Solitude

Take Away and Take Care 
Today, in response to the current pandemic, we’re happy to launch Solitude, an alternative, salutary project consisting of six new commissions.

Participating artists: Andrea Éva Győri, Taus Makhacheva, Amy Sillman, Nora Turato, Patrick Van Caeckenbergh and Tris Vonna-Michell.

Curator: Stijn Maes

With Solitude, Frans Masereel Centrum commissions six new artistic projects, based on an alternative politics of experiencing art. Deliberately offline, each individual project offers an inspiring context to rethink the connection between art, the bodily and the social, and our mental faculties.

Learning from the first half of 2020, and acknowledging our insatiable intellectual hunger, we invite six artists to develop a new work, which people can acquire physically and experience at home—as opposite to from home.

In doing so, Solitude strengthens existing artistic practices that ask themselves where to for art, while providing at the same time multiple opportunities to cope with the enduring (self)confinement, without flattening out art. What space is left if seclusion—whether or not chosen by ourselves—is the only option?

The first two contributions, by Nora Turato and Patrick Van Caeckenbergh, are available for purchase through our bookshop. Over the next few weeks, the remaining projects will be launched individually.

Stay tuned for our future project launches by subscribing to our newsletter, and visit our website and social media for updates. 

About Frans Masereel Centrum 
The Frans Masereel Centrum is a center for contemporary art, combining an artist-oriented exhibition and production schedule with an international residency program for artists and critics, often with a specific focus on printed matter-at-large.

Located in a secluded wooded area, and equipped with a dynamic printmaking workshop, it has grown into a unique, internationally acclaimed working and meeting place. By systematically including work from each resident in its collection, the Frans Masereel Centrum now manages more than 20,000 pieces. Each Fall, the center also runs a well-received residency program exclusively for students from national and international art colleges and universities.

Open Call for Artists and Critics (Residency Program 2022)
Deadline: Spring 2021

Every year, an international, intergenerational mix of around 50 artists and critics is selected by a jury to stay and work in the Frans Masereel Centrum for 3 or 6 weeks. No prior knowledge of printmaking techniques is required. Discover the various possibilities of our residency program here and keep an eye out for our open call in April!