:mentalKLINIK

:MENTALKLINIK
BITTER MEDICINE #01

Curated by Carl De Smet
Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade (MoCAB)
Till the reopening of the museum
LIVE STREAM, 7/24 @ https://eng.msub.org.rs/

PUFF OUT is a Bitter Medicine to museums under lockdown, initiated by the artist duo :mentalKLINIK and curated by Carl De Smet for the Museum of Contemporary Art of Belgrade as the first host.

As we are now more online than ever, :mentalKLINIK offers us a bitter pill to fill the abysmal void of the emptied-out, shuttered museums. :mentalKLINIK’s PUFF OUT installation is made to be physically set in the premises of the museum, but extended onto digital platforms.

The scene is devoid of humans and occupied by six robot hoovers, programmed to detect dust in a room covered with heaps of glitter particles. Creating their own drawings and spreading the glitter throughout the empty space, they create an after- party atmosphere that celebrates the maxim: “Nothing will remain the same”.

Over-stimulated, chasing every speck of glitter, the hoovers are filmed and broadcasted live at all times on the museum’s website. As they twirl tirelessly in real time and the footage streams non-stop, a spatial dialectic emerges, redefining the concepts of viewership, exhibition-making and museum-going. This migration to the web overcompensates for a broken reality – one that can be observed via museum websites, catering to a collective voyeuristic instinct.

BLACK SWAN IS FLOATING IN THE ART WORLD. ARE YOU READY TO TAKE THE BITTER MEDICINE BY :MENTALKLINIK?

Ultimately, Bitter Medicine is a challenge, posed by :mentalKLINIK and consisting of three instalments. It was first accepted by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade, which seeks to hand over Bitter Medicine #02 and Bitter Medicine #03 to two other museums around the world as donations. In addition, all interested museums, institutions and platforms may be granted the embedding link to stream the work on their websites or other online networks.

The Team:
Technical Consultant: Orkun Senturk
Assistant: Stefan Illic
Production Support: Jan Eugster LLC

Thanks to Natalija Paunić, Nikola Maravić, Ruba Al-Swell, Ayse Draz

ABOUT :MENTALKLINIK

:mentalKLINIK is a Brussels-based artist duo from Istanbul composed of Yasemin Baydar and Birol Demir who began their collaborative practice in 1998.

‘Like a discoball, :mentalKLINIK shows are a selection of their multifaceted approach on their universe. Resisting to the limitations of a single vocabulary or style, their world is a playful one full of hedonistic appeal which can be experienced as festive and glamourous but also surprising as one approaches to discover with a closer view an underlying violence suggestive of a bad trip after party or a creepy beginning of the end. Their works shift between emotional and robotic attitudes. Is it fake or true, or could it all be about falsification. Does it have to do with Poker face attitudes or with the alchemy of changing lies into truth or fake into real? ‘, Jerome Sans

:mentalKLINIK’s experimental approach has been praised on numerous occasions and include a performative installation titled ‘FreshCut’ (MAK, Vienna_ Austrian Museum of applied Arts / Contemporary Art) and ‘Co-operation Would be Highly Appreciated’ Exhibition at SCAD Museum GA, USA. They have participated in numerous international exhibitions including Istanbul Modern-Rotterdam at Boijmans van Beuningen Museum (Rotterdam, 2012); Izmir Triennial of Contemporary Art (Izmir, 2010); and Tomorrow, Now (MUDAM, Luxembourg, 2007). They opened an introspective at La Patinoire Royale, Brussels in 2018. They have had two major solo shows at Galerist, Istanbul titled That’s Fucking Awesome curated by Jerome Sans (2011) and rABBIThOLE (2009); and a solo show at Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde Thank You For your Cooperation (2014), and a solo show in Belgrade in 2018 titled ‘Catastrophically Gorgeous’ at Eugster II Belgrade, curated by Yasmina Reggad.

ABOUT CARL DE SMET

Carl De Smet studied Plastic and Experimental art at the Sint-Lucas Institute in Brussels. From 2005 – 2011 he lectured in the departments architecture (KUL-Catholic University of Leuven), Mixed media and Biological inspired architecture and was involved in the research of smart materials (department material science). This work was exhibited in architecture and design events in Rotterdam, Kortrijk, New York, and Venice. He also created two contemporary dance performances with Dolores Hulan (between 2009-2011)

In 2013 he founded noumenon, a research and development company based in Antwerp (Belgium) and Belgrade (Serbia). noumenon focuses on developing ‘shape shifting materials’ and pioneering the approach of ‘smartification of objects’.

From 2019, noumenal loom, a creative office that focus on ‘smart materials’, architecture and curating exhibitions, was founded. The architectural approach of noumenal loom focus on architectural concepts towards the definition of new spaces for all living, and the semi living identities that are evolving at a critical speed.

A human reframing for organizing architecture and its extended anthropogenic metabolism. Herein living becomes a strategy of rebuilding-reengineering the actors of are programmed world.

For any further questions, please contact:

msub@msub.org.rs
bittermedicine01@gmail.com