“Stigmatizations, discriminations and fetishizations: let’s talk about it!

Date: Thursday April 25, 6pm to 9pm

Venue: OpenLab/Ancienne bibliothèque Enfantine – access via rue des Croisiers 1, 4000 Liège

Ticket prices:  Free, upon registration

Duration: 3 hours

About B.A.O.:

The B.A.O. is a self-help group for newly graduated artists. Founded in Brussels in 2021 and led by seven of its members, this itinerant office has emerged as a reaction to the disarray of young creators who spend months, even years, navigating the administrative unknown. In contrast to fatalism and the laws of individualistic resourcefulness, the B.A.O. is part of a dynamic of liberating speech and sharing knowledge.

About the event:

In 2024, the B.A.O. returns with a brand new formula: the Petites Mousses. The idea is for artists to get together over a drink or a steaming mug, outside conventional events such as vernissages. Our aim is to establish a safe space in which we can share and free our thoughts on selected themes.

For this third Petites Mousses format, the B.A.O. invites you to open the discussion on the stigmatizations, discriminations and fetishizations encountered by artists:

“Your work lacks virility!”, “You should talk about your origins”, “Bring us some dirt from over there”, “Your works are very masculine for a woman!”, “Why do you wish to talk about men in your work when you are a woman?”…. Disobliging remarks abound in the contemporary art world: let’s talk about them!

The role of Les Petites Mousses:

We aspire to provide solutions, to help, to overcome obstacles, to offer spaces for free speech and to enable artists to (re)find satisfaction in their work!

In concrete terms, we believe that the key to meeting these challenges is to get together outside artistic events such as vernissages, which we don’t think are suitable moments for this kind of reflection. At these meetings, we aim to create a safe space in which each artist can :

Meet new young (or not so young) artists
Share good and not-so-good experiences
Identify what’s holding them back
Become politicized and take part in change
Learn about success stories and meet artists who have already overcome a number of difficulties and are flourishing in their profession.
Discuss your work, research and creative process
Les Petites Mousses #3 is hosted by artists Charlotte Lavandier and Justine Taillard.

Find the B.A.O. on INSTAGRAM