Statement #02 | An Onghena — Performance für das Buch

Statement #02
An Onghena — Performance for the Book

Performance, July 5, 2018, 3 – 7 pm
Performers: An Onghena and Tom Exelmans

The graphic designer and artist An Onghena pursues a broad interpretation of the book format as a focus of her artistic activity. In her works she reflects upon the underlying parameters in the production of printed matter, such as paper and ink, or the different processes employed to correlate these elements and how printing techniques are realized. Through the use of obsolete printing methods or meticulous research into certain aspects of these techniques, the artist also stimulates discussion about the role of the analog artist’s book as a counter point to ubiquitous digitization.

Onghena’s work with the programmatic title Performance for the Book is an investigation into the material, formal, and contentual requirements and conditions of bookmaking. “In my work paper became a working partner rather than a tool to use for drawing, writing, or painting,” says the artist about her preferred carrier medium. “The performance tells the story about the love of paper and the feelings of frustration with regard to paper, about the making of books, the contents and the folding, the binding and the cover. A performance as a visual experiment to give life and meaning to the paper. To give it its own role.”

An Onghena (* 1992 in Belgium) lives and works in Antwerp and Maastricht.
www.anonghena.com

Statements is a series of performative pieces that relate to the annual topic of the Kunstraum Lakeside and experiment with modes of representation in the visual arts in an institution at the interface between art, science, and technology. The 2018 program was compiled by a jury consisting of Christine Wetzlinger-Grundnig, Eric Kressnig, Nora Leitgeb and Franz Thalmair.