Interview
Mileen Malbrain
Mileen was born in 1958, in Leuven. From 2018 until 2021, she learned to work with textile art at SLAC. Her recent exhibitions include Kunst met Fiere Margriet in Lovenjoel, 2023; Expo vuur met VZW Cultuurvuur in het kasteel d’Ursel, 2023; Kunst in het dorp,Bellingen, 2023; Kunstroute Leuven, 2023; among others. Her recent projects include "Black swans": art in the window in Maastricht supported by SAM, 2011 and "Virus" art installation with students from Sancta Maria Leuven, Sint Michielskerk, Leuven, 2011. She was recently awarded Third prize for hybrids in the competition ‘PRIJS VAN DE MAKERS’ Maldegem with the theme ‘Remake’, 2022.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“In 1981, I graduated as a bio engineer in Leuven. In the following period, I was involved in biochemical research. During that time, my great fascination arose for research strategy that I brought later into my art as well. In 1989, I got my teacher’s degree and taught sciences until 2019. Meanwhile, I followed a five-year sewing course, this is where my fascination for fabrics and textile techniques arose. After that, I followed many short-term and long-term courses at art academies: drawing, metal and plaster sculpture, art with glass, E-studio, bronze sculpture, cross-circular studio, ceramics, painting and textile art.”
What does your work aim to say? Does it comment on any current social or political issues?
“My first works of art, were minimalistic with the focus on rhythms, structures, evolutions, multiplications, light and shadow. Many materials were explored and applied; baked and raw clay, wood, metal, magnets, mirrors, glass and plexiglass. My scientific background has always focused on research. Pausing and recording many development phases during implementation is also invaluable to me. These are my triggers for a lasting creative flow. My kinetic works add new elements such as sound and movement and holding attention. Themes such as chaos, transparency, group behavior versus individual behavior, construction, deconstruction and manipulation are also discussed. And finally, thanks to my recent textile works, my greatest revelation has arisen: suddenly the support is redundant. Something that has occupied me for a long time; 'I need the support to build up my texture, but this support is also in the image and helps determine the image. How can I disable its presence? And voilà, the many fabrics that I currently make in different materials are created without a support and give me many presentation options.'
In a number of textile works I mainly investigated how to introduce a change in perception, which arises depending on the location of the viewer, into my work. Since 2017, I have been expanding my artistic eco vision. As an artist, I look for imaginative solutions for the alarming fact that humans play a too dominant role in their habitat, causing them to destroy their own biosphere. The earth is warming and the land, with all life on it, is threatened by the sea. Plastic and poison accumulate in the soil, plants and animals and then later reappear in the human food chain. Biodiversity is declining drastically all over the world and certain species are in danger of disappearing altogether. The question I ask myself is: “Will humans be the first living species to cause their own extinction?” My artistic starting point is a new kind of world in which humans come to live in complete symbiosis with numerous organisms and no longer exploit them. This symbiosis is created by cooperative behavior involving the exchange of biological techniques on the one hand and recycling, assembly, genetic modification and cloning techniques, surgery and robotics on the other. In my dream, humans will recycle, regenerate and assemble into new beings from dead plants and animals, ensuring biodiversity and even increasing it. Hybrids are emerging with an ambiguous view: are they the result of human or natural processes?”
Do you plan your work in advance, or is it improvisation?
“My ideas arise from observations of natural elements, scientific processes, photos or texts from the newspaper. All kinds of finds from nature, laboratories, workshops, DIY shops can push me into a particular visual language. An image and a vision quickly emerge. I read around the chosen theme and look up a number of concepts. I draw and write out the concepts I have obtained and further develop them through all kinds of experiments. When I see all those results, I often notice interesting peripheral phenomena in all my experiments, which I pick up later in another story. I continually look for my focus as well as the right visual language; 2D or 3D, monumental, minimalist, organic, filigree, fragile, etc., and the right material with the necessary techniques; firm, flexible, color, texture, etc.”
Are there any art world trends you are following?
“In the beginning I was fascinated by minimalism with artists such as Donald Judd, Sol Lewitt and light art with James Turell, Dan Flavin, Guyla Kosice, Otto Piene, Jim Campbell, Fred Eerdekens as well as the works from the Zero group with Günther Uecker, Heinz Mack and the kinetic works of Pol Bury and Jean Tinguely, Alexander Calder. Works of art that test balance with Bill Dan, Lawrence Malstaf, Arthur Ganson, Takis, Anthony Cragg, Theo Janssen, Panamarenko, Ann Veronica Janssens. I currently follow the world of installation and/or textile art with, among others, Tapta, Loiuse Bourgois, Berlinde De Bruyckere and Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam.”
What process, materials and techniques do you use to create your artwork?
“I explored many materials such as baked and raw clay, wood, metal, magnets, mirrors, glass and plexiglass, textiles. Thread from wool/iron/cotton/jutte and also waste. I use techniques such as drawing, painting, baking, gluing, cutting, laser cutting, photos and photo transfer, switching, crocheting, stitching, weaving, tufting.”
“My ideas arise from seeing certain things such as natural elements, scientific processes, photos or texts from the newspaper.”
What does your art mean to you?
“It is an interesting communication language in addition to verbal language or body language. It is very enriching for me to dialogue with people through my images. It is also a certain way of looking at life, one like a scientist but with a lot of imagination. It is a way to continue to observe or notice things that others do not see, to continue to be amazed and to play and then create a new image out of nothing. It is also a bit of an escape from reality to be in your own personal world. It is also a necessary evil to let all those ideas escape from me and give them a physical place. After many years of purely intellectual work, it is a coming home to meditative moments of manual work.”
What’s your favorite artwork and why?
“My kinetic works because I can keep the viewer longer with me , especially by introducing the elements of chaos and unpredictability or my own previous history.”
