flexipop: disposable pop or recycle art? - Seja records

Verbeke Foundation;
You should have seen and experienced it!
Just outside Antwerp, located in the desolate Flemish landscape, is situated the Verbeke Foundation; a private initiative of Geert
and Carla Verbeke. Watching the TV program “ AVRO's Kunstuur” I became curious. My criticism on contemporary modern art
museums is that these institutes contain established art nowadays and that there’s little platform for new young artists. Want
to see new work of young artists, you really need to visit the Verbeke Foundation.
What I noticed entering the terrain of the VF, is a vivid place where people work. Cars, containers, materials stacked on a messy
field. We have not even been inside yet. It looks like: "work in progress" Things are not finished, there's some coming, we're busy!
A hodgepodge of buildings and structures, greenhouses, containers, a rugged landscape with large and small objects. Known
and unknown artists take turns with surprising work. What I liked about this concept, the diversity of art forms. There are also
some paintings, but it is also a melting pot of disciplines: Architecture, landscaping, experiments with nature (willows and chicken),
sinister art with dead animals, recycle art; these are all elements that can be seen at the Verbeke Foundation.
Young artists are given the opportunity to work, to experiment and exhibit their products, it is a dynamic whole. In addition,
the foundation gives opportunity for parties and you can even sleep in the ArsAnus made by Joep van Lieshout, or you can put
up your tent in the tent flat.
What's great about it, is the private initiative, free from laws, always searching for new opportunities and so innovative and
refreshing. Very varied, temporary and transitory, thre e components that really appeal to me. (H)
Verbeke Foundation
Westakker
9190 KEMZEKE (Stekene)
Belgium
www.verbekefoundation.com
TOBIAS BERNSTRUP
LIVE IN HOLLAND
It was on a hot Friday afternoon that I could pick
up multi-artist Tobias Bernstrup and “assistant”
Cajsa von Zeipel at the airport. Bernstrup was
there for a performance on the Dutch Gay
Pride which was held this year in a small
town in the centre of the country called
Amersfoort. Unfortunately the performance
was scheduled at the same time a famous
Dutch band was playing. So a lot of
visitors have missed this excellent gig.
Most interesting with Bernstrup’s live
performances is the mix of exciting electro
pop (based on 80’s influences like Gary
Numan, Depeche Mode and so on) in
com bination with his futuristic self
designed outfits where the artist seems
to dress as a computer game character.
It took him even about 2 hours to get
dressed before he could play instant cult
hits like Surround, Neon Love and 1984.
Tobias Bernstrup also exhibited art,
music & fashion in places like the
MADRE Museum of Cont. Art in
Naples and Tate Modern. (J)