Artist Statement

Hacnum Exhibition. various locations, May 16 – 21

Change is an old revolutionary, returning to its birth village looking for recognition for all it has done. Change talks to four people, who seem to hold disparate views on what change should bring in the future. In the end, it becomes clear that change is never really welcome.

Ad Hominem is a philosophical choose-your-own-adventure game, based on Eutopia Unbound by Sofie Verraest, in which the player is cast in the role of Change. You are invited to pick one of two answers to questions proposed by four different characters who represent four distinct utopic ideas. Change is guided towards an event, organised in honour of its arrival, through a maze of historical quotes on collectivism, individualism, progressive thinking and conservatism. [Source: Vimeo]

• Alex  Verhaest’s work is largely focused on language, story and the impossibility of communication. The basis of each project is a highly narrative script, existing or newly written, around which she creates a body of work by analyzing its storyline and exploring the limits of what constitutes communicable language. Verhaest’s highly pictorial work operates on the juxtaposition of painting and video, each new project being an investigation into unorthodox contemporary technology. During her MFA year, Verhaest travelled to China where she discovered the Asian hacker subculture. She was invited to participate in a six-month residency at island6 Arts Center in Shanghai where she joined the former artist collective ‘Platform for Urban Investigations’. She then travelled to Mexico DF, Eindhoven and Salvador da Bahia where she participated in group-shows of the collective at the Museo de la Ciudad de Mexico, the Van Abbe Museum and the Museo de Arte Moderna. In 2009 she decided to focus more on her own practice and to leave the collective, which resulted in participations in several group exhibitions around Belgium and the Netherlands. In September of 2013, her debut solo Temps Mort/Idle Times opened at Grimm Gallery, Amsterdam. Her work has been selected by several arts and new media festivals and competitions; i.e. the FILE electronic language festival in Sao Paolo, the New Technology Art Award in Gent, TAZ oostende and Arts Festival Watou, and her work is featured in the Akzo Nobel Collection. Alex Verhaest recently won the prestigious Japanese Media Arts New Face Award and the Ars Electronica Golden Nica. [Source: Vimeo] http://www.alexverhaest.com