Artist projects
in the border region
(2021)

Stefan Cools
Stefan Cools (NL) is a multidisciplinary artist and botanist whose work is on the cutting edge of art and science. Nature has been the source of inspiration for his work since the beginning of his career, and his art currently focuses on the transformational processes of nature.


Barbed-wire vegetation
Cools has been researching barbed-wire vegetation for a while now. The vegetation that grows below barbed-wire is comprised of special species. As no environmental pressures (such as grazing animals, agricultural machinery, and hikers) are present on this area, the soil is left undisturbed. Since the vegetation beneath the barbed wire can't be reached by grazing animals or lawn mowers, the ecosystem is home to a unique set of flora. Even the posts that mark the meadow and hold the barbed wire in place represent independent biotopes, with mosses, lichens, and other types of small vegetation.


Exhibition 'From the life of a butterfly' | 21.05 - 04.09.2022 @Museum De Domijnen
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Silke Schatz
Silke Schatz's (DE) work deals with places and their history, often focusing on the architecture in which the person lives or lived. The fact that this is linked to socio-political questions is exemplified by the current debate on property prices and climate change.


In ‘Manheim Calling’, Schatz tackles the consequences of open-cast lignite mining. She visited the village of Manheim, which was almost completely demolished due to coal mining. Only a few of the farms are still standing, many orchards and vegetable gardens have already been cleared, only a few overgrown orchards have survived. The operator bought up houses and farms and had them razed to the ground in order to expand the open-cast lignite mine. Not all want to give up their village, few have resisted expropriation to this day or have been negotiating an appropriate compensation for years. Visiting people on site who lived or are still living there, Schatz has started to find traces of the village and to document them, focusing on the nature on fallow land and the abandoned kitchen gardens, which are now left to their own devices. She has started to record her traces and fruits in a shadow archive (cyanotypes) and has chosen it as the starting point for an artistic examination of the relationship between humans and nature.

Arthur Cordier
Arthur Cordier's (BE) practice tackles the aesthetics of bureaucracy, entrepreneurship, and efficiency through relational, situational, and context-specific works. They often self-reflect upon artistic practice and the entangled economies of art in a production-driven society. ⁣⁣In addition to his practice, he co-initiates the studio and project space The Balcony in The Hague (NL) and contributes as a guest curator to Art au Centre Liège (BE).⁣⁣

Following an open call by Greylight Projects and IKOB, the artist was chosen for this Very Contemporary project by a jury consisting of Maurice Funken (NAK), Brenda Guesnet (IKOB), Wouter Huis (Greylight Projects), and Alicja Melzacka (CIAP).

What the flag?!
'What the flag?!' is a project by Greylight Projects (NL) in which artists design flags that are hoisted on flagpoles outside or inside the venues of the Very Contemporary network partners. The VC network partners invite artists (of their current exhibitions or as part of their collection) to design a print for the flag. A flag from each VC venue will be raised at a different Very Contemporary venue to show the relationship between all of the venues on the network.