Introducing GLEAN

HART, the leading Belgian contemporary art magazine, rebrands itself as GLEAN and strengthens its resolve to further connect Belgium’s cultural scene to the international art world.

At the end of June, the magazine moved its editorial office to Brussels, a city with strong international ties and a unique contact zone for global and local histories, scenes and international artistic practices. HART magazine’s rebranding as GLEAN dovetails nicely with the magazine’s ambition to launch its first international edition. This pivotal step connects the Belgian art scene with those of other European countries and diasporic communities, thereby creating opportunities for new circles of artists, writers, professionals and collectors to join the magazine’s readership.

Gleaning as a practice of slow attention
GLEAN embraces the practice of “gleaning,” the activity at the centre of Les glaneurs et la glaneuse, a 2000 documentary by the Brussels-born filmmaker Agnès Varda. The eponymous gleaners of the film collect leftover produce from farmers’ fields after they have been commercially harvested. Much like Varda herself and the protagonists of her film, GLEAN aims to unearth deeper stories from the contemporary art field, eschewing dominant models of fast-paced, profit- and sensation-driven journalism in favor of a reflexive and context-sensitive approach that leaves no stone unturned.

The editorial slogan of GLEAN is “Art is Slow Attention”—a phrase borrowed from curator and writer Bart Cassiman. By emphasising the qualities of patience, concentration and reflection, GLEAN aims to produce opportunities for writers and readers alike to think and reflect on the art they experience, rather than churn out content to keep up with the onslaught of exhibition openings.

New formats
As part of GLEAN’s editorial approach, each issue will feature an artist guest editor who will be asked to curate a section of the magazine. This includes essays and features by other writers or artists, as well as a “carte blanche” invitation to an artist to take up six pages of the magazine. The guest editor GLEAN I is artist and director Hamedine Kane, who commissioned pieces by Seloua Luste Boulbina and Orcel Makenzy and a visual contribution by Brahim Tall.

Each issue explores the artistic landscape of a particular European city, offering insights into local practices, artists and modes of exhibition-making. The focus is on cities or regions that have not yet received extensive international media coverage, such as Warsaw, Riga, Turin, Düsseldorf, Lisbon, Helsinki, etc. Starting the journey from a familiar place, the first issue zooms in on GLEAN’s home base of Brussels.

GLEAN I
The first issue of GLEAN features a conversation between Zoë Gray (Director of Exhibitions at Bozar), Kasia Redzisz (Artistic Director at KANAL-Centre Pompidou) and Helena Kritis (Chief Curator at WIELS); an interview with guest editor Hamedine Kane; a conversation between Edith Dekyndt and Catherine de Zegher; and studio visits with Melissa Gordon and Lucia Bru. Additionally, Koi Persyn has contributed a textual composition inspired by and in dialogue with the practice of composer Billy Bultheel on the occasion of his latest project “Workers in Song”. The visual contributions for this issue are by Marnie Slater and Brahim Tall. Each issue of GLEAN features a cover image by an invited artist, the first being Brussels based Marie José Burki.

GLEAN is directed by editor-in-chief Kathleen Weyts and designed by Negen Vijfde. On the editorial board of GLEAN are: Ezra Babski, Bas Blaasse, Tamara Beheydt, Barbara De Coninck, Jessica Gysel, Luc Franken, Sorana Munsya, Els Roelandt and Phillip Van den Bossche.

GLEAN is published quarterly in English and alternately six times in Dutch, available at numerous art institutions, art bookshops and independent newspaper traders throughout Belgium and Europe. Check glean.art for up-to-date information.