Karen Hendrickx

With this project I want to look for dance in the landscape. The intention is to conceive of the landscape from the movement, starting from color, light and shadow. By hanging some works next to each other, I want to create a large dance movement. Just like in my other works, I want to explore the boundaries between the abstract and the figurative, where expression comes first. The works will be installed both indoors and outdoors. During the opening I will also present my performance Sketches of Emotion, in combination with my work.

For this performance I am working with Justine Copette from the Liège dance company JC Choreography. The purpose of the performance is to demonstrate the point where dance and visual art come together, which for us is emotion. In a first face it is me as a visual artist who is inspired for my drawings by the power and emotion emanating from the dance movement, in a second face it is the dancer who follows me when drawing and painting and is inspired by my movements and work. In a third face there is no longer a leading role and we work purely from emotion, in interaction with each other.

The idea for this project emerged gradually and took shape when I saw the works of Claude Monet in the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris. Afterwards I also discovered the work of Joan Mitchell, which inspired me even more for this project.

project details

On Friday 8 and Saturday 9 December 2023, the eighth edition of Winternights took place in and around the Lutheran Church in Maastricht. During the freely accessible performing arts festival you can see ‘unfinished’ work, or work-in-progress, by various theater makers, performers, choreographers, composers and visual artists, at surprising locations.

This eighth edition of Winternights, the program consists of a wide range of makers who make their artistic research visible. The makers are all affiliated with and invited by the organizers C-TAKT, SoAP Maastricht and VIA ZUID. This year it is Barabara Tjonck, Esra Çopur & Philipp Cahrpit, Evelien Cammaert, Gerben Vaillant, Jelle Huizinga, Johannes Bellinkx & Daan Brinkmann, Karen Hendrickx, KIN Collective, MOHA, Moni Wespi and Naomi Steijger & Lieselot Mariën who test and test their work with the Winternights audience. The unfinished nature of the work gives the audience the opportunity to engage in conversation with the makers after all presentations.

The Lutheran Church was once again the base for Winternights this year. Various spaces in and around the Lutheran Church, the Statenkwartier and the Sphinxkwartier were furnished as presentation areas, studios, lab, theater and dance floor.

project details

Liminal Harmony is an interdisciplinary performance where dance, visual art, and music converge in real time. Four artists—a dancer, a visual artist, and two musicians—are completely guided by the energy, emotion, and intuitive impulses of the moment. Connected, they evolve from four separate characters into a single entity, sharing their emotions, their history, their feelings, their knowledge of each other, and their behavior. The boundaries between the various disciplines gradually blur until a complete unity emerges, where it is no longer clear who is the musician, who is the dancer, and who is the visual artist.

During the performance, a work of art emerges from the energy of the moment. The dancer’s dance traces are made visible and form an essential part of the creative process. The dancer wears a white costume, on which traces of paint gradually appear. She becomes increasingly one with the artwork, until, at the end, it is no longer clear where the artwork begins or ends.

In a world increasingly driven by control and perfection, this performance is our radical act of surrender. Liminal Harmony explores trust in intuition, the power of collective creation, and the celebration of temporary, unique encounters. The performance serves as a mirror for the audience:

• How can we truly be present in the here and now—fully, honestly, and without distraction?
• How can collaboration between disciplines challenge us to see, listen, and feel differently?

We continually question the boundaries of disciplines and invite the viewer to reflect on the compartmentalization of our society.

project details