The HISK Affair

24.06 - 18.07.2021

Exhibition with first- and second-year candidate laureates at HISK (Higher Institute of Fine Arts)

Participating artists: Dries Boutsen, Nelleke Cloosterman, Wim De Pauw, Ian De Weerdt, Manu Engelen, Dani Ghercă, Antoine Goossens, Olivia Hernaïz, Karel Koplimets, Nokukhanya Langa, Gaëlle Leenhardt, Zhixin Liao, Linda Jasmin Mayer, Sandrine Morgante, Felipe Muhr, Hadassa Ngamba, Noemi Osselaer, Edouard Pagant, Elisa Pinto, Juan Pablo Plazas, Stephanie Rizaj, Paulius Šliaupa, Pei-Hsuan Wang

Co-curator: Sam Steverlynck

Location: HISK - Gosset site, Brussels (BE)

Read the interview in BRUZZ magazine here

Although art fairs and postgraduate shows may seem quite different at first, they do have much in common. Degree shows have become the picking grounds for gallerists and curators eager to spot new, young talent. In contrast, however, over the past few decades, several art fairs have abandoned an overtly commercial model and gradually adopted a curatorial format. So why not combine the best of both worlds and use the scenography of the art fair – with its booths of various sizes, colored carpets, screening room, performance stage and champagne bar – as a conceptual backbone for a midterm exhibition that brings together the work of 23 current candidate-laureates of the HISK? While Art Brussels, the second oldest contemporary art fair in Europe, had to cancel two of its subsequent editions due to the pandemic, we propose to fill this void with a mini-fair in the Gosset building, the Brussels exhibition space of the HISK at a stone’s throw from the Tour & Taxis site where the fair traditionally takes place.