POPPOSITIONS art fair — Bruxelles — In Watermelon Sugar — Event — Slash Paris

Past: April 19 → 22, 2018

Poppositions 2018 — Bruxelles Foire, salon, exposition, Poppositions navigue depuis sept ans sur la crête en imposant sa singularité dans l’effervescence artistique bruxelloise de la mi-avril. Autour de la foire ArtBrussels, elle fait partie des rares événements qui ont su imposer leur singularité pour s’afficher dans la durée et continuer de proposer, cette année encore, une programmation inventive et inclassable qui en fait l’un des incontournables de ce week-end belge.

Established in 2012 as a counterpoint to mainstream art fairs, over the years, POPPOSITIONS has grown into the leading alternative market for contemporary art. From April 19 to 22, 2018, POPPOSITIONS presents its 7th edition, In Watermelon Sugar, during the week of Art Brussels. Acknowledging the crucial role of contemporary art fairs within the global market, POPPOSITIONS continues to seek new, experimental ways of presenting and selling art. More than an art fair, it is both a curated exhibition and an ongoing critical dialogue. Working closely with artists, initiatives, curators and collectors, POPPOSITIONS hopes to collectively emphasise matters of shared concern. Thanks to its unique business model, participation fees are low, encouraging organisations that promote emerging talent to take part. For the second year, Niekolaas Johannes Lekkerkerk, curator and writer at The Office for Curating (NL), will be artistic director.

For the 2018 edition, the jury for POPPOSITIONS* has selected 29 international galleries, artists’ initiatives and project spaces, from a diverse range of countries including Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Morocco, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The selection was based on artistic quality and relevance of the proposed projects to the theme of this edition. The result is 29 solo shows assembled into one single exhibition. The title of this year’s edition, In Watermelon Sugar, has been borrowed from the eponymous post-apocalyptic novel by Richard Brautigan, published in 1968. The book is set in the aftermath of a fallen civilisation and focuses on a centrally organised commune that makes use of tools and objects made from watermelon sugar. POPPOSITIONS will present artistic proposals that address matters of care in a world that is facing the unprecedented and rapid depletion of life forms and the increased instability of environments and ecologies due to the negative impact of fossil-fuelled economies.

The fair offers approaches that overcome old world orders to establish new grounds and imaginary horizons from and within these capitalist ruins, ranging from parallel worlds shaped in a fictitious vacuum to micro-cosmoses and biotopes that are situated within a given locality. POPPOSITIONS hopes to draw an active worlding, combining science and fiction to set new horizons for co-habitation, collective adaptation and survival, emphasising entanglements between natures and cultures, as well as the fluidity of identities and digital infrastructures. POPPOSITIONS highlights the ephemeral and transient aspect of art fairs, as well as the different heritage buildings and neighbourhoods in Brussels. Each year, POPPOSITIONS takes place in a new location. This 7th edition will be held at former Ateliers Coppens in the heart of the Dansaert neighbourhood. As its previous editions, POPPOSITIONS 2018 promises to be a focal point for art collectors, representatives of cultural / artistic institutions, curators and art lovers from all over the world.

“POPPOSITIONS is dynamic, ambitious, and its reputation is growing year after year. Tgere are no curators or serious collectors who, when they are in Brussels, do not visit it.”

Alain Servais, Art collector

Jury POPPOSITIONS 2018

Federica Bueti, curator and co-founder/editor-in-chief at …ment, Journal for Contemporary Culture, Art and Politics (DE)Nicoletta Lambertucci, curator at David Roberts Art Foundation (UK)

Pieternel Vermoortel, artistic director and lecturer at Netwerk, Aalst, Curatorial Programme FormContent, Curatorial Studies KASK, Ghent (BE)

Niekolaas Johannes Lekkerkerk, curator and writer at The Office for Curating (NL)

Chaired by Pieter Vermeulen, co-founder at POPPOSITIONS, course director and lecturer at St Lucas School of Arts in Antwerp and freelance art critic and researcher, Antwerp (BE)