A.I.R extension#01

A.I.R extension#01

was presented at ART Brussels (2006) as a one–man show for Koraalberg Gallery, Antwerp. The installation integrated a metal&wood construction and two video projections.

While projecting video footage of the refurbishment of their Brussels loft, the artists never show direct images of those spaces. The spaces of the building are revealed through translations of the imagery to other media. They selected a series of stills from their raw video footage, to be re-shot in combination with projections of quotations from lifestyle, design and architecture magazines. These excerpts promote loft living as an ideal format, one to fulfil desires related to identity, status, freedom,…
Both of the video projections reveal a manifest temporal dimension. It looks as if the spaces fold and unfold, appearing and disappearing in front of the visitor. It feels almost like paging a magazine, filled with architectural reveries, a sensation that was underlined by the art fair context in which the work was presented.

A.I.R extension#01(placard)

On the occasion of the presentation of A.I.R extension#01 the artists produced a multiple in the form of a placard. This placard appropriates the artist's own home (and future artist residency spaces) as an A.I.R space. It is also a reinterpretation of the A.I.R. placards artists in 60ies New York had to put on the doors of the abandoned warehouses they approprated as their studios in order for the firemen to be able to find them. The success of the artists in their studios caused the spreading of a totally new living format, loft living, and its 'values' of freedom and transparency around the world. In the meanwhile the literal meaning of the abbreviation A.I.R. changed to connotate a nomadic and temporary working environment for emerging artists.

2006
a collaborative project of Katleen Vermeir and Ronny Heiremans
Video installation - Double projection 17’ looped – color, no sound
Module (2.4 x 2.4 x 2 m) – metal, wood, paper, mirror, plexi
First Presented at ART Brussels, 2006
coproduced by Koraalberg Gallery, Antwerp
Produced by Ltd.Ed.vzw

Multiple: A.I.R imprinted on backside of a license plate. Size: 18x14cm. edition of 20.