Elien Ronse - "Oh i love you elien" (on friendship)
Elien Ronse (Ghent/Brussels) works in Kunsthal Gent's Development Programme in August, November and December 2021.
In and around Kunsthal several actions will take place to celebrate and question friendship. Together with new and 'old' friends, I visualise the complexity of friendship relationships and the political impact that can exist in those intimate relationships.
Throughout life the expectations and habits within friendships shift. As a child and teenager, friendships are often a central element (in positive and less fun ways) . It's quite normal to sleep-over at a friend's home, to pass on a ‘buddy book’, to declare each other ‘best’ friends. In adult life these signifiers disappear, friendships seem less important and are replaced by romantic relations and nuclear families. In our late-capitalist society, romantic relations are celebrated on Valentines Day, wedding anniversaries and more, but rarely we do the same for friend-relations.
To me, friendships are often changing and complex relations where mental, financial and other care takes place. They are a great model for how we as society might expand concepts of intimacy and care, where we can understand how to live and work together, how to unlearn the internalised idea of individuality and how to recognise interdependence. Friend relations don’t come with social scripts, they have less patterns and ceremonies, they can progress in many ways. For this reason they are important examples to counter imaginations around the nuclear family, favoured and encouraged by neoliberal politics. We can act towards change together with friends, it is a site where in unorganised togetherness we find strength to bear and resist capitalist normative logics.
(from correspondences)
Unfortunately I forgot my dream but you appeared in it
Okeeee, that's enough, thank you, haha
Oewist lienie?
You the best 2.0
Oh i love you elien
Me too, love! Super fun
You bring unexpected visitors, thank you!
With or without energy, welcome
I put a key in the closet, if I go to sleep, you can always come in.
Not good without ronsiewonsie
Look girlfriend!
Oh great, catching up with you is always so nice
It's not urgent and it's never a bad thing not to pick up.
Would you like to brush my hair?
We need to talk some more
For tonight, half a pizza if you feel like it?
I have to ask x times but I'll call you later
Also çava, nothing special to report
but we will find some time for L and E
hope you find that ok dear friend
I eat when you come (if you come)
super yes our favourite "we'll see"
no problem sweetie
I will try again to pass a short hello
you are so cute
fragile party
tearoom
wiii love you 2
you've called early bird, everything okay?
No problem darling enjoy what was fun if you can
you are f a n t a s t i c
yes please, we take it easy
My favourite longest friend ever
I think of you
lots of love from here
I am a white Belgian hetero female highly educated visual artist relating in non-monogamous ways and financially living under the poverty line (in Belgium). I engage in projects where different fields merge such as contemporary art, community work, political activism, theoretical research,… I am often traveling for work and until now I was supported by residencies such as Das Weisse Haus (Vienna), Pier-2 Artcenter (Kaohsiung), Digital Art Studios (Belfast), Zarya (Vladivostok), YARAT (Baku, postponed),… I participated in events and exhibitions in Silent Green (Berlin), Pleasure Zone (Basel), Hotwheels (Athens), Barimart (Gwangju)… Next to that I am/was engaged in collaborative practices such as Manoeuvre, Cultureel Centrum Truck Stop, De Koer, Other Women’s Flowers, Para-instituut voor KUNST en precariteit (Gent),… I recognise all of them as a stage (to some degree) for my visual work. I'm holding an MA in Arts received in Dutch Art Institute, a degree in Social Work and I recently graduated from the Advanced Master program in Sint Lucas Antwerp.
Photograph: Simon Baetens
