New art and cultural centre in Aalst presents innovative opening weekend
A new centre in Aalst for culture and art will welcome visitors from Friday. The former textile factory Netwerk in Aalst has been renamed NW, and has been fully renovated and transformed into a hub for artists and the community.
The building had been closed to the public for 18 months while it was converted to what NW hopes will be a bustling centre for art. The new structure mixes several components to create a space for creativity, including meeting and conference areas, a fully equipped studio, an artist's residence, a café, a kitchen, a bookshop, a cinema-theatre hall and exhibition spaces.
The centre aims to start a dialogue with the surrounding environment and broader society by representing emerging and established artists locally and internationally.
"Together with artists, we present a programme that explores the boundaries of what art can be or do. Our focus is on artistic development with an eye on our city, region and the world. In other words, where local and global meet," the organisers say.
For its opening exhibition, NW has chosen the film Ritual in Transfigured Time by Ukranian experimental filmmaker Maya Deren. NW credits this film with shaping its inaugural film programme and "developing the principles for our renovated house: dialogue, collaboration, experiment and breaking through boundaries."
Belgian artist Lucile Desamory presents an exploration of emancipation and autonomy as artistic issues through video, painting and sound in her work Untitledment.
The opening weekend and season programme.
(MOH)
#FlandersNewsService | © PHOTO PATRICIA HUCHOT-BOISSIER
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