The Seduction of the Bureaucrat
Group exhibition with Vermeir & Heiremans, where they will show their research project A Modest Proposal. At De Garage, Mechelen (B)
15/03 – 04/06/2023
Opening: 12 March 2023
An exhibition and a series of public talks about the (unlikely) relationship between art and bureaucracy. The artist and the civil servant are far apart, each in their own biotope: the studio and the office. Creativity is usually not consistent with forms, procedures and protocols. Yet artists inevitably encounter bureaucracy.
How do they look at it, and how do they deal with it in their work? Do Kafkaesque situations still occur in shadowy back rooms and dusty archives, or does today’s office space look different? What role does digital infrastructure play? What do Bartleby’s famous words “I would prefer not to” mean within a contemporary work ethic of quiet quitting, bore- and burnout? Does creativity still make sense in a country where even accounting is creative? Is it up to the artist to seduce the bureaucrat, or can they hardly resist the bureaucratic temptation themselves?
Apparatus 22, Jan Banning, Deborah Bowmann, AA Bronson, Tiago Duarte, Anna Bella Geiger, Sara Hendrickx, LAb[au], Ariane Loze, Wesley Meuris, Office for Joint Administrative Intelligence, Vijai Patchineelam, Lieven Segers, Pilvi Takala, Axel van der Kraan, Herman Van Ingelgem, Philippe Van Wolputte and Vermeir & Heiremans.
Curator Pieter Vermeulen
Pieter Vermeulen is an art critic and curator. As a lecturer, he is affiliated to PXL-MAD School of Arts in Hasselt and St Lucas School of Arts Antwerp.