Auteur : Kevin

Iatromantis

Iatromantis
2014 Impasse-temps Bruxelles

Dans l’antiquité grecque, il existait une méthode de soin nommée incubation. On passait une nuit dans une grotte sacrée gardée par un initié, le Iatromantis. Les rêves étaient un message envoyé par les dieux amenant la guérison. Iatromantis est ici couché au fond du trou d’où l’argile des briques a été extraite. Un mur transpercé ouvrait le passage à l’exposition. Les lumières soudain coupées, il en sort avec une lampe frontale. Le faisceau lumineux passae sur le visage des spectateurs un instant éblouis. La lumière dévoile des objets, reliques de vœux, d’obsessions guéries. Une quantité d’objets contemporains divinisés comme des ex-votos: mégots de cigarettes, chaussures à talon, walkmans,… Le faisceau lumineux de la lampe se change en celui d’un projecteur et au plafond défile le songe messager des dieux.

In Greek Antiquity, there was a method of care called incubation. The sick people went to a sacred cave guarded by an initiated, the Iatromantis. They lay down in a bed to let come the dreams. They were considered as a message sent by the gods allowing the cure.
This exhibition has to be understood as a global process of transformation of the space, everything was built in situ. The clay used for the bricks was directly extracted from the ground of the exhibition space. Once the façade wall was unsettled, I built this wall which is a an entrance to the exhibition. Then I did three times this ritual : At first, you could see me lied down in the hole where from I took the clay. Then, lights off, I slowly went out of the hole with an headlamp. I trailed around the beam of light on the face of the dazzled spectators, and on the walls, where were revealed objects placed in holes and cracks, vestiges of impossible wishes, cured obsessions, a quantity of contemporary objects deified as ex-votos: butt of cigarettes, high heels, walkmans… I was going to lie down on a mattress, and there the beam of light turned out to be a projector light, showing a movie in the ceiling, the dream gods’ messenger.


              

The market coal stall



HIDDEN PLACES & IDENTITIES 2012
Parallel Events Manifesta9
curated by Michela Sacchetto & Francesca Berardi
Installation : wood, fabric, coal mold in polyester resin, mixed media
Performance with sound
during the market time

The performance happens on Saturday morning at the heart of the Vennerstraat market. Like a stall, besides the vegetables, dresses and other goods hosts the witch Putheks tells her story to anyone who will listen. Like market gardeners, she incites passers-by to buy their product: pieces of precious magic coals.
In 1725, a poor illegitimate girl born in Eksel, named Catheleyn Cuypers or Leyn Weckx, was accused of arson. She was tried for witchcraft and sentenced to burn at the stake. But during the journey towards the place of execution, she managed to escape and mysteriously disappeared into a hole. From that escape originates her name, the Putheks, the witch of the hole. For centuries, people held her responsible for all that was unexplained. When the mines were established in Genk in the early 20th century, the Putheks started a new life. People use to say that she lived in the mine galleries and persecuted the miners in their work.

      

Demain

 

Demain j’y arriverai

3 h performance,
 29 silkscreened papers
2011 En suspens La Non Galerie Royale Bruxelles

Day after day getting up for going to work,
opening on the desk the paper ball taken under the pillow.
Tomorrow I shall succeed.
Then going back to bed,
sleeping until the next awakening.
And begining again.
We dream about what should be done,
but the next day nothing would be solved.

Jour après jour se lever pour se mettre à la tâche,
ouvrir sur le bureau la boulette en papier prise sous l’oreiller.
Demain j’y arriverai.
Ensuite se recoucher, dormir jusqu’au prochain réveil.
Et recommencer.
On rêve de ce qu’on a à faire le lendemain, mais le lendemain nous échappe.

Au clair de l’œil

2009
lunettes, acier soudé, gyrophare
Toutes les couleurs sont permises 
à condition que cela n’empêche pas le commerce

Szczecin Museum of contemporary art
, Pologne

Un présentoir publicitaire projette son alarme lumineuse et transmet sur le mur les ombres des lunettes qu’il supporte.

Through thousands



2007 
straws, strap
Toutes les couleurs sont autorisées à condition que cela n’empêche pas le commerce
2011 Galerie Hoffmann Frankfurt Allemagne
2009 Szczecin Museum of contemporary art Pologn
2008 BWA Katowice Pologne
2007 Atelier 340 Bruxelles

When you look from far, you can see a dark disk hovering in mid-height of the room. Coming closer, we see that the disk starts to become iridescent, and after a while it vanishes, turning into a transparent screen, a fine translucent film. As if pixellized the space becomes visible through a fragmented filter. However, by looking from another point of view, the multicolour straws will reveal their real nature and dimensions. There are no special effects here; on the contrary, it’s only an optical phenomenon resulting from the simple gathering of straws.