As is often the case with Houben, this exhibition at Bétonsalon originates from a real-life experience that is interwoven with other accounts of similar situations and the concepts they convey. It all began with the artist’s hand suddenly shaking uncontrollably during a public speech. From this patent dysfunction, Houben draws several consequences, notably the representation of an independence of the members of her body from her own will, the manifestation of an open conflict. She also notices how reflexes, emotions and gestures are much faster than any articulated language and outpace it. From this physiological experience and inverted rhythm, Hedwig Houben draws a broader reflection on the agentivity of a hand that does not obey the subject’s intentions, places them in an uncomfortable situation. Frees itself from any injunction to be productive, the Hand prefers instead improvisation and rambling. Beyond the discomfort generated by this loss of control, this situation raises the question of the real or presumed vulnerability of the unity of a self, manifesting a split through the simple resistance of a body part who no longer conforms either to the expectations of a subject or to the social conventions.

The issues of interdependence that run through this exhibition are questions that Hedwig Houben addresses to herself and, more broadly, to her status as an artist and polyactive worker, but also to her dependence on and attempts at autonomy from the art world, a world that, moreover, knows how to plead collective causes while perpetuating the atomization of authorship within its own organizational structures. Without seeking to theoretically resolve these dilemmas common to many artists, the primary purpose of this exhibition would be to collectively formulate these questions, to find public forms that can be shared, and to engage with them in their most unresolved aspects.

This exhibition is supported by the Mondriaan Fonds, the Embassy of Netherlands in Paris and CARADT – Centre of Applied Research for Art, Design and Technology in the Netherlands.