Arts Flanders

Katleen Vermeir & Ronny Heiremans
The Residence
31 January - 31 March 2012

In 2006 Katleen Vermeir and Ronny Heiremans initiated A.I.R ('artist in residence'), a long-term collaborative practice that encapsulates different projects, in which they render architecture as a space of constructs for the projection of consumer desires. Their latest output, commissioned by the Arnolfini in Bristol, was The Good Life (2009), a meditation on the inextricable relationship between art, real estate, art institutions and the wider structure of the economy, harnessed today by the 'creative class'.

During a 6-month residency in China (2009-2010) Vermeir & Heiremans started working on The Residence. The project positions the artist as creative entrepreneur against a globalized backdrop that qualifies economy as the ultimate measure. Sharing insights on the creative garden concept, Vermeir & Heiremans initiated a collaboration with Ma Wen, a Chinese artist/architect. The project is a document on Ma Wen's cultural practice. Through him The Residence explores the economic fetishism and financial mechanisms that play in contexts of urban development projects.

Parallel to the exhibition in Argos, Extra City will present a discursive program on The Residence.

The Residence is a production of Limited Editions vzw supported by Flanders Audiovisual Fund and the Flemish Community. Coproduction: Argos (Brussels), C-Mine (Genk), Cultuurcentrum (Bruges), deBuren (Brussels), Extra City Kunsthal (Antwerpen Antwerp), FLACC (Genk), Manifesta 9 Limburg (Genk) and Triodos Fonds. Research support: artist residencies TIM (Beijing), CEAC (Xiamen).

Image: Vermeir & Heiremans, The Residence (a wager for the afterlife), 2012. Courtesy of the Artist.

More info: www.argosarts.org