Marthe Donas (1885-1967) – Belgian abstract painter and former student of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp – is one of many female artists which have been overlooked by common art history writing despite her remarkable style and international success during her lifetime. In 2016, the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent dedicated a first retrospective to her oeuvre. Nevertheless, neither the Dutch nor the English Wikipedia-encyclopedia articles mention Donas as a noteworthy alumni of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. Even more so, numerous other female artists affiliated with the academy are neither represented on the platform. Through the project Four eyes edit, artists and recent academy graduates, Min Park and Anne-Christin Bielig want to contribute to the acknowledgment of forgotten women of the academy’s history by increasing the presence of female alumni in Wikipedia. The research into the life of Marthe Donas will be the first in a row of contributions to the online encyclopedia with articles about female alumni of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp.
For the first Shelf Talk Min and Anne will present the artist Marthe Donas and their project Four eyes edit.
Anne-Christin Bielig is an artist and curator. With her work she aims to create situations and contexts for conversation and exchange. According to her approach, the exhibition becomes a meeting place between art, artists and visitors alike. Her projects, which take the form of exhibitions, interventions or even tools, are always developed through thorough research and exploration of societal themes of which the use of public space, monuments and local history, or the representation of female figures in society are a few examples. Anne is a recent graduate of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp.
Min Park (b.Seoul, South Korea) is a visual artist who often deals with cultural and historical figures that reflect the contradictory society, in order to suggest different perspectives and awareness for existing meanings. She also creates projects which take place in a public space that question about art and the society. Min works across various media such as sculpture, installation, video and photography. She is a recent graduate from Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp and holds her Bachelor from Rhode Island School of Design in Sculpture, USA.
PRACTICAL
Tuesday 16.10.2018, 6pm,
Library of the Royal Academy, Mutsaardstraat 31, 2000 Antwerp
About shelf talks/second shelf
Our frame of reference is very important in the way we think and in the way artists create. By supporting this research project, the Academy is exploring the diversity of (art) books in the library and broadening this frame. In Heide Hinrichs’ project “second shelf” books are being integrated into the Academy’s collection with a special code so you can track this invisible thematic series. In addition to the acquisition of books by non-white, non-male and non-heterosexual artists, and interventions in the library, second shelf is hosting a series of "shelf talks”. The book selection, interventions and talks are curated in collaboration with partners in Germany, UK, US and Canada.