Aleksandra Chaushova: links between architecture and ideology

Bulgarian-born and Brussels-based artist Aleksandra Chaushova engages in a dialogue with the work of Renaat Braem to examine the links between architecture, ideology, and fiction.

Ideology is everywhere," says Aleksandra Chaushova. "It is all-encompassing. You can't really label it as negative or positive, but it directs the way that you think and see all that surrounds you. As Terry Eagleton wrote that even though it has a connotation of being a lie, but no one would say that they believe in a lie."

Aleksandra Chaushova studied graphic printing in Sofia and fetched up in Brussels in 2010, when she was selected for the Wiels residency programme. At Été 78, the small but inspiring space for encounters between public and art that we owe to Olivier Gevart, the artist will present a solo show, "The Throbbing Wall", in which she focuses on a particular mode of ideological expression. "I have always been interested in the way we interact with history, how ideologies are represented and constructed, how we interpret those constructions, and how art is used within that construction. Recently, my work has been evolving around the links between ideology and architecture, as one of its purest manifestations."

She became particularly fascinated by the architect Renaat Braem's drawings of an imaginary neighbourhood, found in the Archives d'Architecture Moderne in Brussels, and the reality of Antwerp's Kiel district. The prominent Belgian architect was the only Belgian ever to work with Le Corbusier, and he represented a completely new vision of collective living. "The point of departure for this project was very personal: I used to live in such a block apartment in Bulgaria myself, so I thought I could easily comment on that. But while working on the project, I started to realise that the context is very different. Here, it is about social housing, and also, Braem actually made really nice buildings. You can see there is a desire for a certain society at the foundation of these buildings – all the technical elements are out in the open, as if the heart of the community is on display; there is a certain sensuality in these buildings. Looking at that reality from a contemporary perspective, you could evaluate it as a failed utopia, but on the other hand, it was necessary in that post-World War II era to provide people with better living conditions. So it is very nuanced, you can't go black and white on the subject."

Aleksandra Chaushova's work – and, as a consequence, also its viewers – takes up the space where art and ideology, fiction and reality, history and its representation, and perception, authenticity, and – increasingly – doubt create a field of tension. In a series of superbly executed, enticing, and estranging drawings, she engages in a dialogue with Renaat Braem's work and original documents. Through an audio piece, she stages a distorted call centre situation from an undetermined future. "There is definitely a link between art and ideology, there always has been, on many levels. Through art you create a fictional reality too. The ways that one uses the other are very complex. Not to mention the fact that until recently, history was represented through art. History is a matter of interpretation, of instruction. In a way this is what I use drawing for: to construct my own fiction about documents, that are themselves already constructing a fiction."

> The throbbing wall. 19/11 > 4/12 (19/11, 16 > 20.00, 26/11 & 3/12, 14 > 18.00, at other times by appointment only: info@ete78.com), Été 78, Ixelles