What Stories Want, 2021
KUNSTHAL EXTRA CITY x AAIR, Antwerpen

After a year-long residency at AAIR, artists Che Go Eun, Tom Hallet, Julia Dahee Hong, Béla Juttner and Joud Toamah make an exhibition, a public programme, and a publication proposing the question: what do stories want? Each of the artists looks at the fabric of the story in their own way. Not only do they propose new stories, but they also analyse the inner function of the story. These artists put the power dynamics of presumably persuasive narrative arcs into question. What is the story’s previous trajectory, current agenda, and possible future? Each artist decrypts the codes of different arenas: Joud Toamah speculates on photography, Béla Juttner works between performance and fashion, Tom Hallet unearths queer countercultures, Che Go Eun digs into manga and cyberculture, and Julia Dahee Hong departs from writing itself.

The publication is based on the idea of a ‘chapel of ease’, a convenient alternative for those who cannot reach the parish church. It is designed by D-E-A-L and edited by Laurens Otto. With contributions by: Che Go Eun, Chris Dupuis, Yasmine Eid-Sabbagh, Tom Hallet, Julia Dahee Hong, Béla Juttner, Laurens Otto, Evelyn Simons, Natasha Soobramanien, Joud Toamah, Marika Vanderkraats, Remko Van der Auwera, and Michiel Vandevelde.

Curated by Laurens Otto

The programme is realised with the support of the Flemish government.

"I’ve been collaborating with the most wonderful, ambitious and generous friends and peers to create the visuals of my contribution for the publication of ‘What Stories Want'.

I asked Evelyn Simons to write a letter to you. A letter for the ones who came before us. The ones who paved the way. Evelyn succeeded beautifully in finding the right words to be spoken out loud, to be breathed out, to find every crevice and nestle there, waiting to be picked up, smiling, showing their sharp teeth, chuckling. Thank you, I am sincerely yours.

My dear friend Remko van der Auwera produced the stunning visuals to A Mermaid’s Grave (Bog Dreams). What a joy to work with you. Your insight and your capability to see the ripples of a dream and put it into image is beyond me. Yours Lovingly."

brows through publication

written by Tom Hallet

visit website Remko van der Auwera

Prologue (They Were Here First), 2021
appearance by Victor Guaita (viola) & Elisabeth Klinck (soundscape)

Some seventy years ago, people were cutting seaweed at Sgeir na duchadh, Grimnis, Benbecula. Before putting on her stockings, one of the women went to the lower end of the reef to wash her feet.










While doing so she heard a splash in the calm sea, and looking up she saw a creature in the form of a woman in miniature, some few feet away. Alarmed, the woman called to her friends, and all the people present rushed to the place

The creature made somersaults and turned about in various directions. Some men waded into the water to seize her, but she moved beyond reach. Some boys threw stones at her, one which struck her in the back. A few days afterwards, this strange creature was found dead a Cuile, Nunton, nearly two miles away.

The upper portion of the creature was about the size of a well-fed child of three or four years of age, with an abnormally developed breast. The hair was long, dark, and glossy, while the skin was white, soft and tender. The lower half of the body was like a salmon, but without scales.

Crowds of people, some from long distances, came to see this strange animal, and all were unanimous in the opinion that they had gazed on the mermaid at last.









Mr. Duncan Shaw, factor for Clanranald, baron-bailie and sheriff of the district, ordered a coffin and shroud to be made for the mermaid. This was done, and the body was buried in the presence of mant people, a short distance above the shore where it was found. There are persons still living who saw and touched this curious creature, and who give graphic descriptions of its appearance.

"The Mermaid's Grave", from the book The Peguin Book of Mermaids, Peguin Classics

installation view What Stories Want
To Bambi (A Renewal), 2021 & Tribute (Bertha), 2021

installation view What Stories Want

Sincerely Yours, 2021
65x50
pencil on paper

installation view What Stories Want

To You, 2021
21x29,7
pencil on paper

installation view What Stories Want

installation view What Stories Want

Eye 2
12x5
talc-schist