S.M.A.K. makes the 'The Exhibition | Little Catalogue of the S.M.A.K. Collection' together with children and young people.
What happens when you ditch all the museum’s exhibition-making expertise? Over the past few months, more than 400 children, young people and a group of curators aged between 13 and 16 years have been devising new ways to display the collection in a museum. During workshops, the youngest children assembled artworks on the basis of colour and association. The older children and young people grouped the works around themes such as corona, refugees or self-image and social media. The result is an expansive collection presentation on the entire first floor of the museum. It is unique in the museum world that these children and young people were given so much say. More than 100 works of art were installed in sometimes unusual ways, with an accompanying maze, beanbags and a laboratory.
Children and young people see art differently: their responses tend to be more spontaneous; they don’t have any background knowledge about the artwork, and they provide a fresh perspective. This all results in a totally different kind of exhibition: many of the ‘usual suspects’ from the S.M.A.K. collection didn’t make the selection this time round. Artistic director Philippe Van Cauteren, the permanent curators, the public relations staff and production team looked on admiringly and steered everything in the right direction.
In early 2020, for the first time in twenty years, S.M.A.K. published a catalogue tailored to children and young people: The Little Catalogue of the S.M.A.K Collection. Some 70 children selected 150 works from the collection that they felt were special, interesting, sensitive, confusing, beautiful or inspiring. Each image was accompanied by a short, clear text. Later, we had the idea of creating an exhibition, with the book as a starting point, and in collaboration with even more children and young people.
Nine curators between the ages of 13 and 16 years decided on the selection and placement of the artworks for this exhibition. They wanted a maze, beanbags for taking a break and a lifeguard’s chair for finding new horizons.
In addition, several schools in and around Ghent came to capture the topical themes of The Exhibition during workshops: from corona to refugees, and from the human image to the role of social media. The pre-schoolers assembled artworks using colour and association. The young people also took the wall texts in hand by deleting all the difficult and boring words. Visitors are greeted with a video message from the pupils at the threshold of each museum room. The principal idea is that visitors go home with more questions than answers.
This exhibition is made in cooperation with:
Sami Abdelouafi, Joy Abossey, Elisa Adem, Elisha Akhabue, Josse Allegaert, Ann Ankrah, Luna Antheunis, Lucia Arnaut, Aylya Asanova, Aylya Asanova, Eliana Asfaw, Bagdad Ashour, Dogukan Aslan, Issaïah Ates, Cenk Aydogan, Abukar Aziz Ali Gabaay, Billie-Mae Balbaert, Jules Renée Balbaert, Nelly Balogova, Tiebe Barremaeker, Oliva Barrionuevo de Moraes, Irem Baskaya, Aysenur Bayar, Irem Bayar, Marthe Beckers, Esma Bocuk, Loes Bogaert, Tinus Bogaert, Martin Boone, Saber Bouafia, Wassim Braham, Mai Bui Vercoutere, Fay Camerlinckx, Cihan Murat Çelik, Belfin Cetin, Ebrar Cetin, Burcin Cetinkaya, Oloeriu Cezar, Dalal Cherji, Zoë Claeys, Flavie Clarysse, Ersan Colaker, Ilaria Coppens, Inti Cottenies, Nuseyba Dahir, Feyza Daldal, Zahida Daulatzai, Robbe De Beule, Mon De Blieck, Quincy De Boever, Simon Mars De Brackenier, Lore De Bruycker, Lou De Coninck, Jill De Gezelle, Moris De Koker, Siel De Merlier, Loni De Mey, Charles De Paepe, Lena De Ridder, Lina De Rouck, Stan De Rouck, Jade De Ruyck, Klaas De Schrijver, Bente De Smet, Mats De Vos, Sus De Wilde, Kato Declercq, Louise Decroos, Alice Dolores Defreyne, Dao Dehandschutter, Louis Delvaux, Joshua Deprez, Otis Deprez, Mira Dierckx, Lotta Driessens, Kevin Echezonachukwu Ubah, Hasan Enes Kaya, Yildiz Erol, Aitor Fernandez-Diaz, Joppe Feyaerts, Charlotte Fiems, Linder Gadeyne, Noab Gashaw, Benjamin Goeman, Yasin Gündogan, Naz Gürbüzer, Princess Gyanor, Ameya Gysels, Sarayi Gysels, Hiba Hamaideh, Manahel Hamdard, Conan Heeren, Zafirah Heirbaut, Maud Hendrix, Margot Hoorelbeke, Gergana Hristova, Louis Imschoot, Marie Imschoot, Bibi Karimzada, Harkiran Kaur, Ecem Kaya, Lily Kesteloot, Vince Keteleer, Amina Khazhmuratova, Amber Klevering, Julian Knapen, Rabi Konari, Mo Lagae, Rianne Lasseel, Seppe Leyssens, Keana Lievens, Daniela Makulova, Cindy Mbuku-Mbemba, Grijsi Miteva, Quinny Moerman, Robin Moreels, Maxine Mortier, Gabriëlle Musabyimana, Tanem Mustafa, Azad Mutlu, Lotte Muylaert, Boris Nachtergaele, Omar Al Nakeeb, Zehra Nohut, Naomi Nwankwo, Elsa Nzishaka, Ecem Okutan, Leni Oweifiye, Ilayda Ozgür, Mustafa Özgür, Dalia Paridaen, Milan Pauwels, Mong Pauwels, Sarah Pauwels, Emma Philips, Albin Plavci, Maïthé-Ellen Polfliet, Ito Pyliser, Prieel Pynaert, Hanaa Raad, Baziel Rasschaert, Alicia Roelandt, Kökan Rûzgar, Lisa Schokkaert, Jitte Schoukens, Sema Sen, Yonko Shibilev, Nur Simova, Ildem Sönmez, Horvath Sophia, Astrid Steel, Nana Stephanie, Melisa Szatmariova, Zeynep Szatmarovia, Holly Tasch, Maxine Tass, Melvin Tass, Elian Terryn, Elif Ünal, Finn Van Aken, Jasper Van Bambost, Anton Van de Velde, Darius Van de Velde, Lana Van Den Eede, Marthe Van den Eynde, Jelte Van der Beken, Nemo Van der Eecken, Arthur Van der Heyden, Anaïs Van der Sype, Leonie Van Hecke, Thias Van Holle, Zoé Van Hove, Bo Van Kerckhove, Mingus Van Langenhove, Thalia Van Miegem, Charlotte Van Royen, Servaas Van Steenberge, Nora Van Tieghem, Monica Van Walle, Lili Vandaele, Quiana Vande Kerckhove, Febe Vandebroek, Mila Vandekerckhove, Maya Vander Beken, Ila Vanderschaeghe, Julia Vandromme, Mira Vandromme, Leander Vanfleteren, Lie Vanlangenhove, Lou Vanrafelghem, Achille Vanseveren, Rosanne Vanseveren, Senne Veeckman, Hedaayatnia Venus, Julia Verhaeghe, Rube Verhille, Ico Vermeylen, Jana Verstraelen, Tine Verstreyden, Coralie Vervloet, Pavan Vijayanand, Yuvan Vijayanand, Andrew Vlieghe, Wannes Vromant, Maurice Walschaerts, Lily Wildemeersch, Mria Willaert, Kobe Wyns, Yilmaz Yalcin, Melih Yilmaz, Ileysu Yüksel, Buse Yüncü, Dzhem Yusein, Naeemi Yusra, Nour Zarzour, en de kinderen van de Kleine Icarus: Aaron, Adelinde, Aiden, Alec, Amélie, Arturo, Arwen, Aurora, Bas, Colette, Cylas, Daan, Dante, Elia, Elize, Ella, Emma, Esmeralda, Farah, Felix, Felix, Fender, Fien, Furkan, Helena, Hugo, Ilyas, Indra, Jens, Jona, Judith, Julia, Julius, Kamiel, Kelvin, Kobe, Kwantwi, Kwateng, Leni, Leon, Leonardo, Leonie, Leonie, Lobke, Loris, Lowie, Lui, Mari, Marie, Max, Mehmet, Mertin, Mies, Mirne, Mona, Nabil, Naomi, Nina, Nova, Olivia, Oscar, Otis, Pavan, Petso, Ramon, Robin, Roman, Stella, Sylvester, Tiago, Timo, Victor, Willem en Yuvan.
In collaboration with: NOK, Jeugdhuis Lodejo and Bazart Gent.
With the support of Classic Design Rental – Herbert Cordons.
The beginning… ‘The Little Catalogue of the Collection of S.M.A.K.’ is a 'fantastic' book of contemporary art from the S.M.A.K. Collection.
In 2019, two needs came together: S.M.A.K. wanted to make a book about the works of art in the collection aimed at children and young people between the ages of 6 and 14. At the same time, a teacher from Method School De Buurt knocked on the door looking for a suitable place to hold his traditional class talks. In the immediate physical vicinity of a current work of art, you talk about things other than a tooth that fell out in a previous night.
This marked the start of a whole process in which 72 pupils in small groups visited the museum and the Highlights for a Future exhibition every week. This is how the book, 'The Little Catalogue of the S.M.A.K. Collection' took its unique shape.
The works you see in the rooms are also described in the Little Catalogue of the S.M.A.K. Collection (in Dutch).
