Residency by Tommy Smits at Landpark Assisië

'VRUUGER (des ok al lang geleje)' - Residency by Tommy Smits at Landpark Assisië

At the initiative of Wobby, artist Tommy Smits spent the summer and fall of 2023 in residence at the creative daytime activities at Landpark Assisië in Biezenmortel. Care organisation Prisma recently opened its new, well-equipped facilities there: a ceramics studio, painting and drawing atelier, and wood workshop amongst others. Prisma's main question was how to make their programme more contemporary and entrepreneurial. With the residence, we were able to give it a first new, artistic boost.

Tommy took residents on a journey through the archives of the 120-year-old care park and asked them what kind of place it actually is. His residence evolved around the concept of 'vruuger' (formerly in dialect), which is the past, but also shapes the present, and may not even be so easy to distinguish from the everyday in our perception. Memories, dreams, and the imagination of time formed the basis for new work by the participants. Using archival materials, existing and new work, Tommy curated a final exhibition in the former Franciscus Chapel at Landpark Assisië, Biezenmortel.

The collaboration with Prisma leaves us wanting more, we look forward to its continuation.

Photography : Tommy Smits