbossche.com.
When this image is used in print (magazines, publications, etc.), the photographer must give permission. For print inquiries, contact vandenbussche-vandenbossche via hello@vandenbussche-vandenbossche.com.
When this image is used in print (magazines, publications, etc.), the photographer must give permission. For print inquiries, contact vandenbussche-vandenbossche via hello@vandenbussche-vandenbossche.com.
When this image is used in print (magazines, publications, etc.), the photographer must give permission. For print inquiries, contact vandenbussche-vandenbossche via hello@vandenbussche-vandenbossche.com.
When this image is used in print (magazines, publications, etc.), the photographer must give permission. For print inquiries, contact vandenbussche-vandenbossche via hello@vandenbussche-vandenbossche.com.
When this image is used in print (magazines, publications, etc.), the photographer must give permission. For print inquiries, contact vandenbussche-vandenbossche via hello@vandenbussche-vandenbossche.com.
