2021 marked the 5 year anniversary of the fluid collective KONT (Eindhoven, The Netherlands). The sum of these years can be considered as follows: 5 magazines, 6 events to launch these magazines, 2 corona-zines, many slow dates and other activities, dozens of funding applications, art books fairs and a load of unexecuted plans due to… But the most important is missing from this calculation: the hundreds of artists and non-artists that participated, the friendships that emerged, the collaborations that took place, the felt generosity, the hard work, sincere involvement, and moments of doubt that all those that were involved have gone through. To mark this 5‑year anniversary KONT will show her documentary Staying With The Tides during this evening at the Kunsthal. In the documentary, filmmaker Floor Hofman presents an intuitive interpretation of the movement that KONT has made during these past years.
The documentary serves as a starting point as well, as KONT is currently going through a big transition. Griet Menschaert, founder, will take a step back this year and is handing over the vehicle of KONT to a new generation. Personal and artistic considerations rub up against each other during this uncertain process, which means an open attitude is required of all the artists involved. A recent month-long residency in the Kruisruimte in Eindhoven took place to intensify this process of collaborative self-examination. The new generation of KONT (represented this evening by Maaike Twisk) will rise to the forefront in the coming months, and will nudge her in a different direction.
During this Friday evening KONT aims to open up a space for friendly and critical proximity, something we have been doing in Eindhoven for five years already, and hope to realize in Ghent as well. We start with a refined meal, by Hadas Cnaani and Noam Youngrak Son. After a short introduction by Floor and Griet we will watch the documentary. To close off you will be invited to wind down with the other attendees during a slow date: slow, personal (one-to-one) meetings with an open end…