Koenraad Claes
INTERMERZZ
Remco Roes and Koenraad Claes form the collective intermerz (NTRMRZ): an uncontrolled 'quatre mains' that culminates in an aesthetic dissonance.
NTRMRZ produced a series of works that came into being by copying an almost coincidental original with meticulous precision, but in a different geographical location.
By forcing themselves into such protocols NTRMRZ's publications and videos operate as time-based sculptures, made out of their surroundings, cast by an identical mould, but inevitably enriched by the grain and interference encountered on the journey. However vigorous the attempt to copy, the subject matter inevitably escapes its holder, and in doing so alters the form of past en future copies.
CASABLANCA
Initiated by Koenraad Claes and Carina Gosselé, is a nomadic artist collective.
The artists portray themselves as two protagonists standing at the center of their own improvised scenarios, exploring and carrying out various interventions.
Contact between the two artists and their surroundings are filmed, noted and described.
With minimally planned scenarios and self-imposed assignments, they seek new, unfamiliar environments in order to rediscover, reinvent and recreate themselves.
They use each other’s bodies and the surrounding environment as living canvasses, accepting and undergoing decisions made by the other.
Depending upon their mood, they either damage or decorate.
Findings made during their wanderings are to be recorded and reviewed; some elements will be re-enacted in guerrilla-style interventions.
The collective chooses and announces where and when such actions will take place.
2060BC
The ephemeral need of entertainment is constantly altering minds and is an important subject of discussion. Koenraad Claes is based in Antwerp and Rolina Blok is based in London, they have instigated a visual dialogue through email, phone, and post to speak about all that they encounter.
The two artists are separated by a body of water and time; therefore, the artists must go out of their way to communicate, meet, and create.
Depending on the project B and C take the guise of a range of alter egos, all of them variations on the original charlatans that ended a period of disarray and chaos 4080 years ago.