Sarah Vanagt

How sensitive are the historical and political feelers of children who grow up in one of the most affluent regions in the world? In FLACC Sarah Vanagt(b. 1976, Bruges) continues her study of how children imagine Belgium's colonial past. Following Little Figures (2003) and the documentary film, Begin Began Begun (2005) she presented Les Mouchoirs de Kabila in 2006. In this video film, which she made in Goma, a town on the border of Eastern Congo, children build a miniature city. They also spontaneously put together little plays that refer to recent political developments in the Congo. The approaching elections - the first democratic elections to be held since the Congo became independent in 1960 - play a central role here. Clearly the children in Goma are remarkably well able to portray and explore the rifts in Congolese society today. In June 2006 Sarah Vanagt will bring children from various primary schools in Genk face to face with images of the Congolese 2005 'election game'. She records their reactions on video to discover how the Congo lives on in the minds of the children growing up in today's postcolonial Flanders. What does school teach them about the Congo? What happens when they stage the coming Belgian municipal elections in October? How do migrant children in Waterschei deal with the Vlaams Belang discussion they undoubtedly pick up through the media, the school, in the street, from their parents, etc.? The results of Sarah Vanagt's project will be exhibited in September 2006 as part of Powerplays - Interior Desires, Exterior Spaces, , a project by the Platform Limburg Beeldende Kunsten (www.platformlimburg.be ).

SARAH VANAGT - MOI, L'ELEPHANT
exhibition - from 16 September until 15 October 2006 - Z33, Zuivelmarkt 33, 3500 Hasselt
In the installation Moi, l'éléphant, Sarah Vanagt (b. 1976, Bruges)lets two children crawl inside the skin of the stuffed elephant in the Africa Museum in Tervuren. Today, this lifeless animal from the former Belgian colony of Congo rests in everlasting peace in Belgium. The children voice the elephant's thoughts, his sorrows, his questions and visions… The dialogue of those two young white adventurers with the elephant is a confrontation with the past and with death, because many aspects of colonial history shimmer through in their fantasies. The exhibition opens on 16 September 2006 at 16:30 and will be introduced by a lecture by Koen Vlassenroot at 17:00. At 20:30, there will be a screening of Vanagt's earlier videos: Little Figures (2003), After Years of Walking (2003), Begin Began Begun (2005) and First Elections (2005). Moi, l'éléphant is a FLACC workplace project and is exhibited in the context of Powerplays - Interior Desires, Exterior Spaces, an event of Platform Limburg Beeldende Kunsten. More information on Vanagt can be found on www.balthasar.be.