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Recyclable Refugee Camp

Il Giardino Segreto

A-social art project by Ives Maes

OPENING: 27 june at 3pm
Introduction: Tom Nys
Conversation with Mirta Demare, Emil Hrvatin and Johan Leestemaker
PRESENTATION: 27/06/04 - 08/08/04

FLACC is organising two solo-exhibitions under the title ŒMemory Landscapes¹. Two artists are interpreting the idea of the landscape in their own specific way. First on display is another venue of Ives Maes¹ Recyclable Refugee Camp. Next is Koen De Decker (opening 29th of August, 3pm / presentation from 29/08/04 - 10/10/04). Both artists are working individually but share a dialogue about the subject together. Tom Nys will be the moderator of these encounters and will present a review of the results.

RECYCLABLE REFUGEE CAMP - IVES MAES

Recyclable Refugee Camp is an ongoing project by Belgian artist Ives Maes This R.R.C. - built in conformity with the regulations of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees - consists of structures such as living units, a multifunctional tent and latrines; all easily transportable and with a relatively low production cost. What is more is the fact that everything is made of biodegradable and recyclable materials, thus reducing the environmental damage caused by such a temporary station of people on the run. Eventually, most of this camp will disintegrate after a few years.
Along with these basic components, the artist plans the development of additional elements such as electricity-producing devices that make use of natural resources, relaxation spaces and a kindergarten with toys and educational instalments. The purpose is to improve the inhabitant¹s psychological well-being, a function that is also notably present in the other pieces by their forms which are derived from art historical references: the living unit for example takes its form from African huts or Mario Merz¹s dome-like sculptures, and the water well resembles Michelangelo Pistoletto Œs Cinqo Pozzi.
Strikingly, Maes did not developed his R.R.C. out of concern with the terrible situation thousands of refugees see themselves in, but out of the artistic need to create an artwork that would be absolutely ethical in nature, well aware of the fact that this claim to hyper-ethicality would fail.
Ives Maes began rethinking the ideas of social sculpture and politically engaged art at the instigation of the Progretto Arte manifesto and the concept of Unidee by Pistoletto - R.R.C. was proposed to his Citta dell¹ Arte community earlier this year and triggered an intense debate there. Because Maes culminates epistemological tools used in discussions on contemporary art - like interdisciplinary practice, aestheticism and the position of the artist in the ³real² world - mixed with a set that befits academic discourses on global economy and politics, sociology and ecological concerns. This redundancy makes the work shift to an ideal and utopian construction, though it gleefully retains its perception of pragmatism.
The project thus arouses disturbance in the viewer¹s mind and raises questions about the terminology uttered by self-declared socially aware artists. Moreover, in a clever way the R.R.C. lays bare their ambiguous position in trying to keep the core of their oeuvre deeply grounded in everyday life, while at the same time engaging in the introvert and comforting system we call the art world.
Another issue the R.R.C. raises, is the determination of a great divide between the utopian dream and reality. Maes truly beliefs in art¹s function to offer a dream, or to provoke questions that point out the way to a partial realisation of it. Nevertheless, he is less credulous about a too far-fetched utopianism that ultimately will become ideological, thus destroying creativity.
It is also his concern that some artists dealing with political issues get stuck in a certain amateurism by their oft mentioned crossing of the boundaries of art into the fields of sociology, ecology, biology or other sciences. In this position their work will be read as naive dilettantism or uninteresting art, depending from what side it will be looked at.
One notices a hesitation from Maes¹s part to fully agree with the contemporary urge to assimilate the art world with the ³real². What others may call art¹s ivory tower, is for Maes a privileged position to creatively and often wittily pose critique not only on aspects of life at large, but also on the art society as well. In his eyes the expansion of its frontiers does not have to mean that those will be abolished in the end at all.
A thesis he proves perfectly well by his R.R.C., which encompasses not only the physicality of the camp¹s units, the preparatory drawings and texts, but also debates, roundtables and interaction of ideas with people involved in different fields. This is partly why the R.R.C. is more likely to be situated in a discursive space with its epicentre in the art world, rather than in some African desert.

OPENING-PROGRAM 27 june at 3pm:

Introduction: Tom Nys
Conversation with Mirta Demare, Emil Hrvatin and Johan Leestemaker

Tom Nys Organised among others the first venue of RRC in the Brigitte Weiss Galerie in Zürich. Besides being a curator he writes for the magazine Gonzo Circus about contemporary art and eletronic music.

Mirta Demare Has an artspace for contemporary art in Rotterdam. Originally from Argentinia, she is involved in exchange programs between dutch and Latin-American artists. For many years she has been an architect-engineer and advisor involved in the planning and designing of refugee camps in Africa, Asia and Latin-America. More information on www.mirtademare-art.nl

Emil Hravtin - Is a performance-artist from Ljubljana. He is the director of the multidisciplined MASKA ensemble. At the moment he is working on a research platform which is called First World Camp. The first project is Refugee Camp for the First World Citizen. More information on www.fwc.si

Johan Leestemaker Is active as a development consultant. He is specialised in the field of industrialsiation and regional development in Africa, Asia and Latin-America. His most recent involvement is advising the major of Medellin - Columbia, Sergio Fajardo, on refugee issues.
Furthermore he is involved with several artist-initiatives in the Netherlands as well as in Columbia.

Besides these people, Ives Maes invited Heidrun Holzfeind to present a related project. Her ŒAlien video library¹ is a growing collection of video and film works dealing with the issue of migration and borders. This archive will be on display in the Real World project room.

ALIEN5 - video library - a project by Heidrun Holzfeind, with works by Ursula Bieman, Pier Paolo Coro, Dias & Riedweg, drive-by-shooting, Rainer Ganahl, Heidrun Holzfeind, Ruth Kaaserer, Kinga Kielczynska, Jeroen Kooijmans, Klub Zwei, Micah Magee, Tanja Nelleman-Poulsen, Diane Nerwen, Jenny Perlin, Marco Poloni, Goran Radovanovic, Oliver Ressler, Martin Krenn, Alex Rivera, Andreas Staka, Suzanne winterling.

PRESENTATION: 27/06/04 - 10/10/04

André Dumontlaan 2

3600 Genk

T 089 84 52 23

F 089 84 52 24

E flacc@skynet.be