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Exhibition “IKOB – FEMINIST ART PRIZE 2022”

25/06/2022 h 25/09/2022 F Add to the calendar 2022-06-25 2022-09-25 Europe/London Exhibition “IKOB – FEMINIST ART PRIZE 2022”

IKOB opened its doors on Friday 24 June 2022 for the IKOB Feminist Art Prize 2022 exhibition, with the works of the six finalists

Daniela Bershan, Jieun Lim, Sandrine Morgante, Marnie Slater, Céline Vahsen and Puck Verkade.

The three winners were announced at the opening:

Marnie Slater won first place. A New Zealand artist who is interested in feminist and queer history. The series of paintings Le Madame (Brussels 1981-1983) exhibited at IKOB is inspired by a lesbian bar of the same name that was active in Brussels between 1981 and 1983. Slater lives and works in Brussels where she is co-founder of Mothers & Daughters, a lesbian and trans bar whose premises are recreated by murals in the IKOB exhibition.

Second place went to Jieun Lim. The Korean artist's multimedia installation, Hunter's Room, addresses themes of procreation, motherhood, conservation and tradition. The artist lives and works in Düsseldorf.

The third prize, a regional incentive prize, was awarded to Céline Vahsen, born in Malmedy. The starting point for her work is the cultural heritage of fabrics as a medium. With a contemporary approach, she explores techniques rooted in traditional textile production.

The exhibition also features the work of the other finalists, Daniela Bershan, Sandrine Morgante and Puck Verkade. In her installation OCEAN, Bershan interprets everyday actions as sensual and meaningful and thus conceives the work as a collective, experimental and spiritual moment. The corresponding performance will be presented at the exhibition's closing on 25.09.2022. In Puck Verkade's film Unborn, the viewer follows a disoriented dove as she builds her nest and reflects on her potential role as a mother, thus addressing the sensitive issue of reproductive rights. The work of Sandrine Morgante, Taalbarrière, reveals the cultural, psychological, socio-economic and geographical determinations of the Belgian language communities through playful drawings.

Since its inception, the IKOB - Museum of Contemporary Art has awarded an art prize every three years. In 2019, this award has for the first time adopted an explicitly feminist perspective. IKOB 2022 is aware that this is the first contemporary prize of its kind and has therefore decided to refocus this positioning. The IKOB Feminist Art Prize aims to give greater weight to the lesser heard and less represented voices in contemporary art and society at large. Rather than looking for an artistic practice that conforms to a predetermined definition of feminism, this prize asks what feminism in all its forms means to artists today.

The exhibition of the work of the six finalists is on view until 25 September 2022, Tuesday to Sunday from 1 to 6 pm, at the IKOB - Museum of Contemporary Art.

Practical information

 IKOB – Museum of Contemporary Art, Rotenberg 12b 4700 Eupen IKOB – Museum of Contemporary Art

IKOB opened its doors on Friday 24 June 2022 for the IKOB Feminist Art Prize 2022 exhibition, with the works of the six finalists

Daniela Bershan, Jieun Lim, Sandrine Morgante, Marnie Slater, Céline Vahsen and Puck Verkade.

The three winners were announced at the opening:

Marnie Slater won first place. A New Zealand artist who is interested in feminist and queer history. The series of paintings Le Madame (Brussels 1981-1983) exhibited at IKOB is inspired by a lesbian bar of the same name that was active in Brussels between 1981 and 1983. Slater lives and works in Brussels where she is co-founder of Mothers & Daughters, a lesbian and trans bar whose premises are recreated by murals in the IKOB exhibition.

Second place went to Jieun Lim. The Korean artist’s multimedia installation, Hunter’s Room, addresses themes of procreation, motherhood, conservation and tradition. The artist lives and works in Düsseldorf.

The third prize, a regional incentive prize, was awarded to Céline Vahsen, born in Malmedy. The starting point for her work is the cultural heritage of fabrics as a medium. With a contemporary approach, she explores techniques rooted in traditional textile production.

The exhibition also features the work of the other finalists, Daniela Bershan, Sandrine Morgante and Puck Verkade. In her installation OCEAN, Bershan interprets everyday actions as sensual and meaningful and thus conceives the work as a collective, experimental and spiritual moment. The corresponding performance will be presented at the exhibition’s closing on 25.09.2022. In Puck Verkade’s film Unborn, the viewer follows a disoriented dove as she builds her nest and reflects on her potential role as a mother, thus addressing the sensitive issue of reproductive rights. The work of Sandrine Morgante, Taalbarrière, reveals the cultural, psychological, socio-economic and geographical determinations of the Belgian language communities through playful drawings.

Since its inception, the IKOB – Museum of Contemporary Art has awarded an art prize every three years. In 2019, this award has for the first time adopted an explicitly feminist perspective. IKOB 2022 is aware that this is the first contemporary prize of its kind and has therefore decided to refocus this positioning. The IKOB Feminist Art Prize aims to give greater weight to the lesser heard and less represented voices in contemporary art and society at large. Rather than looking for an artistic practice that conforms to a predetermined definition of feminism, this prize asks what feminism in all its forms means to artists today.

The exhibition of the work of the six finalists is on view until 25 September 2022, Tuesday to Sunday from 1 to 6 pm, at the IKOB – Museum of Contemporary Art.

Practical information

IKOB – Museum of Contemporary Art

Our museum is located in the city of Eupen in the German-speaking community of Belgium, close to the German and Dutch border. Its programme focuses on emerging and leading contemporary art through the constitution of a significant collection – in progress – and temporary exhibitions – in dialogue. Thus, functioning as a discursive platform for contemporary art with its multidisciplinary and thematic exhibition programme and highlighting critical and socio-political issues, the IKOB attempts to reflect upon the matter of the frontier.

HISTORY AND FURTHER SELF-PRESENTATION OF THE MUSEUM

The IKOB – Museum of Contemporary Art began as an idea of the artist, art teacher and subsequent museum director Francis Feidler. The institution was conceived as a center for border-transcending exhibitions out of which a later museum collection could be successively built up – augmented by purchases and loans, as well as by donations especially from exhibiting artists. The first milestones for the Eastern Belgian art center were the sculpture exhibition Kontakt 93 at the park facilities in Eupen as well as the project Volle Scheunen (with 12 installations respectively in the Ardennes and the Eifel), which was realized in collaboration with the former head of the Documenta Manfred Schneckenburger.
The IKOB established itself quite early on as an internationally oriented exhibition platform as well as a promoter of the regional art scene. Already back then, the special characteristic of how the museum would like to be perceived and how it operates lay in its active approach toward artists in the region. They were often featured in pioneering exhibitions shortly before they achieved an international breakthrough. These presentations gave rise to the collection of the institution, which meanwhile comprises more than 400 works. In 1999, the IKOB acquired a fixed domicile in a commercially used building near the old Schlachthof. In 2005, the collection received official recognition, and the International Art Center of Eastern Belgium was renamed the IKOB – Museum of Contemporary Art.
The museum considers its proximity to international borders as a point of departure for serving as a cultural mediator between the various regions of Belgium and engaging in a fertile exchange with the artistic scenes in Germany and the Netherlands. Inasmuch as it invites visitors to investigate political, social and cultural developments in an informal atmosphere, it strives to make an active contribution to society – also in the framework of its exhibitions. In three to four large shows per year, the museum displays contemporary art in the best sense of the term, with the main exhibitions being accompanied by individual presentations of works from the permanent collection.
The IKOB, however, does not intend simply to organize and document contemporary art but instead, through the choice of themes and artists for its exhibitions, to discover and convey new artistic tendencies. Through a constant shifting of focus onto current themes that are handled by diverse artistic media, the museum moves in close contact with both the established and the up-and-coming art scenes. In 2018, the IKOB has celebrated the 25th anniversary of its founding; over the years, it has become a well-known name in the Euregio Maas-Rhine region.

OGuided tour by the director

On the last Sunday of each successive exhibition, our director Frank-Thorsten Moll conducts a guided tour that offers a final assessment of the closing show and a preview of the coming program.

OGuided tours for groups

Whether for young or old, birthday party or company excursion – we offer guided tours for all current exhibitions and collection presentations.

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Practical information

IKOB – Museum of Contemporary Art

Rotenberg 12b
4700 Eupen

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