TAI SHANI – ARTIST TALK
a conversation with Ilse Ghekiere
in relation to ENGAGEMENT.

A conversation between 2 practices about gender, feminity and sexuality.

With violent and erotic images, condensed in a flowery language, Tai Shani sketches the woman as a perfect being in a non- patriarchal world. Throughout her installations she proposes possible post-patriarchal realities. Ilse Ghekiere (performer, writer and activist) initiated ENGAGEMENT, an artists’ movement that addresses sexual transgression, sexism and abuse of power in the Belgian art world.
Through this conversation, based on their insights, they look for the ins and outs of a feminine language for the future!

Tai Shani is nominated for the 2019 Turner Prize for her participation in Glasgow International 2018, solo exhibition DC: Semiramis at The Tetley in Leeds and for the participation in the group exhibition Still I Rise: Feminisms, Gender, Resistance.

The size and scope of DC: Semiramis challenges the notions surrounding traditional feminist art that have for centuries concentrated on the domestic, the artisanal and the personal body. With this project Tai Shani expands the canon of feminist artistic practices. Furthermore, she reflects on the possible role and contribution of art in light of rapid political shifts in the fields of gender, race and class.In this way Tai Shani raises pressing issues of contemporary feminist thinking: how can one represent post-patriarchal subjectivity, identity and language while at the same time avoiding a biologically essentialist position?

llse Ghekiere, a performer, writer and activist. She studied dance at the Conservatory of Antwerp and art history at The Free University of Brussels. In 2017 she received a grant from the Flemish government to research sexism in the Belgian dance scene. Since the publication of her article #Wetoo: What Dancers Talk About When They Talk About Sexism in the fall of 2017, Ghekiere has continued to work with projects related to issues around abuse of power in the arts. She is also the initiator of ENGAGEMENT, an artist-led movement tackling sexual harassment, sexism and power abuse in the Belgian arts field. Ghekiere lives and works in Oslo and Brussels.

Practical

3 pm: guided tour by artist Tai Shani and curator Pieternel Vermoortel
5 pm: dialogue between Tai Shani and Ilse Ghekiere
Location yet to be determined

Info and registration
To subscribe or for more information contact charlotte@netwerkaalst.be or 053 70 97 73