Session #1: Ademgaten
Michèle Matyn
Workshop & Lecture
10.–11.02.2020
As the first workshop at Rib or Taming the Horror Vacui is conducted by artist Michèle Matyn and convened by Haseeb Ahmed. We will start from the beginning: where does the wind come from?
Throughout history wind has been associated with vitality and the divine creation. In Genesis God first blew over the dark waters of the void to bring all into being. In Ancient Greece the Shrines of Oracles were built atop the vents releasing volcanic fumes. When inhaled the Oracle was granted the ability to see into the future. Michèle Matyn travelled the world searching for “Ademgaten”, or “breathing holes”, in preparation for her eponymous exhibition at MuHKA in 2017.
For the workshop at Rib we will seek out “Ademgaten” and find ways to read time in the sounds of the wind. Materials and methods will be provided by Matyn and Rib.
Schedule Session #1
Thursday 6 February 2020
10:00-18:00 – Public laboratory – Ahmed constructing the installation
Friday 7 February 2020
10:00-18:00 – Public laboratory – Ahmed constructing the installation
Monday 10 February 2020
17:00-21:00 – Rib open
18:00-20:00 – Public Workshop
Tuesday 11 February 2020
17:00-21:00 – Rib open
18:00-20:00 – Public Lecture with Q&A
Materials, food and drinks will be provided by Rib. Prior to the workshop Ahmed will continue building and working on the installation.
Michèle Matyn lives and works in Antwerp. She has developed a multifaceted practice that incorporates photography, sculpture, installation and performance. Her work looks at the ways myths and folklore are created in societies, often through our perception of and interaction with nature. Matyn’s works often begin with a journey, often to locations unfamiliar to the artist and with little sign of human interference, encountering places and situations that might inspire belief in the supernatural and the unknown. Her works typically feel ‘homespun’ evoking esoteric culture and the anthropomorphic gaze onto the outer world. The crux of Matyn’s work lies in seeking the intersection where human projection onto the non-human meets the natural world with its own existence outside of human consciousness. Matyn’s exhibition Breathing holes is being developed in response to recent travels the artist has undertaken in regions of France, North Ossetia and China. She has been producing a body of new photographs and sculptures that depict natural forms she encountered which are reminiscent of human or animal respiration systems, considering objects and spaces as living entities. Including a selection of recent works, Matyn’s exhibition will be formulated as an environment, bringing together different forms, characters and encounters. The artist will also use the space as a setting for performances—a central facet of her practice—which offer further reflection on the relations between humans and the natural world.