PILOTPROJECT HERITAGE LEGACIES IN ART
In October 2024, the pilot project Art Heritage Estates (Pilootprojecten Nalatenschappen Kunstenerfgoed) was launched, focusing on the legacy of the artist duo Jadran Sturm (1957–2019) and Åsa Lie (b. 1959). The one-year project focused on key works within their joint oeuvre with the aim to activate the oeuvre and archive through interviews and workshops, and to make it accessible to a broader public.
With help from AMVB (Archive and Museum of Life in Brussels), CKV (Centre for Art Archives Flanders) and Peliskan, the physical and digital archive was digitized, inventoried, and repackaged, with attention to sustainable preservation and future use.
Together with CKV, a selection of key works was made and discussed during an expertmoment with Simon Delobel (KIOSK Gent), Bas Hendrikx (KANAL), Ronny Heiremans (Jubilee – Platform for Artistic Research) and Lotte Beckwé (art historian).
Oral history was an important part of the project and Åsa Lie was interviewed by Simon Delobel, Raf Wollaert (University Antwerp / Research Centre for Visual Poetics), Scott William Raby (artist, researcher, and arts organizer), Ronny Heiremans, Lotte Beckwé, Nele Luyts (CKV) en Merzedes Sturm-Lie (daughter and artist). The interview-talks were recorded in collaboration with filmmaker Mathieu Hendrickx.
Workshops were organized at KASK School of Art (Ghent) and LUCA School of Art (Brussels and Ghent), presenting parts of Åsa and Jadran’s oeuvre. Students subsequently used these works as a source of inspiration for new concepts and performances in public space.
A key work in the project, Panagia Gorgoepikoos, was presented by Åsa Lie and Merzedes Sturm-Lie at The Infrastructure of Archives, part of Archipelago of Artistic Practices: A Jubilee and M HKA Research Summit. Panagia Gorgoepikoos was also exhibited in the INBOX at M HKA. The same year, Åsa and Merzedes were invited to hold an artist talk on the archive and oeuvre at MAX Brussels (ABCB #6).
Artist L. Puska visited the archive and brought the book Panagia Gorgoepikoos with her to Athens. This visit led to a new artistic project, Performing Thing I – from a series of attempts to arrive at the intersection of human and non-human performance (2024–).
Finally, the website was renewed and expanded into a multilingual digital archive, with translations by Dirk Elst (author) and Mélanie Weill (philosopher and pole dancer), making key works, interview excerpts, and digitized archival material publicly accessible.
The project constitutes an open and growing infrastructure for further research, education, and artistic reflection. We are open to collaborations.
Realised with support from Flanders - State of the Art
