The Orphans of Tar – A Speculative Opera
Publication co-authored by Katleen Vermeir, Ronny Heiremans, Julien de Smet, Heike Langsdorf, Vanessa Müller, Filip Van Dingenen, Stijn Van Dorpe and Clémentine Vaultier. Book launch by PILOOT/KASK school of arts HoGent, hosted by Kunsthal Gent, Ghent.
20/03/2020, 20h
(!) POSTPONED (!)
The book The Orphans of Tar – A Speculative Opera results from a workshop by Vermeir & Heiremans for students of Autonomous Design and Curatorial Studies at KASK Ghent. Heike Langsdorf invited Vermeir & Heiremans in the context of her series of working moments and writing processes Choreography as Conditioning, which is part of a cycle of work sessions entitled CASC at KASK. As a case-study for the workshop, Vermeir & Heiremans invited PILOOT, a group of artists and one curator, that is developing long-term artistic reflections and exercises in relation to urban developments in the Tondelier/Rabot neighbourhoods in Ghent. Filip Van Dingenen, Stijn van Dorpe and curator Danielle van Zuijlen presented their long-term project within the context of the workshop.
After the workshop at KASK the group felt the need to continue the conversation and Heike Langdorf’s invitation to make a publication was taken up in the form of a co-authored process of discussing and writing. The book makes the processes how The Orphans of Tar – A Speculative Opera came into being transparent. A factual-fiction, The Orphans of Tar features fictitious characters that are rooted in real-life questions considering a more inclusive society, a sustainable art ecology and the search for possible ‘Third Spaces’.
Authors: Julien de Smet, Ronny Heiremans, Heike Langsdorf, Vanessa Müller, Filip Van Dingenen, Stijn Van Dorpe, Clémentine Vaultier, Katleen Vermeir
Epilogue: Danielle van Zuijlen
Graphics: Gijs de Heij
Published by Art Paper Editions (2019)
Series concept: Alex Arteaga, Heike Langsdorf
The series Choreography as Conditioning is produced in the context of the research project Distraction as Discipline — an investigation into the function of attention and participation in performance art and art pedagogy (Langsdorf & Luyten 2016-2019) at KASK / School of Arts of University College Ghent.