‘One space becoming another’ underlines the importance and urgency of printed matters as a possible medium and vehicle to generate space and to create dialogue that will touch upon topics such as the development of public discourse through artistic practices and the publication as a “portable, hospitable artist-run space”.
This project is an extension of the one-year research project ‘Becoming a space’ and looks at the short history of ‘Pink House press’, initiated by Ersi Varveri and Gijs Waterschoot within the activities of the artist-run space Pink House. It aims to be a platform for further exploring collective ways of working and living, and a way to document, publish and transmit various activities in a potential archive.
‘Pink House press’ placed self-publishing into the centre of its activities and programming, transforming publishing into a process-based and collective practice. In February 2020, Varveri and Waterschoot moved out of the Pink House and continue without a stable base, observing new possibilities, looking for a yet-to-be-defined artist-run space.
In this new context, researcher Varveri asks herself some fundamental questions. Do we actually need another stable home to house our activities? If not, how can we continue our work within a mobile, nomadic context? How will hospitality function in a situation where there is no physical building? Can we consider the self-published/self-made zine as a “portable, hospitable artist-run space”? What is the role of education in this process? How are we related to bigger institutions such as academies, museums, art centres or libraries, and to the different public domains in our society? What kind of “public moments” are we seeking in order to create real dialogues and exchanges among us?
This project is developed in collaboration with Gijs Waterschoot (visual artist, Antwerp).
