Els Dietvorst
"I am going to take you on a tour through my work. It will be a story tour because stories are what link us as humans. Stories make us exist, make us connect through time and space."
Els Dietvorst (°1964) is een sociaal geëngageerde kunstenaar. Ze gebruikt dialoog, experiment en intuïtie als haar belangrijkste artistieke strategieën. Al sinds de jaren negentig wordt ze geraakt door maatschappelijke vraagstukken als migratie, racisme en klimaatverandering. Dietvorst reflecteert op de menselijke conditie. Hierdoor komen grote thema's als leven en dood, angst, vervreemding en verlangen in haar werk aan de orde. Ze richt zich met name op de positie van de buitenstaander en richt haar blik op/richt haar aandacht op die mensen en gebeurtenissen die anders onopgemerkt zouden blijven.
Haar mediumkeuze, of het nu gaat om acties, documentaires, films, moddersculpturen, installaties, tekeningen of theaterteksten, hangt af van de specifieke omstandigheden en het individuele karakter van elk project. Veel van haar kunstwerken zijn dan ook weggegeven of vernietigd, of vergaan.
In 2020 werden veel van deze werken opnieuw gemaakt voor de tentoonstelling *Dooltocht/Een wanhopige zoektocht naar een basis voor hoop in MHKA (Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerpen). Ze is momenteel onderzoeker op een doctoraat: "Partisans of the Real" aan de Koninklijke Academie / Universiteit Antwerpen.
Welkom !
PORTFOLIO
THEATRE PIECES written and directed by Els Dietvorst
2019 - ‘Memento Mori/Memento Mori’, premiered February 2019 in Kaaitheater - Brussels, May 2019 in deSingel - Antwerp, November 2019 in De Grote Post - Ostend, 30CC - Leuven and in CC Geel, January 2020 in Kaaitheater - Brussels, March 2020 in De Studio in Antwerp
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FILMS written and directed by Els Dietvorst
2020 - ‘Solid Crystal Fortune Cookies’, creative documentary
2019 - ‘Dogfish’, 10”, experimental film
2017 - 'I watched the white dogs of the dawn’, 53”, creative documentary
2014 - 'The Rabbit and the Teasel’, 53”, creative documentary
2011-14 - ‘The Black lamb’, web documentary
2010 - ‘A walk with ACM’, 10”, documentary
2008 - ‘As long as the blackbird sings’, 40”, creative documentary
2006 - ‘Song for the price of a goat’, 52”, documentary
2006 - ‘The Apple-Eater’, 25”, creative documentary
2005 - ‘The return of the swallows, five years in the making’, 54“
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FILM PROJECTIONS / FESTIVALS
2019 ‘I watched the white dogs of the dawn’, Trento filmfestival, Italy
2019 ‘I watched the white dogs of the dawn’, Tallinn photomonth, Kai Art center
2018 ‘I watched the white dogs of the dawn’, Jean Rouch filmfestival, winner of the Anthropology and Sustainable Development Award
2018 ‘I watched the white dogs of the dawn’, Kilmore Quay documentary festival, winner of the jury prize
2016 ‘The Rabbit and the Teasel’, 5th Ecofalante Environmental Film Festival, Sao Paulo
2015 ‘The Rabbit and the Teasel’, Official selection Visions du Reel, (medium lenght competition, international premiere), Switzerland
2015 ‘The Rabbit and the Teasel’, Festival Planète Honnête, France
2015 ‘The Rabbit and the Teasel’, Festival Filmer a tout prix, (Panorame Belge), Belgium
2015 ‘The Rabbit and the Teasel’, Festival dei popoli, chosen for SUI GENERI(S)* a special no-competitive section, Italy
2015 ‘The Rabbit and the Teasel’, Kilmore Quay documentary festival, Ireland
2015 ‘The Rabbit and the Teasel’, EMERGENT, Belgium
2014 ‘Art coeur et merci, the whole story’, performance, Kunstenfestival/Kaaitheater, Brussels
2014 ‘The Rabbit and the Teasel’, private viewing Wexford Art center, Ireland
2014 ‘The Rabbit and the Teasel’, Blackstairs rural filmfestival, Ireland
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SOLO EXHIBITIONS (selection)
2023-24 ADRIFT(*), National tour IRL, Highlanes gallery 01-19/08 (Drogheda).
Upcoming ! Uillinn – West Cork Arts Centre, March 2024.
Wexford Arts Centre and Wexford County Council, October 2024.
(*)The tour, curated by Catherine Bowe and Karla Sánchez Zepeda, will present a coherent overview of Els Dietvorst’s extensive and multifaceted oeuvre in addition to new works. Commissioned by @Wexford Arts Centre. ADRIFT is supported by the @Arts Council of Ireland and @Flanders State of the Arts.
2022 'Els Dietvorst: This is what you came for', BOZAR, Brussels
2020 ‘*Dooltocht/A desperate quest to find a base for hope’, M HKA, Antwerp
2019 ‘Wintrum Frod’, Muzee, Ostend
2016 ‘Driftwood’, Panache, Antwerp
2014 ‘One Was Killed For Beauty, The Other One Was Shot, The Two Others Died Naturally Argos, Brussels
2010 ‘Art coeur et merci’, Museum Guislain, Ghent
2008 ‘Skull’, M HKA, Antwerp
2004 ‘The return of the swallows’, Palais de beaux art (BOZAR), Brussels
2003 ‘De laatste nacht van de nachtman’, KunstenFESTIVALdesarts, Brussels ‘Dreadlockcity’, de begane grond, Utrecht
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GROUP EXHIBITIONS (selection)
2023 'Ecosystems', RAFA, Antwerp, Belgium
2018 ‘Bare Root’, Wexford Ireland
2016 ‘Burning Ice 10’, Kaaitheater, Brussels
2015 ‘Moscow Biennale of contemporary art’, Moscow
2014 ‘Drawings from the CERA collection’, Museum M, Louvain
2013 ‘THE BLACK LAMB’, presentation in Burning ice, Kaaitheater, Brussels
2012 ‘THE BLACK LAMB’, presentation in Burning ice, Kaaitheater, Brussels
2009 ‘Songlines’, Mechelen
2009 ‘The Stone Road’, Kunstenfestivaldesarts & Argos, Brussels
2009 Presentation ‘Time is a book’, Timefestival, Ghent
2008 ‘The Stone Road. (On Track. Off Track. Memorising the Mid-World. Walking the Fifth-Space.)’, WUK, Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna
2006 ‘Making Sense in the City’, Aula, Ghent University, Ghent
2006 ‘Outdoors’, Danielle Arnaud Contemporary Art, London
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CURATOR of the following projects
2009 Time is a book/Ghent
2009 Songlines/Mechelen
2006 Making sense in the City/Ghent
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EXPERIENCE
2019-2023 Masterclasses in the Royal Academy of Arts, PHD researcher.
2022-2024 Lecturer BA/MA hons in Art | School of Art and Design, Wexford (IRL).
2014-2020 Member of the Artist in community scheme, Co. Wexford
2004-2008 Selected to be a member of the Arts council
2000-2010 Artistic director of Firefly
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GUEST LECTURER, workshops, masterclasses
2019 RAFA, Masterclass: ‘Original thinking is lonely’
2018 INSIST-2, ‘Social Innovation and the Arts: the Role of Plasticity’
2016 St. Lucas school of arts, Antwerp
2014 BAC-Gotland, Sweden
2013 KASK Gent, SIC Brussels, KUL
2011-12KASK Gent, IT CARLOW-Wexford
2010 KASK Gent, Sint Lucas Ghent
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PUBLIC SCULPURE, COMMISSIONS
2023 'Shelter', Pliniuspark, Tongeren (BE)
2021 'Windswept', Beaufort, Oostduinkerke (BE)
2020 'Curious minds'(*), commission, Art Education in Primary Schools : Tool Kit for teachers by Els Dietvorst and Karla Sanchez, commissioned by the Wexford Art Center (IRL)
2004 'Koningskinderen', Jeugdinstelling Mol (BE)
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