Out of a desire to stop time, I extended memories, encounters and experiences. I took them with me. They had to exist detached from legal and financial constraints. 

 

The speed and amount at which we consume and the speed at which we forget can unfortunately shape our relations. The Dear All, project is a collection of works that stands in contrast to collection of data on the internet. It is a collection of works gathered at the tempo of two people forming a bond. The collection and the people who took part are not easily to be found. 

 

In the summer of 2023, before I left Europe for five months to go to Japan, I began travelling across the continent. During my travels, I desired to collect various works from Europe to show in Japan. During my stay in Japan, I also decided to hand out empty cassette cases in Japan and show them in Belgium after my trip. In essence, to make myself available for a global exchange of ideas. 

 

The little cassette boxes contain more than what can be physically seen or felt in one's hands. They hold recent and long-term connections that have made me the person I am today. I perceive these cassettes as individual beings fully functioning with or without me. Once they were strangers I met in a hasty, fleeting, chaotic, calm and/or loving moment in the past.

 

I requested each participant to fill an empty cassette box with a work, project, object, USB with data (music, films, photos, etc.), instructions for performance, etc. The work had to physically fit in the box. Additionally, they were asked to write a short description about how they wanted the work to exist, what connections they wished to create and in what context they preferred it to be exhibited. 

 

Not all participants considered themselves artists. The way I collected the cassettes was separate from judgement about esthetical value, taste, theme or experience in and knowledge of art. The cassettes were given and collected if the time and place aligned.

 

This exhibition does not include some of the original cassette cases. Some works were made to be with me and to be shown in exhibitions. Some were made to be given away to or invite people outside their home country. Some are present in this space and some took their own journey far away from here. The project contains multiple pending and ongoing projects in Japan and Europe. 

 

Showing parts of others and myself that are separate and at times interconnected is fundamental to me. Making new combinations and comparisons between different possibilities, places and people plays a part in questioning my perceptions as someone without a fixed background. Sincerely showing how honest things coexist or contradict each other is integral to what I try to do.