Mind the System, Find the Sukima (gap)

Sebastian Stumpf, Sukima, 2009. Photo: Sebastian Stumpf

An exhibition as smartly titled as Mind the System, Find the Gap deserved a short trip on the Eurostar.

That’s why on Tuesday, i was once again at Z33 House for Contemporary Art in Hasselt to see the work of artists who are ‘seeking out the gaps in the system.’ I’ll come back to it with a detailed review of the exhibition in the next few days. But let’s kick of the show with Sebastian Stumpf‘s photo documentation of his performances in the ‘gaps’ (in japanese sukima) of Tokyo architecture. The artist is literally filling in the hiatus in the dense architectural structure of the city, squeezing his body in the overlooked spaces between the buildings. The action makes us suddenly aware of this ‘urbanism interrupted’, and calls our attention to what is in-between, behind, or beyond.

Sebastian Stumpf, Sukima, 2009. View of the exhibition space during the opening of Mind the System, Find the Gap. Photo: Kristof Vrancken / Z33