GLEAN (EN) 4, Summer 2024

Our Summer Issue is out today. Packed with content for a well-deserved summer, this issue proudly marks one whole year of GLEAN and shows how far we’ve come since we first went to print.

Guest Editor: Apparatus 22
Apparatus 22 is a transdisciplinary art collective founded in 2011 by Erika Olea, Maria Farcas, Dragos Olea together with Ioana Neme? (1979–2011) in Bucharest, Romania. Their installations, performances and ‘text-based shapes’ combine reality, fiction and storytelling with a critical approach drawing on their expertise in design, sociology, literature and economics. For this issue, Apparatus 22 invited Vlad Ionescu and Maria Persu to contribute essays. The collective also curated a visual contribution by Ioana Neme?, consisting of a sketch from the artist’s notebooks and a selection from her series Monthly Evaluations (2005–2010).

Dak’Art
The 15th edition of Dak'Art, the Biennale of Contemporary African Art in Dakar and the oldest biennial on the continent, was supposed to open in May but was postponed at the last minute until November. Despite this, artists in Dakar called on the international art world to participate in the 'Off is On' program. Sorana Munsya notes how this edition shows that the demand for public sector involvement in the arts in most African countries can also risk undermining the voice and vision of artists.
During their visit to Dakar, editor-in-chief Kathleen Weyts and Sorana Munsya also spoke to a number of artists and professionals for our podcast, including Nilla Banguna, Na Chainkua Reindorf, Lotte Arndt and Ousmane Bâ. Online soon!

Ann Demeester and Elena Filipovic
A new wave of forward-thinking directors is reimagining the role Swiss museums can play in society. Dieter Roelstraete talks to Ann Demeester, director of Kunsthaus Zürich, and Elena Filipovic, incoming director of the Kunstmuseum Basel, about the emancipatory potential of museums, bridging divided publics and how all art is contemporary.

Sirah Foighel Brutmann & Eitan Efrat
Sirah Foighel Brutmann and Eitan Efrat recognised the anonymous place that opens Chantal Akerman’s last film, No Home Movie (2015). They retrace Akerman’s journey from Brussels to Israel to film the same desert and give it a name: al-Naqab. Thus begins ‘Là’, the duo's exhibition at S.M.A.K., which runs until 8 September. For this issue, Pieter Van Bogaert spoke to them about anger and sorrow, mourning and the future. Brutmann and Efrat also contributed visuals – comprising three full spreads – for Jessica Gysel’s series I See / You Mean.

Yoko Ono
Tate Modern and the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen (K20), Düsseldorf, have organised one of the most comprehensive surveys to date on the work of Yoko Ono. On the occasion of the exhibition at Tate, Gunnar B. Kvaran revisits Ono’s groundbreaking ‘Instruction works’ and considers their influence on the development of conceptual art in Europe.

GLEAN Artist’s Edition: Bénédicte Lobelle
For more than 30 years, Bénédicte Lobelle has been quietly working on a body of work centred on painting and ceramics. Her work is a testimony to her deep respect for material and craftsmanship, though it is anything but a display of technical prowess. She strives to transcend technique, creating works that are erotic and sensitive. At GLEAN’s request, Lobelle created a series of five unique vases ornamented with floral motifs and mysterious half-animal, half-human figurines. This is the first sculptural GLEAN Artist's Edition.

More
Pieter Vermeulen in conversation with the electro-acoustic composer and artist Tarek Atoui, Els Roelandt met textile artist Britta Marakatt-Laba in northern Sweden and discussed her major solo exhibition at the Nasjonalmuseet in Oslo, an essay by Bas Blaasse on the occasion of the 150th 'anniversary' of Impressionism, and studio visits with artists Pei-Hsuan Wang and Ignacio Barrios. The issue also includes reviews of exhibitions by Miranda July and Sarah Smolders, an essay on Anna Zemánková, and more.