Artists: Leyla Aydoslu, Younes Baba-Ali, Béatrice Balcou, Christiane Blattmann, Aleksandra Chaushova, Dieter Durinck, Alexis Gautier, Hamza Halloubi, Olivia Hernaïz, Vedran Kopljar, Katja Mater, Hana Miletić, Meggy Rustamova, Mostafa Saifi Rahmouni, Kato Six, Gintauté Skvernyté, Ken Verhoeven, Oriol Vilanova, Anna Zacharoff
Exhibition title: The Constant Glitch
Venue: M – Museum Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Date: April 2 – September 5, 2021
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and M – Museum Leuven
Since 2020, the global pandemic has left the world in a constant state of emergency. It is no secret that the cultural sector was and is under pressure. Emerging talent has less room to create.
M, the City of Leuven and Cera joined forces to provide oxygen. The City of Leuven and Cera each made €50,000 available and the crowdfunding campaign ‘Art is for everyone’ by M-LIFE, the museum fund of M Leuven, added over €15,000 on top. Thanks to this collaboration, 19 artists are supported through the purchase of 37 works. These works will be shown in ‘The Constant Glitch’, named after one of the selected works by Christiane Blattmann.
About the selection
An expert committee, composed of Eva Wittocx and Valerie Verhack (curators M Leuven), Hicham Khalidi (director Jan Van Eyck Academy Maastricht) and Louis-Philippe Van Eeckhoutte (independent curator), picked the 19 artists based on criteria such as quality, place in the Belgian art scene, a certain continuity in the work and the media in which these artists work.
The selection includes films, paintings, drawings, photography, sculptures, screen prints, textiles, sound works and spatial installations. The 19 selected artists are: Leyla Aydoslu, Younes Baba-Ali, Béatrice Balcou, Christiane Blattmann, Aleksandra Chaushova, Dieter Durinck, Alexis Gautier, Hamza Halloubi, Olivia Hernaïz, Vedran Kopljar, Katja Mater, Hana Miletić, Meggy Rustamova, Mostafa Saifi Rahmouni, Kato Six, Gintauté Skvernyté, Ken Verhoeven, Oriol Vilanova and Anna Zacharoff.
This group of artists includes eleven women and eight men, of different ages and backgrounds. They are artists who, each in their own way, are active in the Belgian contemporary art scene, with different backgrounds. M has already in the past shown the work of Béatrice Balcou, Aleksandra Chaushova and Oriol Vilanova and this will be followed in September by a solo exhibition of Alexis Gautier. It is about more than just the acquisition of works: M is committed to following the work of the artists and giving them a place in future presentations and projects – the first manifestation being the exhibition ‘The Constant Glitch’ bringing together all the acquired works in a large museum hall.
‘The Constant Glitch’ is the title of an acquired sculpture by Christiane Blattmann. It refers to the disruption that has been present in all areas of our society since the beginning of the pandemic. Our connection, our perception of time, our way of living together, working and consuming have all come under pressure. A disruption caused by the lockdown and which initially was only meant to last a few weeks has now lasted for almost a year. How temporary or fundamental is this disruption?
The pandemic has also in particular had an impact on the working methods of artists: it seeps into their work and also determines (the lack of) presentations. With ‘The Constant Glitch’, M presents a modest sample of an upcoming generation of artists active in Belgium. Artists who keep their finger on the pulse of society and formulate a personal view of the world with their creative and sometimes critical practice.
