TOEGEPAST 17

5 ELINE CAUTREELS & MAARTEN DE BEUKELAERC

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Eline Cautreels & Maarten De Beukelaer

CATCHING THE SUNLIGHTLIGHT AND SHADOW IN AN ARCHITECTURAL CONTEXT

Interview with Eline Cautreels and Maarten De Beukelaer, artists & light catchers

You are the one duo among all the TOEGEPAST participants. What is your story? How

did you meet and why are you working together? [EC] We studied together at the same faculty; we were both in the Fine Art department at MAD in Hasselt. Maarten studied painting and I studied sculpture. [MDB] Some of the theoretical courses like art history were the same. That’s how we got to know each other and realised that we have a lot in common when it comes to the work we want to deliver as artists. [EC] We have the same interest in the field of art. For example you can have pure conceptual work or environmental oriented work. [MDB] We prefer more environmental-oriented work. We like to make in situ installations were the viewer becomes a sort of participant that can experience the work. Our work is not really about the object but about the experience in a certain room, space or environment. Is it

the first time that you are working together? [MDB] We were both working individually at the academy, aiming to get the best marks, as you are used to at school. But by the end of the last year we were thinking about working together after graduation. [EC] We thought that TOEGEPAST was a great opportunity to work together for the first time. Actually it is a double project: it’s about new work for TOEGEPAST, but also about finding out if we can work together as a duo. Working together means that you can exchange your knowledge and your ideas. We both think that better results can come out if it. Do you already have a title for the project

that we can expect at the final show in November? [EC] The title is Catching the light. It explains the project, but can also be anything. TOEGEPAST is a beginning; we don’t want to be too specific because we don’t know yet in which direction our work is going to evolve and if we are always going to make work as a duo. Are

you considering working under your own name or under a pseudonym? [MDB] We will use our regular names. If you are designer you can have a catchy name. You can try to apply a branding to what you do. As artist you take it from a personal level. So you consider yourself as artists? [MDB] I think when you just graduated you are not an artist. It takes more than having a Master in Fine Arts to be or become an artist. It is easy to say, and we know quite some people that consider themselves to be artists, even during their studies. But becoming an artist is something that you have to grow into. When some people think that your work is created in a consistent way or they find it fascinating they will call you an artist or write about the artistic qualities of your work. [EC] The question about being an artist or not isn’t the most important for us. It’s really about the work and the research. I hope that people can say some

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constructive things about our work and research so it could always evolve in an interesting direction. And that direction starts with the

research of Catching the light? [EC] That’s what we are aiming for. We literally tried to catch the light. The photographs you see hanging here in our studio are not normal photos. We position objects, elements and people in front of this photographic paper. The sun literally burns the silhouettes or the changing geometry of constantly moving sunlight into the photographic paper. It makes an image. One of the final parts for the exhibition will be an oversized image. Similar to the one you see here, but in Belgium the maximum size you can get is A3 black and white photographic paper. That’s why we had to order large rolls of paper from the UK or Germany. They make them only on order. This one is ten meters by one meter. [MDB] Our aim is to ignore

the established procedures of standard photographic techniques. In our research, every result is unique; each work needs some new exploration. To get the best result, every work needs a lot of fine-tuning of the technique we are using. How is this reflected in the

presentation? [EC] For the exhibition of TOEGEPAST 17, we want to capture moments at Z33. In our studio we did some tryouts where Maarten acted like a guard in a museum, sitting on a chair, while the sun shone for one or two hours. You had to stand still the whole

time? [MDB] No, I moved a lot, but depending on how strong the sun is in certain moments, it suddenly burns the shape into the paper. Did you knew that already or did you establish it during the process? [MDB] We made a small model to try out if the process works. That’s the one we build. The mannequin is the person sitting in the space. In reality, the presence of the guard gets captured on the

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light-sensitive layer of the paper. Can these results look different in terms of

colour? [EC] It depends on the technical choices we make during the development process of every work. It’s a process at the edge of control and chance; that’s why you can sometimes see black shades, purple shades, grey shades etc. Sometimes you have a very strong result and sometimes there is nothing interesting happening. You can’t copy the results, right? [MDB] No, you can’t. Each of the results is unique. You don’t have a negative that you can copy, like a regular camera makes. The sun produces matchless, unpredictable results. How can we picture the

project in the exhibition? Will it be an installation? An interactive moment? [EC] That’s what we haven’t explained to you yet. It would not only be a presentation of the images that we made with the power of the sun. We also try to register some actions with a digital camera from a distance so that we have objective registrations of each installation in progress. In the exhibition, the visitor can view both registrations. In fact, your chosen title literally tells what your project is about. Don’t

you want to accompany it with something abstract? Something that tells a story? [MDB] That’s not our intention. We want to do research and for us this has some sort of beauty already. [EC] It is relevant for us to also have the documentation of the research, that’s why the presentation of Catching the light will have two registrations on display. An objective registration breaks that pure aesthetic feeling and makes it more scientific. Did you undertake certain tasks

separately while you were working together? I mean, maybe one of you is better in

something specific and that’s why he or she has to do that job. [MDB] That’s what we don’t know yet and what we are trying to find out. Right now we are both making content and working on the concept. There is no specific work share yet, because we haven’t worked together before. [EC] Together we have an idea and a few weeks later we

photographic experiments on a large scale

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discuss things and ask ourselves if we really want to continue with it. [MDB] Sometimes you don’t see things and someone else has to point it out. How often do you talk about the project for TOEGEPAST? [EC] We do not always talk about it. We try to schedule a certain time frame; otherwise you talk constantly about a project. Being a couple and working together as artists means that you are together a lot. In that case a little bit of planning makes it a better structure. Do you work on other projects besides Catching the light? [MDB] We just got our teachers diploma. It was hell, because we both decided to do it within one-year full-time instead of two years part-time, so there was not a lot of time for some artistic plans. But we will start working on more things in the future. A diploma in

teaching? Do you want to become teaching artists? Or is it just plan-b? [MDB] First of all, we want to continue to explore our artistic research. But we are also realistic, and would like to earn money so as to not worry about the future. [EC] TOEGEPAST is a very good starting point, because you have regular meetings and you are constantly busy with developing aspects of your project. You stay alert. [MDB] That’s the best choice we could have made. Other classmates were so busy with the teacher’s diploma that they didn’t evolve in an artistic way. We are very glad that we continue making work, otherwise I would probably end up doing drawings for family occasions. (laughs) [EC] Also, most teachers put so much attention into teaching that they forget to work on their own art. We are not aiming to become that type of teacher. Photographic paper

is the material that you are both mostly interested in. Isn’t it very expensive? [MDB] It is indeed pricey. But what costs a lot are the chemicals that we need for the paper, because we need a lot. Also, most of our try-outs are just experiments that we can’t present. You can say that our research is pricey. [EC] If you do a quality selection, it is expensive. We don’t want to just put the images up on the wall. We want to use qualitative material for the presentation of our work, which has to look authentic. [MDB] That’s why we will give attention to the presentation and invest the budget into an adequate overall image. Otherwise we stay amateurs with a series of tests. We want people to see a coherent project. [EC] But to give an answer to your previous question, when you wanted to know if we work on other projects, we actually do. We will make an installation for the Creative Festival in Turnhout. What

is the festival about? [EC] Turnhout is the cultural city of the year. They have a festival about art and design, and other creative disciplines. Is it a festival that you have to apply for or do they commission artists to

make something for this occasion? [EC] Heleen van Loon from Design Platform Limburg, who is coordinator of TOEGEPAST, recommended us. [MDB] In fact, TOEGEPAST already gave us the opportunity to work on other projects. That’s exactly why we, back then, decided to apply for the format. Seems that you made the right

choices. [EC] We definitely did.

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measurement moving sunlight

5TOEGEPAST 17

ELINE CAUTREELS & MAARTEN DE BEUKELAER

www.cautreels-debeukelaer.becontact@cautreels-debeukelaer.be

photographs pp. 1, 2, 5Matylda Krzykowski

photographs pp. 4, 7Eline Cautreels & Maarten De Beukelaer

textMatylda Krzykowski

translationRachel Griffin, Earnest Studio

graphic design MaisonCaro & Kahil Janssens

coachesKaspar Hamacher & MaisonCaro

toegepast17.wordpress.com

TOEGEPAST 17 is organized by Design Platform Limburg.www.designplatform.be

With the support of Z33 – House of contemporary art.www.z33.be

Zuivelmarkt 33, Hasselt (BE)