Stef Van Looveren

BIO / SELECTED WORKS / CATALOGUE

Stef Van Looveren (they/them) (BE,1992) is an Antwerp based artist. They studied Fine Arts at Central Saint Martins, London and Sint-Lucas, Antwerp. They’re the winner of the third edition of the STRT Schot award, an initiative of Studio Start vzw, awarding a prize to a graduate artist selected out of the two art school in Antwerp (St Lucas University of Antwerp and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts). Stef Van Looveren’s practice translates itself into video installation, photo and collage. The installations are used, as an attempt to reflect and dismantle the performativity of our human behaviour, primarly within the notion of gender. Playfully mimicking our social conducts along with visual culture, their work moves towards a surreal gesture. As Stef Van Looveren has always had an interest in questioning gender in relation to sexuality and identity it seemed only logical to evolve in their 3 sided art project which started more than 3 years ago. Their solo show “O” at Barbé Urbain gallery will show the final and 3rd chapter of these works. Every chapter has it’s own colour. The first one ‘HIR’, a gender-related term that can be interpreted as wide or as narrow as someone identifies hirself with. This is the green chapter. Stef Van Looveren translates different personalities in a fluid way. During this process they create an environment to think about the transformative state of this construction. In the second, blue chapter they bring these personalities together in an infinite blue. Here they include a variety of people to let them interact with each other. The third and final chapter is the red one “O” which focuses on the body an sich. By adding or removing certain characteristics Van Looveren investigates the influence of these changes on all other aspects. This makes the solo exhibition ‘O’ the final piece of the triptych which brings all the previous parts together. Green, blue and red or RGB, a combination of colours that is able to create any possible colour. This underlines the artificial construction of the arbitrary boundaries in our society and their associated qualities.

Stef Van Looveren (BE, 1992) Lives and works in Antwerp

CURRENT/FUTURE

2023 Groupshow, SITUASIAN, DEVOLUTION / ONE PIECE GALLERY, Fujian Province CHN

PAST

2023 Live Performance, RADICAL HOPE – EYE to EYE, RADIKAL JUNG FESTIVAL , Münich DE

2022 Groupshow, A room full of mirrors, FRAGMENT GALLERY, New York USA

2022 Groupshow, Neo-Rising, POLANSKY GALLERY, Prague CZ

2022 Live Performance, Radical Hope – EYE to EYE, DE SINGEL, Antwerp BE

2021 Groupshow, Initiation Party, HYATT CENTRIC, Miami US

2021 Groupshow, Performa, C-MINE, Genk BE

2021 Groupshow, A practice of love, STEMS GALLERY, Brussels BE

2021 Video Installation, ADAGIO, DE STUDIO, Antwerp BE

2021 Lecture, Live Stream, KASK, Ghent BE

2020 Live Performance, 12 – MTF,  DE COMPAGNIE theater, Amsterdam NL

2020 Groupshow, Liebaert Projects – STEMS GALLERY, Kortrijk BE

2020 Groupshow, Fluid Identity, PILAR, Brussels BE

2020 Lecture/workshop, After Summer School, CAMPO, Ghent BE

2020 Groupshow, videodroom, VOORUIT, Ghent BE

2020 Groupshow, LIMBO II, EVERYDAY GALLERY, Antwerp BE

2020 Groupshow, TOGETHER, MHKA museum, Antwerp BE

2020 Groupshow, QUEER ARTS FESTIVAL, Antwerp BE

2020 ArtFAIR, New Art Dealers Alliance, NADA, New York US

2020 Groupshow, Narcissus?, BASE-ALPHA GALLERY, Antwerp BE

2020 Lecture, SINT-LUCAS ANTWERPEN, Antwerp BE

2020 Groupshow, Digestive disaster, unlucky star., STEMS GALLERY, Brussels BE

2019 Groupshow, With Pleasure, KUNSTENCENTRUM VOORUIT, Ghent BE

2019 Groupshow, MoNu Now Ahora, MoMu, Antwerp BE

2019 Groupshow, Let us in: Together, CLINCHY, Paris FR

2019 Groupshow, Look at me baby I’m yours, PENTHOUSE ART RESIDENCY, Brussels BE

2019 Groupshow, The House of Art and Beauty, curators: Mark Vanrunxt & Katleen Vinck , KATLEEN VINCK, Antwerp BE

2019 Groupshow, Biënnale van België III, FLORIËNHAL S.M.A.K., Ghent BE

2019 Groupshow, Emfylo-ποιείν / to construct the gender, A.ANTONOPOULOU.ART, Athens GR

2019 Groupshow, Antwerp Art Weekend, EVERYDAY GALLERY, Antwerp BE

2019 Groupshow, ZWRT, BARBÉ URBAIN GALLERY, Ghent BE

2019 Screening, Night Shift, DE STUDIO, Antwerp BE

2019 Groupshow, de//generatie, DE ONTSTEKING, Ghent BE

2019 Groupshow & Panel talk, Imagining Monuments, MIDDELHEIM MUSEUM & EXTRA CITY, Antwerp BE

2019 Groupshow, Beyond Beautiful, MESSE FRANKFURT, Frankfurt DE

2018 Groupshow, Yugen#16, curator: Jan Hoet Junior, YUGEN, Ghent BE

2018 Soloshow, DPA bags, ANTWERP ART PAVILION / MAS, Antwerp BE

2018 Soloshow, ‘O’ , BARBÉ URBAIN GALLERY, Ghent BE

2018 Screening, Radical Hope, ART VIEWER, world wide web

2018 Soloshow, Radical Hope, HOLE OF THE FOX, Antwerp BE

2018 Lecture, DE!KUNSTHUMANIORA, Antwerp BE

2018 Soloshow, G. C. E. D. S. N. N. J. Q. N. E. E. K. B. S. S. S. S. P. T. S. P. E T. J. F. E. E. M. K. A. J. J. Z. D. S. C. A., GOUVERNEMENT, Ghent BE

2017 Groupshow, Etcetera, S.M.A.K. museum, Ghent BE

2017 Lecture, Integrated, DE SINGEL, Antwerp BE

2017 Groupshow, Capara Showcase, GALLERY SOFIE VAN DE VELDE, Antwerp BE

2017 Groupshow, étale eh, CENTRAL STATION, Antwerp BE

2017 Groupshow, En cours d’installation, VALERIE TRAAN GALLERY, Brussels BE

2017 Groupshow, GAG/GAGGING, TIQUE ART SPACE, Antwerp BE

2017 Soloshow, Irrepressible, FRONT STUDIO, START SCHOT prize – Studio Start, Antwerp BE

2016 Soloshow, Open studios, MAISON CONTRAIRE, Antwerp BE

2016 Groupshow, ‘I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy’, DIY, Antwerp BE

2016 Groupshow, Antwerp Art Weekend, curator: Benny Van den Meulengracht-Vrancx, DE STUDIO, Antwerp BE

2016 Groupshow, Please come to the show, KATLEEN VINCK, Antwerp BE

2015 Groupshow, Graduation Show BA, curator: Geoffrey De Beer, SINT-LUCAS, Antwerp BE

2015 Soloshow, ‘ONE HOUR’,VIRTUAL INTRA MUROS, world wide web

2014 Groupshow, CSM Open Studio, CENTRAL SAINT MARTINS, London GB