BREAKFASTCLUB is an intimate meeting with an artistic proposal and with each other. During a meeting at an unusual time with a snack and a drink as a binding factor, other ways of sharing, looking and experiencing become possible. Gouvernement’s concept combines artists’ presentation moments with a moderated conversation on the themes evoked by the works on show.
In the context of Playground, a yearly festival presented by STUK and Museum M in Leuven, we put together a program on disrupting normalities. What is a normal artwork, artist, spectator and institute? How do we blur these normalities? We decided to use this edition to think about normality not just as a single person, but in the field – a playground of normalities.
After an intervention from Diederick Peeters, whose work inspired this edition, we will watch the short movie Show Girl by Amari, in which the stripclub becomes the stage of many gazes.
All this will prompt a conversation, moderated by multidisciplinary artist Stine Sampers and joined by multimedia artist Shervin/e Sheikh Rezaei and Globe Aroma.
LOCATION
STUKcafé, Leuven
DATE
15 november 2024 from 9:30 until 11:30
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BREAKFASTCLUB IS Vincent Focquet, Marie Umuhoza, Lauren Borremans en Nele Keukelier A PROJECT OF Gouvernement SUPPORT BY KAAP, VIERNULVIER, STUK, Campo, De Studio, Het Theaterfestival, Rekto:Verso, Universiteit Gent en De Vlaamse Gemeenschap
Amari is a performer, filmmaker and founder of Unlimited Strip Club, also known as USC : A research practice focused on erotic performance and strip club’s dynamics. USC questions the traditional framework that sensual performance normally operate in and aims to build bridge between the cultural/art world and erotic dance intersectional communities.
“Clubs or any spaces are there to support and the performance in itself is the medium” – Amari
In her multimedia practice Shervin/e Sheikh Rezaei (b.1994, Belgium/Iran, lives and works in Brussels) explores the contrast between the fluidity and invasiveness of nature/humanity and the controlled and impersonal language of technology. An attraction to the irrational and emotional, took her from architecture to the autonomous visual arts.
As an architect, I used to observe reality in order to find find a balance between logic and intuition. I attach great importance to the conceptual framework and always look for the essence. In my multimedia practice, I explore the contrast between the fluidity and invasiveness of nature/humanity and the
controlled, impersonal language of technology. An attraction to the irrational took me from architecture to visual arts. Thus, I often use uncontrollable elements in my work, such as movement, organic materials, disease and themes of memory. I often use personal, intimate experiences to further explore spatiality
and highlight unmentionable themes through the use of mixed-media. I like to confront the other to meet
the unexpected in an uncomfortable juxtaposition. A variety of backgrounds interacting in a third landscape. My works range from pencil drawings to videos, sculptures, scenography’s and installations. In between, I always seek a confluence of logic and intuition, control and self-analysis.
Stine Sampers (they/she, °1993, BE) is an independent artist, writer, and dramaturge. Across their diverse artistic pursuits—photography, writing, and performing—Stine’s work consistently explores themes of human interdependence, relationship anarchy, and neurodiversity under capitalism. Their practice rethinks the institutions that shape how we engage and connect with one another. In 2018, Stine graduated with the creation of (long arms)(extended), a collaboration with Matilda Çobanli, Maïly Xu Beyrens, Deveny Faruque, and Charlotte Simoens. This project focused on score-writing, role exchanges between performers and audiences, recipes for togetherness, and collective timing exercises.
Alongside Jan Matthé (Risiko Press), they co-host events in their Borgerhout home under the name Kransen. Since leaving a full-time curatorial position in a Flemish institution, Stine has primarily focused on photographing friends, lovers, and close surroundings, engaging in pro-Palestinian and anti-fascist activism, and creating a monthly radio show for community station We Are Various called (long arms)(continued)—an auditory continuation of their earlier research. Stine also performs their poetry for live audiences, opening for artists such as claire rousay, Laila Sakini and Voice Actor, and collaborates in various ways with Samuel Baidoo, Wendy Morris, Sietske Van Aerde, Sophia Danae Vorvila, Matilda Çobanli + Anni Koskinen, and their fa/ellowship collective.
GLOBE AROMA is a cultural meeting place and artistic workspace located in the heart of Brussels. GLOBE AROMA welcomes asylum seekers, refugees and people without legal residence. We organise artistic activities, cultural outings and offer a network of people and opportunities.
We have three main pillars; The Artistic Workspace is for professional artists who need a workspace and network to make their artistic practice visible. Art for All & Art for Youth are projects for people interested in concerts, exhibitions, dance and theatre. We visit a wide range of cultural activities every month. And Espace Fxmme invites women who like to be creative to work together on artistic projects every Thursday.
Diederik Peeters
Despite a degree in visual arts, Diederik Peeters got lost in the labyrinth of the stage-arts. He committed several shows and performances, such as ‘Chuck Norris doesn’t sleep, he waits’, ‘Red Herring’ or ‘Apparitions’. As a proud patient of a pathological preference for confusion, Peeters piles up absurdities and contradictions. The notion of a solid and unchanging reality is stubbornly sabotaged in his performances. They reveal a visual universe where everything is constantly transforming, and nothing ever remains what it seems to be. Peeters is a founding member of SPIN, a support and reflection platform based in Brussels. Between 2019 and 2023 he was affiliated researcher at KASK / School of Arts in Gent (BE) for the research project ‘Futurology of Cooperation’. He sporadically teaches or hosts workshops at universities and artschools.
