Isn’t the end of education something like death?
Perhaps. If you aren’t evolving you’re rotting, but in a less literal way, in the case of this outstanding Brussels art initiative, the ‘end’ translates into a beginning. It speaks of potential. Papers and letters are earned, chapters are closed and students who couldn’t wait for this day might suddenly find themselves wondering just what to do with it. In this sense, we’re not talking about an end, but rather about an almost fresh start: a new day where young artists find themselves plucked from the pond and tossed out to sea.
End of Education founder and chief curator Floris Verbeeck supports the position that there is good reason that the art world has started to look towards Brussels (other than a long history of tax evasion and the wild west situation presented by a city as diverse as New York without a government to lead it in any sort of way).
“With the EOE, I want to motivate these youngbloods, to help them with contacts and a professional consultancy that bridges the ‘academy’ with the public at large, but aside from that, I wanted to create a platform to put emerging artists based in Brussels on a world map. I want people from outside the city to recognize that sometimes overwhelming amount of talent within it. Unity is also an important theme behind the EOE. Unity with artists. Unity with organizers. Unity with anybody who believe a better world is still possible and that art has its role to play in working towards this.”
For the first two editions of EOE, Verbeeck visits the ‘end of the year’ exhibitions from as many schools as he feasibly can. This year he selected graduates from Sint-Lukas, Saint-Luc, PARTS, l’Aca, La Cambre and the Academie voor Beeldende Kunsten to participate in a series of exhibitions that will run from July 7th to August 8th.
In cooperation with Recyclart, ‘The End of Education’ is open to the public as part of the Recyclart Holidays program and can be visited Thursday and Friday evenings for the next 4 weeks.
Each week will feature exhibitions from 1, 2 or 3 artists that have been handpicked by Verbeeck. To open this year’s project, ‘Le Vampire’ by Jean Painleve was used as a window screening, but tomorrow night the real show begins featuring work from Olivia Mortier, Paul Kamisy and Apostolos Polymeris.
If you can’t make it to Belgium, Brussels or Recyclart, tune in to NNE to find out what these artists are thinking about, and what Verbeeck thinks Brussels can offer the world today.
