Hello there, I just wanted to ask how you're doing

Please come in, don’t be shy. I’m happy to see you here. 

How have you been feeling lately?

You don’t have to answer this question out loud. It’s okay.

Let’s just take a deep breath. Relax your shoulders. 

Feel free to have a look around. 

In here, you can make yourself comfortable. 

Take all the time you need.

During the 6th edition of the Pilar ASAP Festival, the exhibition space is transformed into a Consol(id)ation Room. Whatever our current mood is – it being happy, stressed, confident, worried or anywhere in between – the exhibition offers a small break from the seemingly inevitable rush of daily life activities. As the artworks on display gently open up a conversation about topics such as mental health, selfcare and expressing emotions, we might find comfort in knowing that we’re not alone in feeling a certain way.

Batsheva Ross (°1977) adopts a contemplative approach to daily life and translates that to her artistic practice using multiple media including sculpture, video, painting, drawing and writing. Currently based in Brussels, but born in Jerusalem, the artist draws from her personal religious upbringing to explore existential issues through her works, touching upon epistemology, ethics and mysticism. These subject matters comprise reflections on the question of authority, examining contemporary formulations of spiritual redemption, and the complexity of care within a capitalist social structure. In the current exhibition at Pilar, Batsheva Ross shows a selection of paintings from the series Fitness Studies (2019-2020).

Eric Vanuytven (°1980) creates interactive happenings that manifest a sense of unity between people. With recent projects such as Night Shop Chez Madeleine and Scar The Car, he playfully positions himself on the intersection between art and the community. Making room for dialogue, evoking a collective spirit and breaking out of the traditional art spaces are the driving forces behind his artistic practice. Alongside the video Car Cave (2019) with imagery from the Scar The Car project, Eric Vanuytven presents the transmutating object Urn (2020) and invites us to take part in the ritual.

Laura Basterra Sanz (°1979) makes paintings, drawings, collages and text works that arise from an energetic, emotional impulsiveness and relate to her daily experiences. Sometimes her works are based on intuition, other times their creation serves to deal with emotional reactions to external factors that happen to disrupt the artists’ flow. Through the use of brushes and colors in her studio, she tries to make sense of humankind and attempts to accept imperfections. The oeuvre expresses a visual complexity thanks to colors and brushstrokes that vary between tough and delicate; light and dark; harsh and smooth; thick and translucent; powerful and comforting. In the current exhibition, both the abstract and the textual features in Laura Basterra Sanz’ artistic practice are represented by the mixed media works I Wish I Could Be Me (2020) and The Way It Used To Be (2022).

Margot Van den Berghe (°1999) is a promising textile artist and designer. Drawings, sketches and paintings from her hand serve as the basis of her artistic practice. By folding and deforming them, they become the inspiration for her larger textile works, which are created both by machine and by hand. Unconsciously she often chooses slow techniques for the development of her ideas. Thanks to the slowness of the medium, the creation process serves as a personal kind of meditation for the artist. Margot Van den Berghe regards texture and tactility as an essential part of the medium textile. For the exhibition she installed a soft environment that asks to be touched and experienced by the visitors. The works presented were created during her current residency period at Barak Lili M, the artist studios hosted by Pilar. 

Nina Van Denbempt (°1989) depicts the uncomfortableness of being a human in the world. Themes as anxiety, failure, shame, crushes, existential dread, loneliness, mental health and feminism recur in her art and arise from processing her own life events. She expresses these topics through a broad range of artistic practices such as painting, drawing short comics, creating sculptures, building a shrine at home, writing, playing music, making performances with friends or designing costumes... Mix a deep love for DIY, glitters and pop culture with some darkness and depression and there you have it. Always looking for ways to enhance connection by sharing personal stuff, she uses her art as an antidote for irony and as a way to personally break free from the numbing effects of fear and shame. The exhibition highlights Nina Van Denbempts sculpture SUPERBROKEN SUPERHUMAN (2021), that was created during her residency at Barak Lili M and is temporarily part of the VUB Humanistic Sculpture Park.

The artist duo Sarah & Charles (°1981 and °1979) reflects on the relation between reality and fiction. They do not only draw inspiration from the entertainment business and its invisible structures, but also explore our connections with the virtual world, artificial intelligence (AI) and the world of augmented reality. Subjects and genres such as make-believe, simulacrum, the story within the story, cinematic experience, the suspension of disbelief and music are playfully and thoughtfully reviewed in their research and practice. At Pilar, Sarah & Charles show the video In The Hands of Puppets (2019), in which the artists’ gaze is directed more inwardly towards an analysis of the individual, with dialogues based on conversations with patients and caretakers in a mental health care facility.