Art Antwerp

Friday 12 December
3 PM
Talk with Tamara Beheydt, Vaast Colson & Johan Pas, moderated by Jan De Vree (NL)

With an art historian, an artist and a critic at the table, the conversation reflects on the role of museums as spaces for research, preservation and critical dialogue. What does it mean for a society when that role becomes marginalized? 

About the Speakers:   

Jan De Vree

Jan De Vree, an art historian specialised in contemporary art, has served as Head of Collections and Research at the Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp (M HKA) since 2010. Previously, he held various positions within the museum, including collection manager and researcher.

He obtained a master’s degree in Art History and Musicology (1998) from Ghent University and a master’s degree in Theatre Studies (2000) from the University of Antwerp. In addition to his work at M HKA, De Vree has published and presented on visual poetry and contemporary art. He has also contributed to the development of several exhibitions, both nationally and internationally.

 

His expertise and research focus on the relationship between poetry, visual art, and social engagement, with a particular interest in concrete, visual, and sound poetry from the 1960s and 1970s.

Tamara Beheydt  

Tamara Beheydt is an art-writer and curator based in Brussels. She frequently publishes contributions for specialized magazines, writes exhibition texts or portfolio texts for artists, and occasionally performs as a public speaker during panel conversations, lectures, or artist talks. She is also part of the organizational team of the non-profit art space SECONDroom. From an interest and belief in the value of contemporary art for the human community, she commits to providing a supporting platform to artistic discourses and to maintaining a critical overview of developments in the cultural field. 

Vaast Colson 

Vaast Colson (°1977, Antwerp) studied painting at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp and completed a postgraduate program in Breda. 

Colson belongs to a younger generation of Antwerp-based artists who might be described as “post-ironic.” These artists do not shy away from the major questions concerning the place and role of the artist in society and in the world around them. Colson’s oeuvre explores fundamental questions: What power can art have to change us and our society? What emotions and ethical choices accompany an artist in a process of continuous transformation? With a spontaneous and rather naïve approach to art and performance, Colson seeks to give shape to his ideas. He opens up the artistic field and investigates what is happening within the art world. Everything he undertakes can therefore be regarded as an artistic intervention. 

In his work, Colson continually questions the relationship with the audience and is also strongly interested in the mythology and the authentic or inauthentic mystique of the artist’s existence—topics he generally explores further in his performances. The process is always important, but so is the final result, which for Colson is variable and influenced by context, and thus forms an essential part of his work. 

Colson also examines the commercial side of the art world and the economic consequences of being an artist. His works, often produced in situ, are frequently difficult to sell. Commerciality and the value judgments that come with it are problematic for Colson. The production of editions can be understood within this context.

Johan Pas 

Johan Pas is an art historian. He teaches and conducts research at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. His research focuses on the publication and presentation history of 20th-century avant-gardes and neo-avant-gardes. 

He has published, among others, Beeldenstorm in een spiegelzaal: Het iCC en de actuele kunst (2005), Een andere avant-garde: documenten uit het archief van galerie De Zwarte Panter (2008), Multiple/Readings: 51 kunstenaarsboeken (2011), and Artists’ Publications: The Belgian Contribution (2017).

Location: Tribune