Vermeir & Heiremans focus on the dynamics between art, architecture and economy. They define their own home as an artwork and create ‘mediated extensions’ that add a public hyper-visibility to their private space. The ART HOUSE INDEX (AHI–), which transforms their home-as-an-artwork into a financial tool, is one such extension. The video installation MASQUERADE, located in the Poortersloge, where centuries ago an international group of bankers and merchants would meet, functions as an AHI- publicity film.
The value of the ART HOUSE INDEX lies in its potential to convert an opaque, static and difficult product into a transparent, ‘liquid’ and accessible investment. In a publicity video, Vermeir & Heiremans’ art house unfolds to reveal many virtual houses. A real-time algorithm continuously calculates the value of AHI– based on tools that measure confidence and belief.
The video alternates between two timelines: one shows the ‘finished’ product while the other demystifies ‘creation’ within the artistic process. A commentary elucidates the roles of the filmmaker, the public and the wider economic context.
The worlds of high finance and global art markets - both belief systems - form the context for the narrative of MASQUERADE. A fragmented environment gradually evolves from the white cube of a gallery to an auction house, commodity exchange, courtroom, etc.: places where values are negotiated and exchanged. A report on AHI-’s initial public offering transforms into an abstract landscape of opinions and tastes.
The installation includes In-Residence Magazine # 02, an art and lifestyle magazine that provides background information on the concept of “value” in the worlds of finance and contemporary art.
Production LIMITED EDITIONS vzw
Executive production JUBILEE vzw
Coproduction: Bernaerts Auction House (Antwerp), 4th Dojima River Biennale (Osaka), Goldsmiths, University of London, 13th Istanbul Biennial, Stroom Den Haag, Bruges Triennial 2015, V2_Instituut voor de instabiele media (Rotterdam)
With support from the Flemish Audiovisual Fund (VAF) and the Flemish Community
OFFICIAL WEBSITE www.in-residence.be
Vermeir & Heiremans
MASQUERADE Outdoor
20.05 - 18.10.2015
outdoor - Free
Poortersloge (Academiestraat 18)
Tue - Sun | 1:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Katleen Vermeir (1973, Bornem, Belgium) and Ronny Heiremans (1962, Heist-op-den-Berg, Belgium) have collaborated as Vermeir & Heiremans since 2006, when they initiated the long-term project A.I.R. They define their own home as an artwork within the concept of architecture that it renders space as constructions for the projections of consumer desires. Vermeir & Heiremans produce representations of their home through ‘mediated extensions’, such as installations and videos, performances, interviews, publications and more. The public cannot experience the ‘house as artwork’ in a physical sense but only through these extensions. The artist duo have shown their work all over the world and participated in various artist residency programmes.