This is What you came for. The BARЯA MOVEMENT( ft.Els Dietvorst)
From April 28, Els Dietvorst will be staging a double exhibition This is what you came for in two Brussels institutions, Bozar – in the mark of the BelgianArtPrize 2021- and in CENTRALE for contemporary art.
With This is what you came for, she created an immersive project, a total and polyphonic work of art in which the creative and participatory process for artists and spectators plays a key role. She deploys all the facets of her practice as a draughtswoman, filmmaker, sculptor and peace activist. This is what you came for embodies what Dietvorst defends with passion and determination: art as a social link, art as a shared experience.
This is what you came for is a project that marks a new stage in her artistic career. It is a step that further highlights the practice of the BelgianArtprize 2021 winner, who is constantly questioning the limits of the artist’s role in society.
Dietvorst does everything her own way, averse to a classic, commercial, or institutional approach. She opts for cooperation between these institutions and sees them as meeting places rather than exhibitions. In doing so, she takes her ephemeral art practice of creating and experiencing together one step further. Dietvorst works with her new collective, accomplishing simple actions with attention to rhythm and repetition. The artefacts and stories show traces of encounters. In Bozar, she also presents earlier work, which provides insight into her wider practice.
This is what you came for is about removing boundaries. Her work invites us to be open and modest towards each other and our surroundings, so that everything has a right to exist, and everyone can be themselves.
For This is what you came for, she is surrounded by guest artists: Aurélie di Marino and ACM (a homeless artist with whom she has already collaborated in the past) and she begins a dialogue “beyond death” with Philippe Vandenberg. The BARЯA MOVEMENT, a collective made up of artists and students or ex-students of the Antwerp Academy, where Els Dietvorst is preparing a doctorate in visual art, accompanies her upstream and throughout the project.