Anne Daems & Voebe de Gruyter
Autumn 2015
The Brussels artists Anne Daems and Voebe de Gruyter worked from October until December 2015 at The Fifth Season.
Anne Daems
The pavilion where The Fifth Season is located, was built in 1933 as occupational therapy room for female patients. In the front part of the building was a little shop were products that were manufactured during labor therapy, were exhibited and sold. Now prevails in most workplaces at the Willem Arntsz Hoeve a dynamic, stress-free atmosphere. Driven workshop leaders and committed volunteers are trying patiently to motivate patients in their talent and bring them back as a step closer to reality and society. Anne Daems' film On The Edge Of The Forest shows residents during these tasks. For her photo series Products Of The Dagbesteding she made and selection of things that are produced and photographed these in daylight and on a neutral background in her workspace. A legend shows the strange combination of business-like objects an interpretation and a more personal story.
Anne Daems shows her photos, videos and drawings specific qualities of everyday life that reveal the social complexity. Starting from precise observations, she manages to accumulate details to expose a whole microcosm. In 1999 she won the Prix de la Jeune Peinture Belge. Since then, her work has been exhibited internationally. Last year, she realized together with Kenneth Andrew Mroczek the book Opa-Tisha-Wocka-Locka (Fernand Baudin Prize 2014) and When The Linden Blooms at the Musée Matisse, Le Cateau-Cambrésis.
www.bamart.be/persons/detail/nl/13
Voebe de Gruyter
Het Theehuis, de Vloeivelden, de Houthakplek and de Tuin are drawings of historic sites in the area of the Willem Arntsz Hoeve that were meant for the welfare of patients.
The drawings are created based on the Gruyters' dreams, walks and talks with patients. As background for the drawings also served De Gruyter's personal family history of psychiatry. From 1929 to 1938, de Gruyter's grandmother (who was also an artist) regularly on the premises of the institution. She painted psychiatrist H. Van der Hoeven who worked at the Willem Arntsz Hoeve, several times. During her residency de Gruyter took on the role of her grandmother and moved in her time. At this time, three of the four sites that are drawn by de Gruyter are disused or abandonned. Picturing the original intention of the locations de Gruyter intents to 'erase' their current destination and 'return' the original places to the patients. De Gruyter used electromagnetically-resistant paint in her drawings and connected the drawings via a grounding wire with an electrical outlet. As a result, the electromagnetic radiation is discharged. This creates an energetic emptiness by which de Gruyter creates a poetic space for interpretation and projection.
Voebe de Gruyter's work has been described as "proposals for unsuspected patterns'. Her work is based on drawings, though she uses all possible materials in her work. In a fairly direct manner she puts thoughts and ideas on paper. On the basis of an evocative idea expressed in text or image, she creates a force in which she challenges the perception of the viewer.
Recent books and articles: Voebe de Gruyter, Club Solo publication, in 2015, with texts by Maria Barnas and Steven ten Thije. Voebe de Gruyter, From Action or Math Making Photons to Zen Buddhists Bad Breath, Roma publications 188, 2012, with texts by Roel Arkesteijn and Maria Barnas. NRC, 2015, artists bring Ode to postcard, Lucette ter Borg. www.1646.nl/projects/voebe-de-gruyter, Sabine Tuelings.
www.voebedegruyter.be
The residencyperiode Anne Daems and Voebe de Gruyter came about through an exchange of The Fifth Season and the psychiatric hospital St. Alexius / Elsene and KAOS (Art Atelier Opperstraat) in Brussels and was generously supported by Best Buren.
Former residents of The Fifth Season Milou Abel lived and worked from October until December 2015 in the center of Brussels in a house for ex-patients with housing counseling.
www.besteburen.eu