Elisa Giardina Papa, “U Scantu”: A Disorderly Tale, 2022
Installation view at Horst Arts & Music, 2023 
Photo credit: Eline Willaert
Where the Wild Things Are 

with Farah Al Qasimi, Meriem Bennani, Elisa Giardina Papa, Mark Leckey, Marc Leschelier, Maria Muehombo AKA MIMI, Joe Namy, SERAPIS, Sharon Van Overmeiren and DEEWEE

Horst Arts & Music, Vilvoorde
05.05.23 - 30.07.23 
Production coördinator: Margot Bossy
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SERAPIS, Vesshcell, 2023 
Photo credit: Eline Willaert, Jeroen Verrecht, Maryan Sayd, Illias Teirlinck

Meriem Bennani, Guided Tour of a Spill, 2022
Installation view at Horst Arts & Music, 2023 
Photo credit: Eline Willaert

Where the wild things are pays tribute to those that define urban spaces, to those that make cities livable and alive, those that soften the hard edges of our imposed built environment with their presence. We’re talking about citizens, temporary visitors and communities often shunned by city councils, project developers and urban planners. We shine a light on, and celebrate exactly those energies which we usually don't see reflected in the sleek renderings of the so-called "cities of tomorrow".

We look for inspiration in the underbelly of our urban fabric; where the energy vibrates, breathing life into a city. Where the wild things are brings an ode to DIY, unregulated but indispensable forms of community-life and creativity, to disobedience and disruption, to those operating outside the calibrated paths of organized consumer-focused public life.

A video work by Sicilian artist Elisa Giardina Papa follows a gang of teenage tuners as a modern interpretation of a traditional Sicilian legend, reflecting on disruption and mythological womanhood. The Brussels-based Angolan-Zambian artist Maria Muehombo AKA M I M I suspended a garden made from organic matter and paintings to foster forgotten alliances with natural energies. We also encounter a nightshop by the iconic Ghent-based label DEEWEE: a replica of one of the most underrated spaces of contemporary city life.British artist Mark Leckey created a dark and sticky setting, dominated by a large-scale new video work where a foreboding seascape meets a candy-coloured sky. Centrally on the Asiat military base, we erected a permanent monument allowing visitors to cool down thanks to an integrated ancestral air-cooling system, which Belgian artist Sharon Van Overmeiren developed together with Instituut Voor Volkswarmte.French artist Marc Leschelier explored formal improvisation through dysfunctional architecture in a pavilion with scaffolding and draped concrete, tucked in the garden of Asiat Kiosk. During the Horst festival, Lebanese artist Joe Namy fostered a gathering of car-tuners at the festival grounds, which has been translated into a physically pulsating art installation for the exhibition. A pre-existing circular pavilion was transformed into an immersive ship by the Greek fashion and art collective SERAPIS, working with repurposed truck tarp and big bags to hint at the logistic journeys and the hidden labor of our hyper connected globalized society. A chapter from Moroccan artist Meriem Bennani’s iconic Life on the Caps further explores dissidence and disobedience as vital and necessary forms of citizenship in a futuristic video. Finally, Emirati artist Farah Al Qasimi developed a glowing musical garden with flowers and outdoor music instruments, sprouting as an invitation for children and adults to engage with the melodies of the park and the local plant life. 


Joe Namy, The 10th Automobile, 2023
Photo credit: Eline Willaert

DEEWEE, Nachtwinkel, 2023
Photo credit: Eline Willaert

Farah Al Qasimi, Buzz Pollinator, 2023
Photo credit: Eline Willaert


Marc Leschelier, HUT, 2023
Photo credit: Eline Willaert and Marc Leschelier



Maria Muehombo, Rooted, 2023
Photo credit: Eline Willaert and Carmen Vollebregt



Mark Leckey, roll pitch yaw surge heave sway, 2023
Photo credit: Eline Willaert and Jonas Reubens

Sharon Van Overmeiren & Instituut voor Volkswarmte
Capricious Swirl, 2023
Photo credit: Eline Willaert