Behind the scenes at Driedee: Hatching from Scratch
At the end of 2024, ‘Driedee: Hatching from Scratch’ opened in Kunsthal Mechelen: a multifaceted exhibition that includes 28 works around the three dimensions. Three young participants from Curatorial Studies at KASK & Conservatory Ghent took up the challenge of diving into more than 600 entries of the open call. Today, we visit the expo again with them in 2025, in which they will share the past process.
The exhibition ‘Driedee: Hatching From Scratch’ grew out of a close collaboration between Kunstwerkt and Kunsthal Mechelen. Together, we launched the eponymous open call ‘Driedee’ in autumn 2024, to which some 640 artists responded. Natalija Gucheva, Abel Hartooni and Temitayo Olalekan, all three participants of Curatorial Studies at KASK & Conservatory Ghent, created a strong narrative from all submissions.
How they brought it together, and how bumpy this kind of journeys can be at times, you can read below.
What was the inspiration behind the name Hatching from Scratch?
Temitayo: 'All the works explore personal interpretations of 3D through territory, language, body and memory. This reflects on how the artists relate to their own physical experiences and how this comes forth in their own works. The conversation led us to the analogy of the personal, itch of a scratch and of a hatch. And what is the itch? The itch is the feeling of a discomfort of our identity, of changes. And then this itching kind of leads to this reaction, which is the scratch, which is the material exploration of the work that the artists make themselves. And the action is the exhibition itself. It's the opening to something. It's the openness of the exhibition. The name is also an interpretation of the phrase and starting from scratch, because most of the artists in these exhibitions are also young art practitioners, and this was a way to kind of help in the journey of their careers.'
What was it like for you to now join forces, each with your own vision on curatorship?
Natalija: 'As professionals, we strive to implement values in our work which also supports our own artistic integrity. Therefore, when there is a moment to collaborate with like minded creatives which are driven by the same principles. This process usually ends up being a very pleasant experience. We viewed the exhibition as a rich and layered body of work, and therefore decided to treat it as chapters of a book which helped form the general concept. And with this step, our common interest merged so each could implement their own vision within it.'
What were the challenges of this exhibition?
Abel: 'I think, first of all, since this exhibition was something that we didn't initiate, it was difficult to find a common narrative between these works that we selected and we were not familiar with. Initially, it was basically a challenge to find a common narrative between all these 28 works, which all have their own unique sensibilities and sets of issues that they deal with in a way that they could make a conversation with each other and simultaneously retain their autonomy.
Another challenge was all this back and forth communication we had with the three of us and the two institutions involved, and the 28 present artists in the show. I think we had some miscommunications, but overall we managed to keep it all together. Of course, with the support that we had from both Kunstwerkt and Kunsthal Mechelen and their amazing production team, and also the artists that trusted us in making this happen.'
The exhibition 'Driedee: Hatching from Scratch' is still on view until 2 March 2025 in Kunsthal Mechelen.
You can discover the work of
Eloïse Baele, Nele Bergmans, Fedora Boonaert, Fenn-Jonah Brookhuis, Eveline Bumba, María Burguera, Manoah Camporini, Ann De Nys, Irene Donatini, Elise El Yousfi, Dodi Espinosa, Janina Fritz, Yawen Fu, Alexis Gerlach, Luna Ireland, Lore Jacobs, Irma Janssens, Mara Jenny, Lennert Lefever, Nicolas Peeters, Dieuwke Raymaekers, Lieve Shukrani Simoens, Elisa Van Coster, Emile Van Helleputte, Eva van Tongeren, Rosa Westhaus, Ugo Woatzi & Indra Wouters
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