Last week I visited Gijs Van Vaerenbergh’s exhibition “Sections” at Valerie Traan, where I came across Model House, a piece they initially made for the Atelier à Habiter exhibition at Z33 in 2013, and models of their installations Labyrinth and Reading between the lines. I realized I never shared the photos I took of Model House on the blog, so I wanted to do so now and at the same time encourage you to go see Sections for yourself at Valerie Traan. If you’d like to know more about Model House, which depicts a typical Flemish “fermette” that’s in the process of being demolished from the bottom up, you should have a look at Gijs Van Vaerenbergh’s artist talk here. (Only in Dutch though.)
Growing up, I spent a lot of my free time in the nearby city of Hasselt. Back then, I was mostly attracted by the chain stores, unaware that Hasselt had so much more to offer. One of those things I missed out on for a long time, is Z33. Located in a historical beguinage, this house for contemporary art offers unique exhibitions and space for experimentation and innovation. During my last visit, I explored expo Toegepast 20: Looking for the in-between. The design competition of Toegepast 20 selected 6 young and talented designers to be coached by professionals for a year and ultimately give them the chance to show their work at Z33, hopefully leading to a successful career in the creative sector. The selected designers have very different backgrounds, ranging from architecture (Ruben Castro) to jewelry (Anneleen Swillen) and from textile ( Charlotte Vandenborre) to graphic design (An Onghena, my personal favorite of the selection). The result is an interesting expo with beautiful scenography by Adriaan Tas, who’s home you might have already spotted on Instagram and will soon appear on the blog. This particular expo unfortunately came to its end, but their current agenda looks very promising and a walk around the beguinage is always a good idea, so don’t miss out on this hidden gem when you’re visiting the city!
