Sarah Hendrickx

Sarah Hendrickx (PhD) is a visual artist living and working in Mechelen (Belgium). 

Appropriating visual and conceptual aspects of scientific and economic methodologies, Hendrickx's work is a response on contemporary and future society, injecting it with new metaphors and alternative systems.

List of Exhibitions

THE SEDUCTION OF THE BUREAUCRAT (2023) | De Garage, Mechelen
Group Exhibition curated by Pieter Vermeulen

THE BUREAUCREATIVE AGE (2022) | M HKA | Inbox, Antwerp
Solo exhibition and film screening

RESEARCH EXHIBITION (2021) | Showroom St Lucas Antwerp
Research exhibition

OPEN ARTE EXPO EXIT (2021) | Artenova, Mechelen
Group exhibition

5 DAYS TO MAKE HAPPIER ARTISTS (2018) | Showroom St Lucas Antwerp
Solo project/exhibition

FUTURES NOW (2017) | Kunsthal Extra City, Antwerp
Group exhibition curated by Nico Dockx, Geert Goiris & Kurt Vanbelleghem

MANAMA PAPERS (2016) | Venue SdWorx, Antwerp
Group exhibition curated by Wesley Meuris & Pieter Vermeulen

OPEN SITES: SPOREN (2016) | Ypres
One week residency and open air group exhibition

VIEWS FROM ABOVE (2015) | BIN (Belgian Institute for Normalisation), Turnhout
Group exhibition

GIANTS AND SOUVENIRS (2014) | Akademija Gallery, Vilnius (Lithuania)
Group exhibition

YOUTH: PORTRAITS OF ARTISTS, BETWEEN FREEDOM AND FIGHT (2014) | Maison Particulière, Brussels
Group exhibition

EQUILIBRIUM: A SYSTEM IN WHICH ALL COMPETING INFLUENCES ARE BALANCED (2014)
Duo Exhibition with Swiss-based artist Richard Jean, Sierre (Switserland)
In collaboration with Château Mercier, ECAV Sierre and MAXXX Project Space

THE STRUCTURAL IMPERFECTIONS OF CONTROL (2013) | Époque, Grote Markt 1, Antwerp
Group exhibition

US (2013) | Hal, Bleekhofstraat 22, Antwerp
Group exhibition curated by Benny Van den Meulengracht Vrancx

CROSS EXAMINATIONS #3, THESE AND OTHER WORKS, EXPLAINING BELGIAN ART TO A FOREIGNER (2012) | Extra City, Antwerp
Group exhibition curated by Mihnea Mircan

THE DISTANCE BETWEEN (2012) | 21 Central Avenue, Sarasota (Florida, US)
Group exhibition

ALGEMENE BEPALINGEN: TOEPASSINGSGEBIED (2012) | LOKAAL 01, Antwerp
Resdency and exhibition in cooperation with Liesbeth Doms and Chloé Dierckx, coördinated by Mihnea Mircan, Frederik Vergaert and Robin Vanbesien.

HET GAT IN DE KUNST (ON HOLES, BUMPS AND DARKNESS) (2012) | Gallery Apostrof, Deurne
Group exhibition curated by Hans Theys and Wouter Bolangier

Work

The Bureaucreative Age
A parafiction on the aftermath of the creative industries (PhD Research)
2017 - 2022, Antwerp, Belgium

The Bureaucreative Age is a research that finds itself tangled within a corporate, economic and bureaucratic environment and is explored inside an artistic parafiction. The artist plays with an overlap between fact and fiction through the imagination of the Research Centre on Creative Abilities meandmywork. 

The story in which meandmywork is ultimately set up as a fictitious character, over-identifies itself with the bureaucratic and corporate processes experienced in the business field of creativity incorporated. In order to leave the door open for speculation, the research is an artistic act of futuring: a process to think about the future, envision what may happen, and to gain insight into actions to take in the present. 

Another part of the research enters the stage by means of an exhibition showcasing so called artefacts dating from The Bureaucreative Age and the journey of the Research Centre meandmywork, encouraging the viewer to step further inside its fiction.

The parafiction of The Bureaucreative Age and the Research Centre on Creative Abilities meandmywork as its lead role, produce their meaning in the encounter with the spectator, creating a specific multiplicity while introducing a fatalistic version of what might happen when art and creativity get absorbed by corporate dominion.


Read the fictional story of meandmywork in Forum+ (Februari 2021, vol. 28 nr.1). 


The parafictional documentary meandmywork and the (Bureau)Creative Age and the accompanying exhibition were displayed at M HKA in Antwerp (24/02/2022 – 20/03/2022).
If you are interested in buying the publication of the research, feel free to contact me.

WATCH THE DOCUFICTION
meandmywork and the (bureau)creative age

Conversations with Cleverbot
2022 - ongoing
Cleverbot is one of the first platforms on which people could chat with Artificial Intelligence. Cleverbot learns from its conversations with others on the internet. This ongoing series is a recording of talks with Cleverbot in an attempt to 'educate' them and to create a friendship between the artist and AI. The old friend is not forgotten when new and more sophisticated AI is ever more present in everyday life.

Art Incinerator and Creativity Disclaimer
Published in the State of the Arts Fair Arts Almanac 2019 

51%
2018 - 2020, in collaboration with visual artist Thierry Mortier
51% wants to make the artist majority owner of culture in its socio-economic reality.



Equilibrium | The condition of a system in which all competing influences are balanced
2014 - 2015, Sierre, Switserland & Vilnius, Lithuania

Installation with video, imprints on blue sunprint paper and a map of stone-movements; currently including two venues and two exhibitions (Sierre and Vilnius). The work follows the traveling of a series of stones throughout the cities and reflects on automatic migration and human impact on nature.


This Car Seems to Like You
2013, Brussels, Belgium
Commissioned work for BMW showroom in Brussels.

Visitors are invited to scan their face. A new personalised BMW-car is created according to their features.


The Library Book
2013 - ongoing

An ongoing project of white library books without an anti-theft sticker and serial number, infiltrating in libraries and asking visitors to register its travel. These books currently can be found at the public library of Sint-Katelijne-Waver, Vilnius and Bonheiden.

Drawn with the Right side of the brain
2013, Antwerp, Belgium
Sound installation on the "creative power" of the right part of the brain, four posters and drawings.

Rhythmic Applause
2013, Turnhout, Belgium
The study of the phenomenon of rhythmic applause, when a chaotic applause transforms into a rhythmic clapping of hands. The work was shown at the BIN (Belgian Institute for Normalisation) exhibition 'Views from above' in Turnhout. 

How to write as an artist
2013

A handy booklet that helps you write like a true artist. 

95,87% of Space well spent
2012, Antwerp, Belgium
Artists were given the opportunity to 'fill in' empty space in the city of Antwerp with artistic value. 

The Pressure to Perform
2012, Antwerp, Belgium

The Distance Between
2012, Sarasota, Florida, U.S.

‘The Distance Between’ – exhibition is the result of an international one-week intensive workshop titled ‘mapping a site’. The project is located in the Rosemary District and Five Points area, (Sarasota, Florida).

People from the local community are asked to take part by creating their own flags and planting them in a place they feel connected to or a place of personal significance. The idea to use a flag is based on the historical act of Lewis Colson who in 1884 drove a stake at Five Points marking the hub of the town of Sarasota. The flag is a symbol connecting the historical with the present and at the same moment it is a way to map out individual people and their experiences and to make the diversity of the area more visible. 

Credits: Karen Arango

Tic Tac Toe
2011, silkscreen on acrylic plate

A visual output of all the possibilities of the gameTic Tac Toe with an X in the left upper corner.

432 Magnets
2011

A video work with four hundred thirty-two magnets, starting from a fixed grid, attracting one another or pushing each other off. 

Spatial Impression of Prime Numbers 2-97
2011, Antwerp, Belgium

Installation view at the exhibition 'All will become clear' in Antwerp.